The Pontine marshes which lie at the southern boun dary.ur the Campagna arc so extremely insalubrious, i that it is dangerous even to travel through them in sum merand autumn. Various attempts have been made by the popes to drain this unwholesome tract. " Pope Pius. V I. at a great expellee," says an anonymous au •hor, " converted a very considerable part of these per nicious marshes into pasturage, corn fields, and rice plantations. Ile made a canal 20 miles in length, which convey s the once stagnant waters into the sea ; and he intersected it with many lesser hich direct them so as to fertilize the fields, which they once ran. dered useless and pestilential." It appears. however. from the observations of Al. Bonstetten, that the insa lubrity of the air has rather increased than diminished since this partial draining was completed.
The south-east and south-west winds, the scirocco and lifieccio, are extremely oppressive and insalubrious. though in winter the former contributes much to the mildness of the climate. The tramontano, or north wind. is delightful in spring and autumn, but in winter it oc casions severe cold. The ponente, or west wind, still re tains the character of the zephyrs, and the Favonian breezes of the ancients.
The wind commonly blows from the east in the morn ing; declining sometimes to the north, it becomes north east, and at other times, turning to the south it settles in scirocco. It is generally. south, however, at noon, and then declines to the east or west, but most fre quently to the latter, and often becomes due west, which continues all the evening and part of the night. This and the northerly winds are generally accompanied with a considerable dew. The south wind, which prevails at noon, particularly in summer, is a sea breeze, and renders temperate the meridian heat of the sun. It ap pears from a meteorological table kept at Rome in March, April, and May 1803, that the average height of the thermometer exposed to the north in March was 60° Fahrenheit, in Aprii 70°, and in May 68°. The mi
12i11712711 height during these three months was 52", and the maximum 75°.
\Ve have no information respecting the trade and manufactures of the Campagna, which must be very limited. Sulphur is obtained in great quantities from a mine about four miles from Nettuno ; and at a place called Campo Leone, there are iron works belonging to Prince 1)oria. There are several paper, iron, and corn mills erected on the stream i\Iarrana, near Grotta Ferrata; and there are various manufactures of paper, iron, and oil upon the Anio. Gunpowder is made on the spot where the villa of Mxcenas once stood. Flax is cultivated in considerable quantities in the Valle di Laricia; ann a good deal of manna and turpentine is col lected.in the neighbourhood of Monte Spaccato. The cultivation of the vine is well understood in the Cam pagna, hut no where are the inhabitants so little ac quainted with the art of making wine. Oil is made in great quantities, and the proprietors derive a considera ble part of their income from this source. The princi pal towns in the Campagna are Rome, Vellctri, Fras cati, Palestrina, Terracinas, Nettuno, Ostia, and Tivoli. See Pliny, lib. xviii. cap. i.; Varro, lib. ii.; Neaste Stu tistische and Morabsche Uebersicht des Kirehenstaats, Lubeck, 1793 ; Keysler's Travels, vol. ii. p. 432-446 ; Mem. ?lcad Par. 1779, p. 579; Lumsden's Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome, London. 1797 ; Voyage sur la scene des six dernicrs livres de L'Eneide, par C. V. de Bonstetten, Geneve, 1805 ; description of Latium or La Campagna di Roma, London, 1805 ; and Breislae Voy age Physique et Lithologique dam la Campagna, traduit du Manuscript Italien, par le General Pontine mull, 2 vols, Paris, 1803. (o)