Lipari has an area of about 11 square miles, with a population of 12,000. It is mountainous in character, and consists of tuffs and lavas, and of highly siliceous volcanic products such as quartz-trachyte, pumice, and obsidian. The great central cone, Monte Sant’ Angelo (1952 feet), is the ruin of an extinct volcano, as is also Monte Chirica (1978 feet); while Campo Bianco or Monte Pelato(1500 feet) is a mountain of white pumice, breached by an outflow of vitreous lava. Hot springs exist in various parts of the island, the most important being those of San Calogero, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, and situated about 6 miles from the town. The water, which possesses a temperature of 198° Fahr., contains free carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, together with carbonates of calcium and magnesium, and chlorides of calcium and sodium. The chief town, which stands on the eastern point of the island, is quite modern, and contains no objects of interest. The cathedral and several other churches are within the precincts of the castle, and they are presided over by a bishop and thirty-two canons. The castle is used as a prison for some four hundred malefactors, sent from various parts of Italy. The island is governed by a delegate, subject to the prefect of Messina. The soil is fertile; and a considerable trade is carried on by a number of merchants who export currants, figs, pumice stone, and malmsey wine. W 7 ater is scarce owing to the great porosity of the soil.

Six miles to the south of Lipari is the island of Vulcano, anciently known as Hiera, Vulcania, and Therusia. In early times it was a very active volcano; and it is described by Thucydides, Aristotle, and Callias as being frequently in a state of violent eruption. In the 2d century b.c. the smaller island of Vulcanello was upheaved from the sea. The present crater was probably formed during the eruption of 1786, from which time the volcano remained in a quiescent state till the autumn of 1873, when it commenced to discharge clouds of vapour, showers of sand, and large stones. Blue and green flames were also seen to issue from rifts in the floor of the crater. When visited by the writer in 1879, the volcano had again relapsed into the solfatara stage, and it had recently been purchased by a Scotch firm for £8000, for the purpose of extracting alum, boracic acid, and sulphur from the numerous products which line the sides and cover the floor of the crater. A number of volcanic minerals have been obtained from Vulcano; the most remarkable perhaps was that lately analysed by Professor Cossa of Turin, which was found to contain seven non-metallic elements and eight metals, among them the rare bodies thallium, caesium, and rubidium. The highest point of Vulcano—∙a portion of the old crater ring—has an altitude of 1601 feet.

A little more than 20 miles to the north-north-east of Lipari, the cone of Stromboli rises from the sea to a height of 3022 feet. It is of special interest to the vulcanologist from the fact that it is the only example in Europe of a volcano in a state of constant activity, and also because, from an elevated point above the crater (which is at the side of the cone below the summit), it is possible, when the wind blows away from the observer, to sit for hours and watch the operations going on within the crater. Such observations, carried out in 1788 by Spallanzani, made him the father of modern vulcanology, and furnished some of the most important data upon which the science is founded. The mountain is mentioned as early as the 4th century b.c.

Between Stromboli and Lipari there is a group of islets representing portions of the crater ring of a great volcano, the largest of which, Panaria {Hicesia), is 7 miles in circuit, and contains about 200 inhabitants. It produces wheat, oil, and wine. Salina {Didyme), 3 miles to the north-west of Lipari, has an area of 10 square miles, and consists of two volcanic cones rising respectively to the height of 3156 and 2821 feet. The island contains nearly 5000 inhabitants, who are mainly employed in cultivating the vines, which produce a fine malmsey wine. The cone of Filicudi rises to a height of 2598 feet, some 10 miles to the west of Salina, λvhile at an equal distance further west is Alicudi, the most westerly member of the Lipari group. It is partly cultivated, and is inhabited by about 500 fishermen and shepherds.

Good maps of the Lipari Islands have been published by the Italian Government. The best general account of the islands is still that of Admiral Smyth {Sicily and its Islands, 1824), while Professor J. W. Judd has exhaustively discussed their geology in the pages of the Geological Magazine for 1875.