LIPARI, the collective name of a group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, forming a part of the kingdom of Naples. They were known in the most remote ages as the Ephestiades, in the subsequent centuries as the Aeolian Islands, and latterly have commonly borne the name of the most considerable of their number. According to the mythology of the heathens, they were imagined to be the chimneys of a vast subterraneous cavity, inhabited by Steropes, Brontes, and Argos; and the caverns in which Aeolus confined the winds were in this archipelago. Here Diana was said to have been placed by Latona in her infancy, and here also Vulcan forged the thunderbolts of Jupiter.

It is most probable that, at an early period, Liparus, the son of Auson, having passed from Italy with some of his followers, planted the largest of the islands, and conferred his name upon it. Aeolus, the son of Hippotas, arrived afterwards, and marrying Cyane, the daughter of Liparus, succeeded to the throne; and being very attentive to meteorology, and often successfully predicting changes of weather, this may have given rise to the fabulous power attributed to him. This colony had suffered a decline, in spite of an augmentation of the inhabitants by the immigration of some Rhodians and Cnidians, when it was visited by some Etruscan pirates, who built the city of Lipari, and, by means of husbandmen transported from the continent, extended cultivation to the other islands. Since that period, they have been subject to Sicily, forming in Christian times a bishopric, restricted in 1394 to these islands. The whole of these islands exhibit the corrosive effects of gases and spray; but their western coasts, rising abruptly in precipitous masses, and shelving down gradually to the eastward, form an interesting geological feature, in which it agrees with the greater part of the West India and other islands. It is remarkable that, besides the western coasts of all these islands being steep and craggy, they have each of them a high isolated rock on their northern shores. The basis of the whole group is hornstone, with the various alterations and decompositions occasioned by volcanic influence; an influence easily traceable throughout these islands, in its grandest and wildest varieties.

The climate is highly salubrious, and the weather generally soft and refreshing; but though there are a few trifling springs, a general scarcity of water is experienced, as the soil, consisting almost entirely of scoriae, tuffa, pumice, pozzolana, and ashes, without any intervening stony stratum, except occasional masses of obdurate vitrification, rapidly absorbs the moisture. The natives are consequently obliged to construct capacious cisterns, in which rainwater is preserved in a cool temperature. Most of the cattle are lean, and they are not abundant, as the pasturage is only adapted for the most part to the feeding of goats. The land is well cultivated, and yields grapes, currants, figs, prickly pears, corn, cotton, olives, and pulse, which latter grow under the cane trellises that support the vines. Violent rains sometimes cause great injury to the grounds, owing to their situation, and the friability of the soil; and at other times swarms of locusts greatly injure and diminish the produce. A large quantity of wine and currants is annually exported, and an active trade is carried on in bitumen, pumice, nitre, pozzolana, cinnabar, coral, and fish. At one period alum formed a considerable article of export, but it has decreased, probably owing to the diminished heat of the subterranean fires. Some sulphur is still shipped, but in less quantity than formerly, owing to a prejudice entertained by the inhabitants, that the vapour which arises from purifying it infects the air, and is injurious to vegetation.

The inhabitants, who amount in all these islands to 22,350, are contented, temperate, and hardy, and are esteemed excellent sailors; but they are commonly considered as impertinent, mean, and immoral. They are by no means rich, but few are in extreme poverty; and, from leading an active life, they are healthy, except that, from their filthy habits, the itch is very prevalent amongst all classes. They are described as very expert slingers and throwers of stones, a valuable talent in an unarmed population, exposed to predatory visits from corsairs. The islands are variously enumerated, some stating them to be eight or nine, and others eleven. This has arisen from those who stated them at the greater numbers including some which are uninhabited, or may be considered as mere rocks belonging to adjacent islands.

Isí, The island of Lipari is the largest and most populous of the whole group. It is accessible by a bay on the east side of the island, formed on the north by Monte Rosso, an immense mass of volcanic matter, and on the south by Cape Capistello, a rugged rock of lava. It is hilly, but intermixed with peculiarly beautiful and fertile valleys and plains, from which, amongst other produce, is supplied the Malmsey wine, whose flavour is admired in most parts of the world. The extent of the island is 110 square miles, and the population amounts to about 15,000 persons. Lipari has not suffered from volcanic eruptions for many ages, but its subterraneous fires are not yet extinguished; for, on digging in the central parts of the island to a trifling depth, heat, smoke, and a sulphureous smell, immediately arise. The highest mountain, St Angelo, contains a crater 200 feet wide; and on another mountain, Guardia, the course of the lava from an eruption is still visible. Lipari is literally the wreck of a vast conflagration, and affords perhaps the finest field in the world for the study of the geologist. This island contains the capital, the seat of government of the whole group. It is a city of the same name, situated on the south-east side; it has two havens, is the see of a bishop, and has a castle, a cathedral, and several other churches. It is healthy, though crowded, irregular, and filthy. It contains 12,500 inhabitants. Long. 14. 57.50. E. Lat. 38. 27. 56. N.

