b le ; but no doubt there is compait breccia in the interna! parts
o f the hills, as well as the rough and ignoble (lone on the out-
fide. The foil is reddilh, and iti if like clay, faturated with iron
ochte; but on the heights* the ground is Tandy and gravelly.
The moil celebrated produce o f this ifland in ancient times,
was wine. Atheneus makes honourable mention o f it, on the
faith o f Agatharehis, who .peeferrediithe! wine ®f Liffa to all
others. “ In 'L illà ,’ aniiland inthe-Ad r iatick , fays Agathar-
“ 1 chis, there grows a wine-, which, compared with any other,
*S exceeds.it in goodnefs.’’ In our days, the wine of Lillà is
o f a very different quality,; .‘ either becauie they have not the art
to-' make i t ,sor becaiafe the ancient fpeciesof grapes are lofi thro’
tfene; vTheii&il^às.well as the fituation. are botbwell calculated
far uny aproduce-;, vines, Glides,;: mulberry ¡ trees, almonds and
figs, grow-there in perfecftion. T h e quantity.:o f fweet herbs on
the hills o f Lilia, renders the honey o f an excellent flavour, but
the bees do not make m u ch i-which is probably owing to the
f cm k ? bf: -ftefh water. ' ! The flelh a£ tfelambs and kids, and
the .milk-and eheefe are o f excellent quality ; but the wool is
bad-,-’owing to the little care they take o f their flocks. The. illand
produces'1 butclittla-eorn, not enough lo/maintain. the fmall num-
|}iB^aW^Ìj»bWàin>ii>i> eb itts as 'tmoì bus «ylles ni bsv
diom.adi ai sflj diodi rii bntroì aadìd -.tionirà ai
T h e mcft important article n f trade in-Lifl'a, proceeds from
the filhing. One ¡boat alone, with a drag, net, catches fometimea
in a few hours ¡of a.daEk.uight,.fixty, a hundred, to a hundred
and fifty thoufand fardels. But in thefe cafes, the too great
abundance becomes an objeil o f mortification. Through one of
thole/little political reafons, which often carry along with them
confequences o f confiderable prejudice, the ifland o f L ifla, tho
r im i in
in a fituation the moil convenient for carrying on a very advantageous
filhing, has no magazine of fait. The filhermen, therefore,
when they happen.tp.ciiteh afgfeatri^.uantity,fare under the
neceffity- of failing.¡or rowing thirty; «t-forty miles , to find fait in
the magazines of Leflna to preferve them. They undertake
this voyage, i f the wind , and weather are tolerably favourable j
hut it frequently happens, that defpairing o f .being able to go
and return with the neceliary1 expedition, .they thro winto/the
fea fifty.,r.and fometimesna/hunrired thoufand fiih, to prevent ¡their
being poifoned with the flench,w Every a thoufand fardels is
worth about a cbequin; and mackrel is of. more value, as being a
larger fiih. It would certainly bean adtof true national ceconomy
to permit a magazine o f fait’ to - be-kept’ on the.illand o f ¡Lifla,
that the poor inhabitants might mot- f© often io fe th e ffiu ita o f
their labours.. The fiihing of the Lilians isinot confined to the
dark;flights of the i'ummcr months only, for the mild-climale o f
that illand permits, the filhermen to exeraiferitt even in winter,}
and the plenty o f fillies that come to (belter/themtelve.s in that
feafon, among the contiguous’ rocks,■ afford . lutiicier.t- recoin- .
pence for the fatigues inseparable from: that art. ¡¡All the/peeies-
of filhes round about Lilfa, are larger than in .place,§;neaw thg <j
continent; and the craieiaaA dentict catched'there:in.'winter, jfg9iq
ufually preferved in gelly, and form an article of trade. Amqng.;
the curious filhes found in thole waters, the Eaklara is the moll-
remarkable; I did not fee it, but the- detcription given me by
the filhermen, agrees with the Echeneis of Artedi+ rmAGman»
though,1 in my opinion,1 no tw ith the.iEc^ratoor ihswexwofthe :
ancients. *
to sao dgupidT: , „noiisoild.iom to £»5(do tie asipemd sunBbntids
" T b e
® Artedi, Syn. p. 28. Govan, hill. Pile. Gen. XXXVII,