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.ftruftion. The materials of which thefe ruins are formed 
are pumices, enamels, and glafles, limilar to thole already 
mentioned. 
The celebrated Jloves of Lipari have exereifed the cu- 
riofity of travellers. Thefe lie four miles weft «f the city, 
and fomewhat beyond the fummit of a mountain, which, 
next to thofe of San Angelo and Della Guardia, is one of 
the higheft in the ifland. The road from the city to the 
ftoves is formed by a deep excavation, chiefly the work 
of rain-waters, in an immenfe mafs of tufa. . See Tufa. 
It begins at about ioo paces from the city, and continues, 
without interruption, to beyond the fummit of the Monte 
della Safa, or Mountain of the Stoves, The ftoves, ter¬ 
minating a defcent of about 200 feet in length, form a 
group of four or five caves, more like to.the dens of bears 
than the habitations of men, and exhibiting much lefs art 
than the edifices formed by the heaver. . Every cave has 
an opening at the bottom, through which the warm and 
humid vapours enter, and another in the top, through 
which they pafs out. On one of thefe ftoves the thermo¬ 
meter flood at only 48!; but the vapour poffeffes fome¬ 
what of a fufi'oeating nature. The ftoves now retain lit¬ 
tle more than their name; and, whatever may have been 
their fuppofed virtue in the cure of diforders, they are 
now nearly deferted. Under the ftoves, and the adjacent 
ground, there is reafon to believe that forne remains of 
lulphureous conflagrations dill continue. 
Lipari, we have already obferved, is the largeft, and it 
is alio the moft populous, of thofe called the .fiEolian Ifles ; 
the number of its inhabitants amounting to between nine 
and ten thoufand, moft of whom refide in the city of the 
fame name. If the ifland be divided into four parts, about 
two and a half will be found to be cultivated, and the re¬ 
mainder overgrown with wood, and barren. Thefe bar¬ 
ren trafts, however, are gradually converted into fruitful 
fields, by a kind of neceflity arifing from the continu- 
ally-increafing population of the ifland. Lipari produces 
cotton, pulfe, and olives, in fmall quantities. The corn 
is fcarcely fufficient for the fupply of the ifland. Oxen 
are employed in ploughing the ground. The ancient 
plough is (till in ufe here; and the mode of agriculture 
praftifed is very expeditious : one man traces a furrow, 
and another follows to fow in it grain and pulfe : the 
ploughman, in cutting the next furrow, covers up that 
in which the feed has been fown ; and thus the field is 
both ploughed anil fown at once. But the moft ufeful 
production of this ifland is grapes, of which there are fe- 
veral kinds. The firlt furnilhes the common wine that is 
drunk in the illand, and of which they export annually 
two or three thoufand barrels. The palfole and paffolina, 
as they are called in the illand, are two other kinds of 
grapes that are dried. The laft is that fort which is ufu- 
ally called the Corinthian grape. Of this they commonly 
fell 10,000 barrels annually; and of the other about 12,000. 
From a fourth kind of grape is made the famous Malm- 
fey of Lipari; which is a wine of a clear amber colour, 
generous and fweet. The grape producing this wine is 
i'carce, and does not furnifti more than 2000 barrels an¬ 
nually, which are fold for foreign markets, as well as the 
paffole and paffolina. The vintage is in the month of 
September, which is a feafon of relaxation and feltivity to 
the Liparefe. Another plant of domeftic ufe to the Li- 
parefe, if it does not form a branch of foreign commerce, 
is the Indian fig. Nothing can be more wretched than 
the fifliery of Lipari. In June and July they filh for coral; 
but, owing to a want of (kill, this filhery is very unpro¬ 
ductive. At Lipari large and fmall cattle are very fcarce ; 
and the few oxen and cows which are llaughrered there 
are brought from Sicily, and are very lean. Of wild qua¬ 
drupeds, the country only produces rabbits, which make 
their burrows in the mountainous parts, where the vol¬ 
canic matters, principally of the tufaceous kind, permit 
them to dig with their feet. The birds ftationary here 
are but few, viz. the partridge, green-finch, fparrow, gold¬ 
finch, horn-owl, and raven. Of migrating water-fowl. 
here are different kinds of fea-guUs, and the cormorant. 
