Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/456

 438 besides the lofty central masses above enumerated, two other peaks deserve mention which, though outliers from the main range, and separated from it by valleys of con siderable extent, rise to a height exceeding that of all but a few of the points already cited. These are the Monte Terminillo, near Leonessa (7278 feet), and the Monte Velino near the Lake Fucino, rising to 8192 feet, both of which are covered with snow from November till May, and being within sight of Rome are familiar objects to most visitors to Italy. But though the Apennines of Central Italy, viewed in the mass, may be considered as thus con stituting a continuous range, they are far from having the definite arrangement which characterizes their northern extension from the neighbourhood of Genoa to the Adriatic. Instead of presenting, like the Alps and the northern Apennines, a definite central ridge, with transverse valleys leading down from it on both sides, the central Apennines in reality constitute a mountain mass of very considerable breadth, composed of a number of minor ranges and groups of mountains, which though very broken and irregular preserve a generally parallel direction, and are separated by upland valleys, some of them of considerable extent as well as considerable elevation above the sea. Such is the basin of the Lake Fucino, situated in the very centre of the whole mass, and almost exactly midway between the two seas, but at an elevation of 2180 feet above them ; while the upper valley of the Aterno, in which Aquila is situated, is not less than 2380 feet above the level of the sea. Still more elevated is the valley of the Gizio (a tributary of the Aterno), of which Sulmona is the chief town, and which communicates with the upper valley of the Sangro by a level plain called the Piano di Cinqua Miglia, at an elevation of not less than 4298 feet, regarded as the most wintry spot in Italy. Nor do the highest summits ever form a continuous ridge of great altitude for any considerable distance ; they are rather a series of groups separated by intervals of very inferior elevation forming natural passes across the range, and broken in some places (as is the case in almost all limestone countries) by the waters from the upland valleys turning suddenly at right angles, and breaking through the moun tain ranges which bound them. Thus the two loftiest groups of all, the Gran Sasso and the Majella, are separated by the deep valley of the Aterno, while the Tronto, in like manner, breaks through the range between Monte i O O Vettore and the Pizzo di Sevo. This constitution of the great mass of the central Apennines lias in all ages exer cised an important influence upon the character of this portion of Italy, which may be considered as divided by nature into two great regions, a cold and barren upland country, bordered on both sides by rich and fertile tracts, enjoying a warm but temperate climate. The district west of the Apennines, extending from the foot of the mountains to the sea, which constitutes a region of great beauty and fertility, though inferior in productive ness to northern Italy, may be considered as coinciding in a general way with the countries so familiar to all students of ancient history as Etruria and Latium. In modern times (until the recent union of all Italy) they were comprised in Tuscany and the southern Papal States. The northern part of Tuscany is indeed occupied to a considerable extent by the underfalls and offshoots of the Apennines, which, besides the ordinary slopes and spurs of the main range that constitutes its northern frontier towards the plain of the Po, throw off several outlying ranges or groups, which attain to a very considerable elevation. Of these the most remarkable i s the group between the valleys of the Serchio and the Magra, commonly known as the mountains of Carrara, from the celebrated marble quarries in the vicinity of that city. Two of the summits of this group, the Pizzo [GEOGRAPHY. d Uccello and the Pania della Croce, attain to G155 and 6100 feet. Another lateral range, the Prato Magno, which branches off from the central chain at the Monte Falterona, and separates the upper valley of the Arno from its second basin, rises to 5188 feet; while a similar branch, called the Alpe della Catenaja, of inferior elevation, divides the upper course of the Arno from that of the Tiber. The rest of this tract is for the most part a hilly, broken country, but does not in general rise into anything like mountains, with the exception of the Monte Amiata, near Radicofani, a lofty isolated mass of volcanic origin, which attains to a height of 5650 feet. South of this the country between the frontier of Tuscany and the Tiber is in great part of volcanic origin, forming hills of no great elevation, with distinct crater-shaped basins, in several instances occupied by small lakes (the Lake of Bolsena, Lake of Vico, and Lake of Bracciano) ; and this volcanic tract extends across the Campagna of Rome, till it rises again in the lofty group of the Alban hills, the highest summit of which, the Monte Cavo, is 3160 feet above the sea. In this part the Apennines are separated from the sea by a space of only about 30 miles in width, occupied by the undulating volcanic plain of the Roman Campagna, -from which the mountains rise in a wall-like barrier, of which the highest point, the Monte Gennaro, attains to a height of 4165 feet. South of Palestrina again, the main mass of the Apennines throws off another lateral mass, known in ancient times as the Volscian mountains (now called the Monti Lepini), separated from the central ranges by the broad valley of the Sacco, a tributary of the Liris or Garigliano, and forming a large and rugged mountain mass, nearly 5000 feet in height, which descends to the sea at Terracina, and between that point and the mouth of the Liris throws out several rugged mountain headlands, which may be con sidered as constituting the natural boundary between Latium and Campania, and consequently the natural limit of Central Italy. But besides these offshoots of the Apennines there are in this part of Central Italy several detached mountains, rising almost like islands on the sea-shore, of which the two most remarkable are the Monte Argentaro on the coast of Tuscany near Orbetello (2087 feet high) and the Monte Circello (1771 feet) at the angle of the Pontine Marshes, by the whole breadth of which it is separated from the Volscian Apennines. The two valleys of the Arno and the Tiber (called in Italian Tevere) may be considered as furnishing the key to the geography of all this portion of Italy west of the Apennines. The Arno, which has its source in the Monte Falteronn, one of the most elevated summits of the main chain of the Tuscan Apennines, flows at first nearly south till in the neighbourhood of Arezzo it turns abruptly to the north-west, and pursues that course as far as Pontassieve, where it again makes a sudden bend to the west, and pursues a westerly course from thence to the sea, passing through the two celebrated cities of Florence and Pisa. Its principal tributary is the Sieve, which joins it at Pontassieve, bringing down the waters of the Val di Mugello. The Elza and the Era, which join it on its right bank, descending from the hills near Siena and Volterra, are inconsiderable streams ; and the Serchio, which flows from the territory of Lucca and the Alpi Apuani, and formerly joined the Arno a few miles from its mouth, now enters the sea by a separate channel. The most consider able rivers of Tuscany south of the Arno are the Cccina, which flows through the plain below Volterra, and the Ombrone, which rises in the hills near Siena, and enters the sea about 12 miles below Grosseto. The Tiber, a much more important river than the Arno, and the largest in Italy with the exception of the Po, rises in the Apennines, about 20 miles east of the source of