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 442 ITALY out the whole peninsula of Otranto, the shore is low and sandy; and at the bottom of the gulf -of Taranto lies the only marshy district along the coast of the Ionian sea. From Cape Santa Maria di Leuca the shore is only broken by the spur on which stand Mts. Gargano and Sant' Angelo, and the gulfs of Manfredonia and Venice. From the river Tronto the shore is flat and sandy as far as Ancona, between the promontories of Monte Oiriaca and Mon- te Oonero. Thence northward to Rimini the coast rises gradually, to subside rapidly beyond that city into a series of sandy islands, lagoons, and pestilential marshes, extending almost to the mouth of the Isonzo. The principal har- bors along this vast line of coast are : on the west, Genoa, Spezia, Leghorn, Civitd Vecchia, Gaeta, Naples, and Reggio ; on the south, Ta- ranto ; on the east, Brindisi, Bari, Ancona, Rimi- ni, Chioggia, and Venice. The most important islands along the coast are Elba, Ischia, and Ca- pri on the west. The surface of the peninsula is divided by its mountain ranges into a wonder- ful diversity of sublime alpine scenery, upland valleys, broad plains, pestilential lowland and marsh, and numerous lakes surrounded by ev- ery charm of nature. Between the steep north- ern wall of the Alps and the ridges of the Ap- ennines, to the west and south, stretches the great Lombard plain, the most fertile region in Europe, watered by the Po and the Adige, the two largest rivers of Italy. From Bologna and Imola, on the S. extremity of this plain, to the straits of Messina, the remainder of the peninsula is divided by the Apennines into a broad mountainous belt, marked by lofty peaks clad with forests to their summits, by numberless valleys between the parallel ranges or their interlocking spurs, and by rolling up- lands and plains available for all the purposes of husbandry. Between the central ridges and the seashore lie wide bands of marshy and pestilential country, and several plains which, though far inferior in extent and fertility to that of Lombardy, possess considerable impor- tance. These are, on the W. side, Campagna di Roma with the Pontine Marshes, and the Campagna Felice near Naples ; on the E. side, the Apulian plain, anciently one of the chief seats of Grecian civilization, now almost a des- ert and thinly populated (the plain of Basilica- ta), extending in the south along the shore of the Ionian sea, on which formerly flourished the Greek cities of Sybaris and Heraclea. The great mountain systems are the Alps and the Apennines, including the Sub-Apennine ranges. The former begin on the axis of the Ligurian chain, not far from the source of the Bormida,. and sweep round in an irregular semi-elliptic curve along the frontiers of France, Switzer- land, and Austria, to the western declivities of the Carnic Alps. The latter from Monte Ap- pio in the Maritime Alps stretch N. E. and E. around the gulf of Genoa, and from Monte Ci- mone on the confines of Emilia and Tuscany extend to the straits of Messina. (See ALPS, and APENXIXES.) The Sub-Apennines lie whol- ly W. of the main chain, to which they do not appear geologically to belong, and, under the appellations of Tuscan, Roman, and Neapolitan Sub-Apennines, extend to Mt. Vesuvius in the south, and terminate at Punta della Campanel- la opposite the island of Capri ; they embrace a great part of the plain of the Arno and the Campagna di Roma. Of the innumerable val- leys of the sub-Alpine region, the most re- nowned are the Val di Clusone, once the refuge of the Waldenses, that of the Dora Susiria above Turin, the Val d'Aosta, and the Valtelliua, with such as are formed by the other affluents of the Po and those of the Ticino, the Adige, and the Piave, as well as by the rivers that empty into the great lakes. Along the Apennines are the Val d'Arno, those of the Tiber, Volturno, &c., and the beautiful upland valleys of the centre and south. Italy has but two rivers of impor- tance, viz., the Po and the Adige. The former, with a length of about 400 m., waters, with its tributaries (the Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and Min- cio on the N. bank, the Tanaro, Trebbia, Taro, Secchia, and Panaro on the S. bank), a plain extending over 300 m. in length and 170 in breadth. The Adige, descending from the Alps, flows in a semicircle to the east, falling into the Adriatic at no great distance from the Po ; it is navigable only to a short distance above Verona. Nearly all the other rivers are mere mountain torrents, having a short course and no considerable depth ; hence they afford very limited facilities to commerce. The most noted of them are the Brenta, Piave, and Ta- gliamento in the north, the Arno and Tiber in the centre, and the Garigliano, Volturno, and Silaro (Sele) in the south. The mouths of most small rivers of S. Italy are surrounded with swamps, the noxious gases of which generate malaria and render the surrounding districts almost uninhabitable. Nine principal canals, chiefly for the purposes of irrigation, were con- structed during the middle ages in Lombardy and Venetia. The finest of these, the Naviglio Grande or Ticinello, between the Ticino and Milan, was begun in 1179 ; it is 28 m. long and navigable for vessels of large size. Piedmont is intersected by about 260 canals. This sys- tem was perfected at an early period, and proved extremely beneficial to agriculture. The most extensive lakes, several of which are celebra- ted for the picturesqueness of their surrounding scenery, belong to upper Italy. Lago Maggio- re, 40 m. long, has a depth of about 2,500 ft. ; its surface is about 700 ft. above the level of the sea ; it is fed chiefly by the river Ticino. The lake of Lugano belongs mainly to Switzer- land. The lake of Como, 35 m. long, and of great depth, is fed by the river Adda and a large number of smaller streams. Lake Iseo, 15 m. long, is chiefly supplied by the Oglio. Lake Garda, which belongs partly to Tyrol, is 33 m. long, and of sufficient depth to carry vessels of the greatest draught. Besides these, there are the lake of Bientina in Tuscany, the lake of