the prominency of Pausilypus, includes Vesuvius, Stabia, Surrentum, and terminates in the island of Capree. It is perhaps one of the finest points of view, as it looks down on the bay of Puteoli, which is the most delicious part of the crater*.

Close under the southern point of Prochyta rises another little island, now called Vivara. Whether this island has been detached from Prochyta by some subterraneous convulsion, or whether it existed in ancient times, and be that which Ovid mentions under the appellation of

Pithecusæ habitantûm nomine dictæ,

I leave the learned reader to determine. I shall content myself with observing, that it answers the description given by the poet, and swells into a little barren hill in the centre. The fact is, that the names of these islands have been applied in a very confused and indiscriminate manner by many of the ancients, and an attempt to reconcile their differences would employ more time and attention than the subject deserves; especially as every material circumstance connected with their history, situation, and features is sufficiently ascertained, notwithstanding such verbal difficulties, and perhaps poetical mistakes or misrepresentations.

While I thus indulged myself in solitude and repose in the castle of Prochyta, my fellow travellers were employed in ex

ploring the neighboring island of Ischia, anciently Arime, Inarime, and Enaria, and perhaps sometimes Pithecuse. As it is only about two miles distant from the southern extremity of Prochyta, and as it is distinguished by a very bold and lofty mountain, its scenery, owing to the extreme clearness of the air, was brought as it were under my eye, and appeared as distinet as similar objects in northern climates at the distance of half a mile. The following particulars, may suffice to give the reader a tolerable notion of this island.

The town of Ischia, from which the modern name is derived, stands in a little bay opposite the island of Vivara, above two miles from the nearest point of Prochyta. This bay is defended by a castle seated on a high rock, which communicates with the above by an isthmus of sand. Ischia or Inarime was famed in ancient times for its eruptions, and all the varied and dreadful phenomena that accompany the constant action of subterraneous fires. Besides the ordinary effects of volcanic fermentation, earthquakes, torrents of lava rolling down the declivities, or showers of ashes and cinders overwhelming the country, historians talk of flames rising suddenly from the cracks and fissures of the earth, and spreading like a conflagration over the whole surface of the island; of hot water bursting out from unknown sources, and rolling through the fields with all the fury and mischief of a torrent; of mountains suddenly sinking into the abyss below, and as suddenly shooting up again increased in bulk and elevation; of vast masses of land detached from the shore and hurled into the sea, and again heaved up by the waters and thrown back on the shore. With such tre

* Strabo, lib. v. Plin. lib. 11. cap. 89. Jul. Obs. Sub de Prod.

mendous events on record before them, it is no wonder that the poets should have placed Typhæus himself under this island, and ascribed its convulsive throws to the agitations of that giant writhing under his tortures.

The principal feature of Ischia is the mountain anciently named Epopeus, now for euphony softened into Epomeo, but more generally called by the people Monte San Nicolo. To visit this mountain was our first business; therefore the next morning, about four o'clock, we mounted our mules and begun the ascent: the road is extremely steep and craggy, and at length with much exertion we reached the summit, but found it so enveloped in clouds, that one of the grand objects of our excursion, the extensive view which is said to comprehend almost half the southern coast of Italy, was nearly lost to us. However, our loss in this respect was compensated by the local knowledge of the country, which our progress up and round the mountain enabled us to acquire. The summit is formed of a sort of grey or whitish lava, in the midst of which the form of the crater is easily distinguishable. Two hermits and a soldier inhabit this solitary spot, and occupy apartments cut out of the solid rock. This mountain, and indeed the whole island, is evidently of volcanic origin, and formed of lava, tufo, and pumice stone. No eruption however has taken place since the year 1802, when the convulsions that shook the mountain were so violent, and the rivers of burning fluid that poured down its sides so extensive, and so destructive, that the towns and villages were all levelled with the ground or consumed, most of the inhabitants perished, and the few survivors were driven in terror from their homes. Since this tremendous explosion the island has enjoyed a state of tranquillity, and all ap

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prehension of similar visitations seems removed. The subterraneous fire however is not extinguished, and the number of hot fountains that spring up in different places still attest its existence and activity. The surface of Ischia is very beautifully varied by vineyards, gardens, groves of chestnut, and villages. It is intersected by numberless steep and narrow dells, shaded by forest trees, intermingled with aloes, myrtles, and other odoriferous shrubs, that shoot out of the fissures of the rocks, and wave over their summits. The soil is fertile, and peculiarly favorable to vines; hence the wine of Ischia is plentiful, and held in considerable estimation; it is lodged in caverns worked out of the rocks, and formed into very capacious and cool cellars, a method of keeping wine practised not only here and in some other parts of Italy, but in Austria, and various transalpine wine countries; it has many advantages, and implies a great degree of honesty and mutual confidence among the inhabitants.

Besides Ischia, there are nine towns and several villages; one of the former, Foria, is as large as the capital itself, and I believe more populous. Panza is on the southern side of the isle, and near it, on an insulated and conical rock, stands a fortress. Casamicio is placed nearly on the summit of Mount Epomeo; these towns have all one or two large churches, as many convents, and generally some medicinal waters, or hot baths, or sands, within their confines. The island of Ischia is extremely well peopled, and highly cultivated; and as its beauty, its waters, and the coolness and salubrity of its air, attract a considerable number of visitants to it in summer time, it may be considered as very prosperous and flourishing. Its coasts present a great variety of romantic scenery, as they are in general bold and craggy, in

dented with little bays, jutting out in points, and lined with shapeless rocks which have been torn in moments of convulsion from the shore, or hurled from the precipices above. Such is Inarime, at present the centre of rural beauty and fertility, the resort of health and pleasure, very different from the shattered mountain tumbled in ancient days by Jupiter on the giant monster*, for ever resounding with his groans, and inflamed by his burning breath.

On our return we touched at Procida, and again re-embarking crossed the bay of Pozzuolo. The port that once engrossed the commerce of the East, and was accustomed to behold the Roman navy riding on its bosom, was all solitude and silence; not one vessel, not even a boat was seen to ply in its forsaken waters. The Julian mole, Lucrinoque addita claustra no longer repel the indignant waves-the royal structure which was numbered among the wonders of Italy, has scarcely left a trace of its existence; and the moral of the poet is literally exemplified in the very instance which he selected for its illustration.

+ Ischia is about eighteen miles in circumference, and may contain about seventy square miles; the number of its inhabitants amounts to four-and-twenty thousand. It belongs to the king, and brings him a considerable income, arising principally from a tax on its wines.

+ Virgil Georgic. II.