In ancient times it had two cities, one o f which bore the name
o f the ifland, arid the other was called Meo. Some miferable
vèftiges o f the ffrft ftill' remain above the harbour, which is truly
theatrical', arid at préfcnt lipüv'erloOked by the village o f LilTa ;
fome old molaic 'psVefneftti'àte ftill to be feen, though under
\^afef^when the1 uàè rïîes:1 The rüins-of the other city are
probably'thôfë at Comiilfr’ a populous and cultivated place, that
lies! 'ftëàr oVsthebaflrfidebf1 thé dfland. There are ftill
to bcTefcri two coïhS o f the Ifei/ bne Jof%hich has the 'head o f
Pallas armed, and on the riverfe an Amphora; the other has-a
goat on the reverie, inftead o f the Amphora. In digging, there
'a ie )ofo£tith*eS Totlrid ancient Vafes, refembling the Etrufcan in
the'fo?mr ari(i Va‘irirftiiacand alfo fome Greek and Latin irifijrip-
I M i tfififragé/à'man o f great erudition flourilhed there, o f
the fàtnily'bf :&àramiffiéo; who left many valuable papers, tend-
irig chiefly to illuftrate the hiftorÿ o f his country. This learned'
man brought himfelf into no little trouble by proving in a dit-
feftatiOri; that the7 reiiques o f S. Doimo, venerated at Spalatro
with great zeal, were not genuine. I was Only once in the ifland
o f Liifr;4 in company with the Bifliop o f Derry, an indefatigable
Ibver lo f natural hiftory ; we landed, as it were, at a
Vérttifre, without reconiriiendàtion to any pforfon who could give
us ufeful intelligence. Hence we could obferve but little, and
were, beiidesi tormented by the exceffive heat o f the feafon,
''Which; however, ffly Lord, would not have minded,- i f there
h id been a View o f making interefting obfervations.
The organization o f the ifland o f Lilia/is'principally o f marble.
There are fome Orthoceratites in the cOmman marble,,
which is found in the lower ftrata, and in theiuppér ftrata,‘ are
Namlfmaks, This law,. however,is fometirnes irivdrte'd. 'Amor!g
the
the fpecies o f ftones that are obferved along the lhore o f Lifla,
there is a flaty marble o f very thin ftrata, and a whitiih calcareous
fciflile fto.ne, not very fit for economical ufes, as the laminae
are irregular and brittle. Fulfil bones are allp found petrified
in the fame fubftance, which is feen in various places,
in the iilands o f Ofrro, and Rogofniza. Abundance o f them are
met with in. the vertical chinks o^ the ftrpta, in the .final! valley
o f Rudaj and th? ;inhabitaals.,:tpldLU^^^af ftill. greate,r^plenty
is found in a rock not far front ¡that valley, called Budicovaz,
as well as in other parts o f the/fland. , ,
Donati, in his Saggio d'ijlpria naturak delf Adriatico,
that he found in the.fea near Liffa, a.fipeciqs .pfr.forpcntine marb
le }•; but does not tell us whether it was„fome adventitious
piece, or really o f a local quarry. In that part o f the ifland
which I faw, there is no appearance of Vulcanic eruptions, from
whence a probability might be deduced o f finding ferpentfoes,
or other kinds o f marble produced by fire. We, faw feyeral
pieces o f lava fcattered on the lhore o f Lifla, and being newly
come from Vefuvius, we flattered ourfolves with the hopes o f
finding fome extindf Volcano on this ifland. The, inhabitants
allured' us, that, at a-place called Porto Manica, the fra threw
out nothing j elfe but black ftones .j j .we went thither, crofting
over the ifland on horfcback, and found, all that had been told
us quifr falfe. We concluded therefore, that the vulcanic ftoqes
we had feen.at Lifla;were notindigeuoqs.j yet, .affrrwards,.they
wanted to perfuade us, that a rock, near Porto Manica, was altogether
compofed o f black ftone, like the accidental pieces we
had feen j but we found no boat to ferry us over; fo we remained
with the probability only that this ftory was a fecond
fi&ioa. In trayerfing the ifland, we faw nothing like fine mar-
T t 2 bles