The birds.of paflage are the turtle-dove and the. quail, 
which come for a few days in April and September. 
Several kinds of (Wallows are common. 
Foreign commerce has begun to be introduced into the 
ifland by-the mariners; they every year buy, at the fair 
of Sinigaglio, linen, rnuflins, veils, and other commodi¬ 
ties of that kind; and fell them at Medina, Catania, Pa¬ 
lermo, and other parts of Sicily. The trade is very ad¬ 
vantageous to the country, and many have acquired con- 
fiderabie wealth; though it injures the fifliery, and raifes 
the price of fill). Strabo, Diodorus, and Diofcorides, fay, 
that the fulphat of alumine (alum) was procured in great 
abundance at Lipari; but none of this fait is now ex¬ 
tracted in the ifland. 
The political adminiftrgtion of Lipari is compofed of a 
criminal judge, a fifeal, a governor, who has the chief 
authority both in military and civil affairs, and who is 
commonly an old invalid ; and a civil judge. The bifliop, 
feventeen canons of the firll order, and fourteen of the 
fecond, and from 120 to 130 priefts, form the eccleliafti- 
cal eftablilhment. The Liparefe are, in general, of a 
prompt and lively wit, ready to learn, of acute penetra¬ 
tion, and very defirous of obtaining knowledge. A beg ¬ 
gar is fcarcely ever found in this ifland ; for the- poorelt 
perfons have fome fmall piece of ground which they cul¬ 
tivate, and by the produce of which they live. The na¬ 
tives are rather of a large fize, robuft, and comely. The 
heat of the fun, however, injures their complexions, pro¬ 
ducing tanned fkins and fwarthy countenances. The Li¬ 
parefe, in general, value themfelves upon being good ma¬ 
riners. Spallanzani s Travels. 
LIPA'RI, an ancient and very ftrong town, and capi¬ 
tal of the above ifland of the fame name in the Mediter¬ 
ranean, with a bifliop’s fee. It was ruined by Barbarofi'a 
in 1544, who carried away all the inhabitants into flavery, 
and demolifhed the place ; but it was rebuilt by Charles V. 
The caftle (lands upon a rock. The way to it from the 
city leads up a gentle declivity. This caftle makes a part 
of the city ; and on the fummit of the rock is the citadel, 
in which the governor and the garrifon refide. The ca¬ 
thedral (lands in the fame (ituation. Here the ancients, 
in conformity to their uftial practice, had built the tem¬ 
ple of a tutelary god. This citadel commands the whole 
city ; and it is accemble only at one place. Were an 
hoftile force to make a defcent on the ifland, the inhabi¬ 
tants might retreat hither, and be fecure againft all but 
the attacks of famine. The ancient inhabitants had alfo 
fortified this place. Confiderable portions of the ancient 
walls are Hill Handing in different places, particularly to¬ 
wards the fouth: their ftrufture is Grecian ; and the 
Hones are exceedingly large, and very well cut. The 
layers are three feet high, which (hows them to have been 
raifed in fome very remote period. Thefe remains are fur- 
rounded with modern buildings. Ttie remains of walls, 
which are Hill to be feen here, have belonged not only to 
temples, but to all the different forts of buildings which 
the ancients ufed to eredl. The vaults, which are in a 
better (late of prefervation than any of the other parts of 
thefe monuments, are now converted to the purpofes of a 
prifon. 
In the city of Lipari there are convents of monks of 
two different orders; but there are no convents for wo¬ 
men, that is to fay, no cloifters in which women are con¬ 
fined ; thofe, however, wliofe heads and hearts move them 
to embrace a date of pious celibacy, are at liberty to_en- 
gage in a monadic life, with the concurrence of their 
confeffors. They put on the facred habit, and vow per¬ 
petual virginity, but continue to live with their father 
and mother, and mix in fociety like other women. The 
vow and the habit even enlarge their liberty. This cuf- 
tom will, no doubt, as M. Houel obferves, appear very 
ftrange; but this was the way in which the virgins of the 
primitive church lived : the idea of (hutting them up to¬ 
gether did not occur till the fifth century. The life of 
thde 
