r s*6 i
T he Lilians, by their flotation lying out-of the way o f others,
and confequently not in danger o f damaging the nets o f their
neighbours, ought to be at liberty tou fe whatever fort o f nets
dinted them beft; yet they are not at full liberty even in that
article. This is the principal reafon that they frequently leave
Iheir own waters, and go *to fifti-about the fmall ifland ofPela-
gofa, which is fixty miles diftant from LiflTa,,8nd about the fame
diftance from the promontory o f S. Angelo in Apulia. The
iiih they catch there, is not lent to market at Venice, where
they pretend that they meet not with due encouragement; but
are all fold in the kingdom o f Naples, ,of which the coaft that
looks to the Adriatick: is but ill provided with fifhermen. It
were t o b e wilhei}, that in places where, great plenty of...fiih is
caught, fuch as the ifland o f Lilia, ionic proper regulations, were
introduced relative to the fiihing in general;. and to the falting
•of the-fifh in particular; and the model might be borrowed from
the French, accommodating it to our circumftances.
The ifland Pelagofa, together with feveral rocks that appear
above water near it, are the remains o f an ancient Volcano, I
will not aflfure you that it was thrown up out .of the fea like fe-
veral other iflaiids in the Archipelago, though there is fome
ground to fuipeift thisrto have, been the cafe; becaufe we find no
precife mention o f it in the faoft ancient geographers. It ihould
feem that it ought not to be confuted with the Diomedee, from
whiqh i t t h i r t y miles diftant; yet it is not.impoffible thatthey
have reckoned it among them, • T he lava which forms the fub-
o f this ifland, is perfect ]yiik.etlte.orciinary lava o f Vefu-
vius, as far as.I could difcover in pafling near it. I f a naturalift
ihould land there, and vifit on purpofe the higheft parts o f the
ifland, perhaps we might then know whether it has been thrown
up
[ 3*7 1
op by a fubmarine Volcano, as the ifland near Santerini was in
our age ; or i f we ought to believe it the top o f fome ancient
Volcanic mountain, o f which the roots and fides have been covered
by the waters, which divided Africa'fiorii Spain,' forming
the Strait o f Gibraltar; an invalion that no óhé<!cán doubt of
who has examined the bottoms and iliores o f our féa. T h e
Lilian fiihermen fay, that Pelagofa is fubjedt to'fréqUént and violent
earthquakes and the afpedt o f thè ifl'and proves,- at firft
fight, that it haS'fuffered many fe'volutiofisv'for it islfiiggeà,
ruinous, and fubverted. I ihould have been deiirous o f vifiting
the Diomedean iflands alio,--that "are! called 'Trèmiti by our geographers;
a name, perhaps, derived from the frequency o f
earthquakes, ; as, according to my conjedhtre, they are : vulcanic
character : but I begin to be difcouraged in thefe purfufts.
I will confefs to you, my good Friend, that after the* difcovèVrés*
o f ancient volcanos by Mr. Banks, and his learned companions,
in the iflands o f Scotland, Iceland, and the new difcovered countries
; after the obfervations o f the acute Biihop o f Derry, in*
Ireland, in Auvergne and Velay ; and the ordtologieal journiea
among the mountains o f Switzerland, France, and GerrttanV,
lately made by the celebrated naturalift, John S tr an¿e,,’ Efquife,
all our things ftem to me but microfcope © bjeé ts.T hé òniy
advantage that we can draw from’ their littlenuf&i1 and which
hinders my being entirely difgufted with them; is this, that
they can be more diligently examined than the gréater objedts.
.Nature is-always equally ingenious áhÜ grand ^1nor, tó the'é^ès
o f an obferver, ought the fmall bafaltine uryftallizations ofcOm-
moii lava, or the little 1 cryftals o f the Euganean hills,, to prove
lefs than the amazing prifmatic columns of Staffa,'or the cryftal-
line grottos of Switzerland. IFfequihesy, however, fome pains,.
to keep thistrdth always* before one’s eyes; and more efpecially-'