Keck+Magellan survey for LLSs. III.

We measure column densities of neutral hydrogen N_H1_ and associated metal-line transitions for 157 LLSs at z_LLS_=1.76-4.39 restricted to 10^17.3^cm^-2^<=N_HI_<10^20.3^cm^-2^. An empirical analysis of ionic ratios indicates an increasing ionization state of the gas with decreasing N_H1_ and that the majority of LLSs are highly ionized, confirming previous expectations.

The Si^+^/H^0^ ratio spans nearly four orders of magnitude, implying a large dispersion in the gas metallicity. Fewer than 5% of these LLSs have no positive detection of a metal transition; by z~3 nearly all gas that is dense enough to exhibit a very high Lyman limit opacity has previously been polluted by heavy elements. We add new measurements to the small subset of LLS (~5%-10%) that may have super-solar abundances.