2d , Volcano is a lofty island, fifteen miles in circuit, and possesses two small ports on the northern side. At a small distance from these ports is a hill, having a great crater, with a deep valley encircling, and detaching it from the neighbouring hills. It is about 2400 feet in height, but accessible to the summit with no little fatigue and some danger. The crater is a mile and a quarter in circumference, and nearly a quarter of a mile deep, forming an inverted elliptical cone, with the northern considerably higher and hotter than the southern side. The interior is full of volcanic scoriae, coatbd over with sulphur, alum, vitriol, and muriate of ammonia, diverging into every possible shade of brown, red, green, blue, orange, black, yellow, and white. From the numerous apertures in every part, a sulphureous and hydrogenous vapour rushes out in gusts, which, when collected on the sides, where a considerable quantity of sulphur has been deposited by sublimation, forms a species of stalactite, covered with boracic or other light efflorescences. The bottom is about two of three hundred yards in extent. There is a frequent explosion of gases, and a continued roar similar to that of a cataract, or of many anchor-smiths’ forges, which impress on the imagination the horrid feeling of being only separated by a frail crust from some vast abyss of central fire. Fire is only observable at night, when a pale lambent flame is seen to issue from many of the fissures, accompanied[7:13:370] with nauseous fumes and vapours. There are but few inhabitants, and these are mostly employed in the sulphur works. Long. 14. 57. 50. E. Lat. 38. 27. 56. N.

3ċZ, Salina. This island is to the north-west of Lipari, and is about fourteen miles in circumference, with an industrious population of4000 persons, employedin raisinggrain, fruit, pulse, capers, salt, alum, and soda. Although no mention is made in history of any eruption, it is evidently of volcanic origin, and there are palpable vestiges of its once desolating craters, the fires of which must have ceased before the dawn of history, whilst they have now become the most pleasing and fertile spots of the group of islands. Long. 14. 55. 56. E. Lat. 38. 35. 40. N.

⅛th, Felicudi. This island is ten miles to the westward of Salina, is nine miles in circumference, and contains about 1100 inhabitants. The soil consists chiefly of detached masses of ferruginous and argillaceous lava, strongly marked with white felspars and black schorl, intermixed with enamel, cinders, sand, and pozzolana. It is highly fertile, and produces wheat, barley, grapes, olives, pulse, and flax, in abundance. It is an extinct volcano, with three high mountains; but there are no remains of the fire that produced the island, nor does history give any accounts of eruptions. Long. 14. 29. 37. E. Lat. 38. 34. 5. N.

5th, Alicudi. This is the westernmost of the islands, and rises like a cone from the sea, having a crater, the fires of which have been extinct for ages; but the lava is seen in grotesque streams, extending from the summit to the sea. The few spots capable of cultivation are highly fertile, and support 750 inhabitants. Long. 14. 16. 30. E. Lat. 38. 32. 4L N.

Qth, Panaria, a small island to the north of Lipari, is seven miles in circumference, has a good port, and about two hundred inhabitants, who, from a rich soil, produce corn, wine, soda, and especially excellent raisins. The rocks around it, called the Dattoli, appear to have formed the circumference of an immense crater. It was known by the Romans as Thermissea, and was celebrated for its warm baths. Long. 15. 2. 55. E. Lat. 38. 37. 40. N.

7t7z, Basiluzzo, a small island to the north of Panaria, is about a mile and three quarters in circumference, and is very thinly inhabited. It produces corn, flax, and culinary vegetables, and is overrun with rabbits, which injure the crops. Like the rest of the group, this island exhibits abundant proofs of its volcanic origin. Long. 15. 7. 54. E. Lat. 38. 39. 50. N.

8rΛ, Stromboli, the most northern of this group of islands, was known to the ancients by the name of Strongyle. It is a conical mountain, with an irregular base. It is upwards of 2000 feet high, is bifurcated, and about nine miles in circumference; and, from every indication, seems an evident product of subterranean fire. The crater has been rarely visited, on account of the great difficulty of ascending to it. The best description is that of Captain William Henry Smyůh, who surveyed the whole of these islands, as well as the shores of the Mediterranean. About one third of the way from the summit of the mountain the crater appears. It is continually burning, with frequent explosions, and a constant ejection of fiery matter. It is of a circular form, about one hundred and seventy yards in diameter, with a yellow efflorescence adhering to its sides like that of Aetna. When the smoke clears away, an undulating igneous substance is to be seen, which at short intervals rises and falls with great agitation, and, when swollen to the utmost height, bursts with a violent explosion and a discharge of red-hot stones in a semi-fluid state, accompanied with showers of ashes and sand, and a strong sulphureous smell. The masses are usually thrown up to the height of from sixty or seventy to three hundred feet; but some, the descent of which Captain Smyth found to occupy from nine to twelve seconds, must have ascended above a thousand. In the moderate ejections, the stones in their ascent gra-, dually diverge like a pyrotechnical exhibition, and fall into the abyss again, except on the side next the sea, where they roll down in quick succession, after bounding from the declivity, to a considerable distance in the water. This crater, which is on the north-west side of the mountain, has burned without intermission from the earliest periods. The incessant combustion is supposed to be kept up by oxygen, pyrites, and sulphur; but there are no traces of the presence of bitumen. It appears to be not only the vent of all these islands, but to have a subterraneous communication with Sicily and Italy; for, previous to a severe earthquake taking place in those parts, Stromboli has been observed to be covered with dense clouds of smoke, and to emit, with increased activity, unusually ardent flames. It appears, moreover, from the concurrent relation of the islanders, to be influenced by atmospheric changes, as storms, particularly those from the southward, which are preceded by thick volumes of smoke, so that the native pilots are guided at night by its flame, and gain intimation of the weather by day from the smoke.

The island contains about 1200 inhabitants, who have neither magistrate nor lawyer, but are governed by two priests. The soil is a fertile black mould, producing wine, wheat, barley, cotton, raisins, currants, and figs. There is an extinct volcano on Mount Schicceola, which burned in the time of Aristotle, and was noticed by him. The church is dedicated to St Bartholomew, and is in long. 15. 13. 10. E. and lat. 38. 48. 12. N.