Many hundreds of the islanders are occupied during August in collecting salt, produced by evaporation from pouds or marshes, which is carried in loads by mules to the coast, where it is taken in by foreign vessels. It is al most the sole export, together with a little wool ; for the exportation of grain, fruit, and oil, though the principal natural products of the island, is injudiciously prohibited by government. The inhabitants, therefore, want evert. stimulus to exertion. They seek no more from agricul ture, than to satisfy their exigencies ; and bad seasons ex pose them to famine, while every superabundance of harvest is allowed to rot in the granaries. All the arts practised by them also are restricted to what necessity demands, and their inain object is shelter. Their costume is rude, and their dwellings void of ornament. In traversing the island, a stranger would believe himself transported to a country where civilization is in an early stage. Except in the im mediate neighbourhood of the villages, or leading to differ ent ports where the salt is embarked, the roads are scarce ly passable.
The island is partitioned into five districts : 1. The Plain of the City ; 2. St. Eulalia ; 3. Balanzat ; 4. Porma ny ; and, 5. The Salines. The first is the most important, and contains the town of Ivica, which consists of about 200 houses, together with a cathedral, six churches, a convent, and barracks for troops. It is commanded by a small for tress, occupying an eminence on the coast, to the cast ot' which are the suburbs, consisting of 420 houses. The total population of the place amounts to about 2600 or 2700 per SOM. This town is the seat of a governor, and was for
merly a bishop's see. Its port is spacious and convenient, and sheltered from all sides : but although presenting good anchorage at present, it is gradually choking up with the ballast discharged by the vessels coming hither to load with salt. Historians ascribe the foundation of the town to the Pheenicians, between six and seven centuries before Christ, and it is supposed to have been formerly more extensive. The fortress was erected by Charles V. of Spain, and re• paired by Ferdinand VI. Nothing of particular consequence is exhibited by the rest of the districts: that of Salines de rives its name from the salt which is collected from it. There is a regular body of militia here, each district af fording a quota, which altogether amounts to 1650 men. The island contains 2570 houses, and its total population is about 10,850 souls.
The history of Ivica does not afford matter of peculiar interest. It was anciently called Ebusee, and from hence the Carthaginians, long before the Christian xra, attempted the conquest of other islands in the Mediterranean. It was reduced by the Spaniards in 1234 ; and at a much later period, namely 1706, it surrendered to the British fleet, commanded by Sir John Leake. Ivica has generally fol lowed the fortunes of Majorca and Minorca, which have sometimes been captured by the naval force predominant in the Mediterranean. The position of the castle is in East Long. 1° 29' 12". North Lat. 38° 53' 16". (c)