Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/171

 AFENKINU& tixatk tVy iBwIiriiih in heigbi, tlMxigh stOl ibnning a Tsrt matt of mount juds of ray irrognlar farm and APENNINUS. 155 Ftvm tkft Momie Netone, near the soaroes of the Metuirw, to tlw vtSkj of the Sagros, or SanffrOy the warn nage of the Apennines oeutinves much nofer to the Admtie thn the Trnheman Sea; 8r» that a verj nanwr strip of low eoantry interranes betwen the foot of the motmtaixis and tike sea on their eastexD side, while on the west the wfa<^e broad tzart of Etmria and Latinm separates the Apennines froaxi the Tynheman. This is indeed broken by Buneroos minor raises of hills, and even by moun- tan^ ef conaideimble elevation (snch as the Monte Awkiaia, nmr RatUeofam)^ some of which may be orasaiened as depeodeneies or oatlien of the Apen- nsos; while othere are of volcanic origin, and whiiiy independent of tbenu To this last class htiaof: the Moos Ciminns and the Alban Hills ; the xaa«e of die Volsdan Moantains, «n the contraiy, now called Monti LepinL which sepanEttes the Tal- fies of the Trems and me Lire Gram the Pontine Mardwa, oectainly bdongs to the system of the Apronines, which here again descend to the shore of the w ester n sea between Tarracina and Gaieta. Fnxo thence the western ranges of the chain sweep rooad in a semicircle aroond the fertile plain df Campama, and send oat in a SW. direction the bold and lofty lidge which separates the Bay of Naples frara diat of Salerno, and ends in the pro- n a u nt ut y of ICnerTB, opposite to the ishmd of Capreae. Ob the & the moontains gradnally recede from the sImrs fl€ the Adriatic, so as to leave a broad plain beta e tJA their lowest slopes and the sea, which ex- tends without tntemxption from the mouth of the Freato (^Fortore) to that of the Aofidos {Of<mto) : the lofty and ragged mass of Monnt Gaiganos, which haa beoi geneially described from the days of Pto- femy to oor own as a branch of the Apennines, bni^;, in fibct, a wholly detached and isolated ridge. ^GAnoAarTTB.] In the soathem parts of Samniam (the n^ion of the Hirpini) the Apennines present a wry eonfbsed and irregalsi' mass ; the central point or knot of which is formed by the gronp of moon- tains about the head of the AoMos, which has the loDeeat course fimn W. to £. of any of the xiTers of itsiy S. of the Padas. From this point the central a sootherly direction, while nnmerous or brandies occa|7 almost the whole of extending on the W. to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the & to the Golf of Tarentom. On the E. of the Hirpini, and immediately on the fron- of Apulia and Lncania, rises the conspicuoas of Moont Valtur, which, though closely ad- juin^ the chain of the Apennines, is geologically K<J phyucaDy distinct from them, being an iso- kced moontain of volcanic origin. [Vultur.] ied. fanned lately S. of lit. Vnltor there branches «f fitm the cental mass of the Apennines a chain •f pmt hiOa, rather than mowitains, which extends to the eastward into Apalia, presenting a broad tnrt of barren hilly oonntry, but gradnally declining ia hdght as it approaches the Adriatic, nntal it ends oa that eoart in a nuige of low hills between Egnatia Bnmdnaiaro. The peninsula of Calabria is only by a ridge of low calcareous hills of oripn and of very trifHng elevation, though mgafied by many maps and geographical writers iaSD a oootinuation of the Apennines. (Cluver. lUd. fk 30; Swinbnme, TraveU in tiis Tibo Sicilies^ vaL L pp. 210, 21 1.) The main ridge of the latter approaches very near to the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the neighbourhood of the Golf of Po/tcos^ro (Buxentum), and retahas tins proximity as it descends throogh Brattium; but £. of Consentia (Cosensa) lies the great forest-covered mass of the Sila, in some de- gree detached from the main chain, and situated between it and the coast near Orotona. A little further south occurs a remarkable break in the hitherto continuous chain of the Apennines, which appears to end lUnnptly near the .modan village of Tiriohy so that the two gulfs of Sta £itfemia and SguUlaae (the Sinus Terinaeus and Scyltetinus) are separated only by a low neck of land, less than 20 miles in breadth, and of such small elevation that not only did the elder Dionysius concdve the idea of carrying a wall across this bthmus (Strab. vi. p. 261), but in modem times Charles IIL, king of Naples, proposed to cut a canal through it. The mountains which rise again to the S. of this re- markable interruption, form a lofty and rugged mass (now called Atpromonte)^ which assimies a SW. direction and continues to the extreme southern point of Italy, where the promontory of Leucopetra is expressly designated, both by Strabo and Ptolemy, as the extremity of the Apennines. (Strab. v. p. 211; Ptol. iii. 1. § 44.) The loaiest summit in the soathem division of the Apennines is the Monte PoUmOy near the south fipontier of Lucania, which rises to above 7000 feet: the highest point of the Sila attains to nearly 6000 feet, and the summit of AapromonU to above 4500 feet. (For further de- tails concerning the geography of the Apennines, especially in Central Italy, the reader may consult Abeken, MUtel Italien, pp. 10—17, 60->65 ; Kra- mer, Ber Fudner See, pp. 6 — 1 1.) Almoet the whole mass of the Apennines consists of limestone : primary rocks appear only in the southern- most portion of the chain, particularly in the range of i^e AspromonUy which, in its geological stmcturo and physical characters, presents much more analogy with the range in the N£. of Sicily, thaU with the rest of the Apennines. The loftier ranges of the latter are for the most part bare rocks ; none of them at- tain such a hdght as to be covered with perpetual snow, though it is said to lie all the year round in the lifts and hollows of Monte Majella and the Gran Saseo. But all the highest summits, includ- ing the MofUe Velino and Monte TerminiUoj both of which are visible ftom Borne, are covered with snow early in November, and it does not disappear before the end of May. There is, therefore, no ex- aggeration in Virgil's expression, " nivali Yertice se attoUens pater Apenninus ad auras." Aen, xiL 703; see also Sil. Ital. iv. 743. The flanks and lower ridges of the loftier moun- tains are still, in manv places, covered with dense woods ; but it is probable that in ancient times the forests were fisur more extensive (see Plin. xxxi 3. 26): many parts of the Apeimines which are now wholly bare of trees being loiown to have been cO' vered with forests in the middle ages. Pine trees appear only gd. the loftier summits : at a lower level are found woods of oak and beech, while chesnuts and holm-oaks (iUcea) clothe the lower slopes and vallies. The mountain regions of Samnium and the districts to the N. of it afford excellent pasturage in summer both for sheep and cattle, on which ac- count they were frequented not only by their own herdsmen, but by those of Apulia, who annually drove their flocks from their own parched and dnsty