the marine lake, brings alfo in no inconiiderable advantage when
the paflage o f thofe fiihes is plentiful ; but that being very precarious,
no calculation c a n ‘be made o f it. The northern part
o f the ifland, called .Novaglia, which depends on the government
o f Arhe, is well fupplied with water, and has good paf-
tures on the low-grounds, by which means its black cattle are
larger and better than on any o f the neighbouring iflands, or
o f littoral Dalmatia. The produce of corn and oil is very
fcanty, and not enough to maintain the few inhabitants two
months'.
The molt confiderable produft o f the ifland is fait. In the
year 1774; when I was there, they made eight hundred thou-
fand Venetian Siavio’s.' Part o f the fait works belongs to the
Government, and the reft to private proprietors; they are meliorated
every year, and, for that end, the publick lends money
to thofe proprietors who want it, and, without that affift-
ance, could not make the'requifite improvements. The lagune,
on which the- fait works lie, is four miles long, and about
half a mile broad. The fame fpecies o f ‘Teftacei are found here
as in the lngunes at Venice.
The ifland, as I already mentioned, has aflnally neither
wbo'd to burn, Hof-‘for any other .ufe,’ excepting the northern end
called P .M h‘ lid? Ldni, which is_ abundantly fuf>plied with all
fohsV Amofig tfid reft therd ire very’ fihe foots, and trunks
o f ‘old olive frees, which would furniih excellent materials
for the cabinet makers ahdfculptdrS. But that part of the ifland
beldhgs to the ’community o f Arbe'\ and the inhabitants of the
City of Pago, and the villages depending on it, are obliged
to buy wood for their private ufe. There is, on the bank of
the
the marine lake, a mine o f faffil coal, which ftill preferve
the diftinguiihable appearance o f wood; but it is of fo bad
a quality, that no ufe can ,be made o f it, unlefs in. a. cafe o f
the greateft neceffity-
Nature o f the Soil and the Stones:
The foil of the ifland, that is of the land lying on- the declivity,
and at the bottom of the hills,.is very gravelly and ligh t;;
but on. the northern extremity where there are plains, though-
fbmewhat ftoney, yet the land is better and itronger, and might
be cultivated to bear corn o f all forts. The extent of this, kind
o f land is not large, being only that tradl which lies, between the
extremity o f the lake and the Suarnaro, having the hills on the-
right and left fide..
The hard cafcarious ftone,with fragments o f’marine bodies,
is that which generally predominates on the ifland, and is ordinarily
o f a whitifh colour. There are, however, fome partial
malfes of. a light, blue colour, and, in fome places, whole ftrata
almoft terreous,.or perhaps fallen from the ftate o f ftone in the:
courfe o f ag?s..
There is alfo a great deaf of land ftone quite analogous to-
that of the ifland of Veglia near Befca, and o f the ifland o f Arbe
in tlie adjacencies o f the City. The inhabitants prefer this to
any other ftcne- in the- foundations' of their buildings under
ground, where, as they fay, it maintains itfelf'very long; but i f
they ufe it in the walls expofed to the air, it moulders away
£1 a ihort time, leaving large holes in the wall.