This Barge Is Well Fitted Up And Supplied With Comestibles Of All
Sorts And Couches To Recline On.
The price is twelve francs for the
passage, and you pay extra for refreshments.
The bark got under weigh at
seven o'clock and descended rapidly this majestic river, which however,
from its great breadth, and from the country on each side of it being
perfectly flat, did not offer any interesting points of view. Plains and
cattle grazing thereon were the only objects, for they take care to build
the farms and houses at a considerable distance from the banks, on account
of the inundations. After having descended the Po for a considerable
distance, we entered a canal which unites the Po with the Adige. We then
descended the Adige for a short distance, and entered another canal which
unites the Adige with the Brenta. Here we stopped to change barges, and it
required an hour and half to unload and reload the baggage. We then entered
the Brenta and from thence into the Lagoons, and passing by the islands of
Malamocco and Chiozzo entered Venice by the Canale grande at three
o'clock in the morning. The whole night was so dark as totally to deprive
us of the view of the approach of Venice. The barge anchored near the Post
office and I hired a gondola to convey me to the inn called Le Regina
d'Ungheria.
VENICE, 26th May.
I was much struck, as everyone must be who sees it for the first time, at
the singular appearance of Venice. An immense city in the midst of the
Ocean, five miles distant from any land; canals instead of streets;
gondolas in lieu of carriages and horses! Yet it must not be inferred from
this that you are necessarily obliged to use a gondola in order to visit
the various parts of the city; for its structure is as follows. It is built
in compartments on piles on various mud banks, always covered indeed by
water, but very shallow and separated from each other (the mud banks I
mean) by deep water. On each of these compartments are built rows of
houses, each row giving front to a canal. The space between the backs of
the rows of houses forms a narrow street or alley paved with flag stones,
very like Cranborn Alley for instance; and these compartments are united to
each other (at the crossings as we should say) by means of stone bridges;
so that there is a series of alleys connected by a series of bridges which
form the tout ensemble of this city; and you may thus go on foot thro'
every part of it. To go on horseback would be dangerous and almost
impracticable, for each bridge has a flight of steps for ascent and
descent. All this forms such a perfect labyrinth from the multiplicity and
similarity of the alleys and bridges, that it is impossible for any
stranger to find his way without a guide.
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