Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/458

ITALY [GEOGRAPHY. depth, which receives a number of streams that descend from the central mass of the Apennines. The rivers; of Southern Italy are none of them of any great importance. The Liris or Garigliano, which has its source in the central Apennines above Sora, not far from the Lake Fucino, and enters the Gulf of Gaeta about 10 milss east of the city of that name, brings down a con siderable body of water ; as r .oes also the Volturno, which rises in the mountains between Castel di Sangro and Agnone, flows past Iseruia, Venafro, and Capua, and enters the sea about 15 miles from the mouth of the Garigliano. About 1C miles above Capua it receives the Galore, which flows by Benevento, and is a tributary of some importance. The Silarus or Sele, which enters the Gulf of Salerno a few miles below the ruins of Psestum, is the only other river of consideration on the western coast of Southern Italy. Below this the watershed of the Apennines is too near to the sea on that side to allow of the formation of any streams of importance. Hence the rivers that flow in the opposite direction into the Adriatic and the Gulf of Taranto have much longer courses, and are of more considerable volume and magnitude, though all of them partaking of the character of mountain torrents, rushing down with great violence in winter and after storms, but dwindling into scanty streams in the summer, which hold a winding and sluggish course through the great plains of Apulia. Proceeding south from the Trigno, which has been already mentioned as constituting the limit of Central Italy, we find (1) the Biferno and (2) the Fortore, both of them rising in the mountains of Samnium, and flowing into the Adriatic west of Monte Gargano ; (3) the Cervaro, south of the great promontory; and (4) th) Ofanto, familiar to all scholars as the Aufidus of Horace, whose description of it is characteristic of almost all the ru ers of southern Italy, of which it may be taken as the typical representative. It rises about 15 miles w r est of Conza, and only about 25 miles from the Gulf of Salerno, so that it is frequently (though erroneously) described as traversing the whole range of the Apennines. In its lower course it flows near Canosa and traverses the celebrated battlefield of Canna:. (5) The Bradano, which rises near Venosa, almost at the fot of Monte Voltore, flows towards the south-east into the Gulf of Taranto, as do the Basento, the Agri, and the Sinno, all of which descend from the central chain of the Apennines south of Potenza, and water the extensive plains between the mountains and the shores of the gulf. The Crati, which flows from Cosenzi northwards, and then turns abruptly eastward to enter the same gulf, is the only stream worthy of notice in the rugged peninsula of Calabria; while the long extent of arid limestone hills projecting eastwards to Capo di Leuca does not give rise to anything more than a mere streamlet, from the mouth of the Ofanto to the sjuth eastern extremity of Italy. Lakes. The only important lakes in Italy are those at the foot of the Alps, formed by the expansion of the tribu taries of the Po, which, after descending from the mountain valleys in which they are at first confined, spread out into considerable sheets of water before travers ing the extensive plain of Northern Italy. They have been already noticed in connexion with the rivers by which they are formed, but may be again enumerated in order of suc cession. They are, proceeding from west to east, (1) the Lago d Orta, (2) the Lago Maggiore, (3) the Lago di Lugano, (4) the Lago di Como, (5) the Lago d Iseo, (6) the Lago d Idro, and (7) the Lago di Garda. Of these the last named is considerably the largest, covering a superficial area of about 1 40 English square miles. It is about 38 mile.s long by 1 2 broad at its southern extremity ; while the Lago Maggiore, notwithstanding its name, though considerably exceeding it in length (42 miles), falls materially below it in superficial extent. They are all of great depth, the Lago Maggiore having in one part a depth of 2GOO feet, while that of Como attains to 1925 feet. Of a wholly different character is the Lago di Varese, between the Lago Maggiore and that of Lugano, which is a mere shallow expanse of water, surrounded by hills "of very moderate elevation, Tw r o other small lakes in the same neighbourhood, as well as those of Erba and Pusiano, between Como and Lecco, are of a similar char acter, and scarcely worthy of notice. The lakes of Central Italy, which are comparatively of trifling dimensions, belong to a wholly different class. The most important of these, the Lac us Fucinus of the ancients, now called the Lago di Celano, which is situated almost exactly in the centre of the peninsula, occupies (as has been already pointed out) a basin of considerable extent, surrounded on all sides by mountains, and without any natural outlet, at an elevation of more than 2000 feet above the sea. Its waters have of late years been in great part carried off by an artificial channel, and more than halt its surface laid bare. Next in size is the Lago Trasimeno, often called the Lago di Perugia, so celebrated in Roman history ; it is a broad expanse of shallow waters, surrounded only by low hills, but about 30 miles in circumference. The neighbouring lake of Chiusi is of similar character, but much smaller dimensions. All the other lakes of Central Italy, which are scattered through the volcanic districts west of the Apennines, are of a wholly different formation, and occupy deep cup-shaped hollows, which have undoubtedly at one time formed the craters of extinct volcanoes. Such is the Lago di Bolsena, near the city of the same name, which is an extensive sheet of water, as well as the much smaller Lago di Vico (the Cirri inian lake of ancient writers) and the Lago di Braeciano, nearer Rome, while again to the south of Rome the well known lakes of Albano and Nemi have a similar origin. The only lake properly so called in Southern Italy is the Lago del Matese, in the heart of the mountain group of the same name, of very trifling extent. The so-called lakes on the coast of the Adriatic north and south of the promontory of Gargano are in fact mere brackish lagoons communicating with the sea. Islands. The three great islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica are so closely connected with Italy, both by geographical position and community of language, that they are frequently spoken of as the Italian Islands, but they will best be considered separately, and we shall here .confine our attention to the smaller islands that lie scattered in the Mediterranean within sight of the coasts of Italy. Of these by much the most considerable is that of Elba, situated on the west coast of Central Italy, about 50 miles south of Leghorn, and separated from the main land at Piombino by a strait of only about G miles in | width. North of this, and just about midway between | Corsica and Tuscany, is the small island of Capraja, steep and rocky, and only 41 miles long, but with a secure port ; Gorgona, about 25 mifes farther north, is still smaller, and is a mere rock, inhabited only by a few fishermen. South of Elba are the equally insignificant islets of Pianosa and Monte Cristo, while the more considerable island of Giglio lies much nearer the mainland, immediately opposite the remarkable mountain promontory of Moute Argentaro, itself almost an island. Of a wholly different character are the islands that are found farther south in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Of these Ischia and Procida, both of them situated almost close to the northern headland of the Bay of Naples, are entirely of volcanic origin, as is the case also w r ith the more distant group of the Ponza Islands. These are three in number Ponza, Palmaruola, and Zannone ; while Yandotena (also of volcanic formation) is