Epirus, with the exception of the district on the Ambracian gulf, is altogether a mountainous country. The mountains coming down from the north rise, as in Illyricum, between the district of the Drino and the frontier of Epirus, where they remove considerably from the coast, so that this part consists of low hills on the coast, and of undulating river districts of great extent. The mountains which separate Macedonia and Illyricum, and which there form such gigantic masses, extend in the south towards the sea, and hence constitute the boundary between Epirus and the country, from which the Illyrians on their progress towards the south, were unable to expel the native tribes. The CERAUNIAN mountains, running parallel with the coast of Corfu, extend into the Adriatic Sea, and end in a promontory without having any continuation in Italy. The opposite mountains in Calabria (the modern Terra di Lecce) form a high plateau of limestone, whereas on the east of the Adriatic they consist partly of slate and partly of primary rocks. In the east of Epirus, PINDUS extends in a series of parallel ranges, and rises to its greatest height in those very parts, its summit separating Epirus and Thessaly. The mountains there are in a high degree volcanic, whence the name Ceraunian, for it is literally a perpetually thundering mountain. The ancients knew very well, what modern natural philosophers for a time disbelieved, that thunder-storms may arise from the earth as well as from the atmosphere; and the former is the case especially in volcanic districts. Aristotle and Pliny knew this quite well, but about fifty years ago it was unknown to our natural philosophers. Even at times when there is no volcanic eruption of mount Vesuvius, not only subterraneous but real thunder is often heard, and a person looking without prejudice may see flashes of lightning issuing from the volcano. Hence those mountains are described as seats of lightning. Those terrible mountains, _infames scopuli Acroceraunia_, fully deserve this name, because they form a rocky and harbourless coast. The scirocco, the destructive south wind, dashes the ships against those rocks, and there is no port far and wide in which they might take refuge. That part of the Adriatic is still notorious for numerous shipwrecks. Another circumstance which makes it dangerous, and which was known to the ancients, but of which moderns are ignorant, is the Syrtes. The accounts of the ancients about them are by no means fabulous: they are dangerous on account of the currents which flow straightway into both the larger and the lesser Syrtis; if a sailor gets into them, he knows not where he is, and during a north wind it is impossible for him to work his way against it and the Syrtes. The ancients understanding this, sailed closer to the coast; at present, when sailors keep more to the middle, there is less danger. If the countries east of the Adriatic should ever become the seat of commerce and exports,