Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1850-11-27
VEN &c E.

bridges, canals. islands and narrow streets
is historically familiar TO most persons in
this land Of universal " educ cation The
descriptions Of the beautiful . Floating
City" of Venice. have been read and re-
read by nearly all the school children in
the land still we have read some ..inci-
dental observations " touching the present
outward appearance and historical asso-
Citations of this notable city, in the New
York Commercial Advertiser, which we
deem unusually interesting. From these
observations " the following is cleaned
cincinnati Gazette
Venice is unlike any other CITY in the
world-it has a population of 1l5 900.
located in 27.9l0 houses. There are SOC
bridges, mostly marble, and 2. .1O8 narrow
communicating streets. The city is built
on 72 small islands, with pile and stone
foundations for the buildings. 1t is seven
miles in circumference-the grand canal
is 800 feet wide and others Of less width
but the widest street is not more Than 10
or 9 feet from house 10 house. and the
majority not over eight feet Horses are
unknown. and the largest animal TO be
seen is dog.
The foundation Of this city was com
menced in the wear 4Oo; the Church OF
Santa Maria de la Salute was built in
1851. rests on one million two hundred
thousand piles and contains 1875 statutes.
In Venice there are thousands who never
saw hill. wood. an ear OF corn grow
ing, green field. or even horse or car
riage The canals are traversed by Condo
las, species of canoe. % fee, long. with
a cabin in the centre to hold five or six
persons. These canoes are painted black
and look like floating hearses. This color
is established bv law Of the | 9th centu
rv to prevent the luxury Of the patricans
the ambassadors of foreign powers are
the only class exempted from this law as
to coIor
The piles that were driven upon the first
colonization Of the place, are still good.
and some Of them have recently been ia
ken up and manufactured into billiard ta
bles Upon the grand door of St. Marks
Cathedral are ten huge lions heads in
bronze. with iron rings in their mouths for
knockers. The churches are all built OF
stone, morble. or brick. and are indestruc-
tble. The lustral vases Of holy water IN
the Cathedral. hold barrel each. Every
thing in Italy connected with churches.
IS on colossal scale--the columns before
the temple of St Peter. require eight men
to span around each column. and the stat
ute of ST. Luke holds in its hand a pen
fifteen feet long
The narrow canals Of Venice are filled
with impure and muddy water, but the
grand and main canals is pure enough for
nvmph to bathe in. The Square in front
Of the Cathedral is called the :. heart - of
Venice; it was here that Othello first saw
Desdemona, and it was this Square that
Napolean compared to saloon that the
heavens were only worthy for a covering.
The palaces around this Square are noble
beyond desert ption, and it is visited by the
Venecans at least once dav.
The occasion Of Napoleon's visit to
Venice in 1909. is memorable for its une-
qualled celebration. The Cathedral, pal
aces. &c. were each night one dazzling
blaze Of fire; six hogsheads Of oil and
thousands and thousands Of candles were
consumed nightly in their illumin atoms.
The canopy used on the occasion, was
nearly all gold. and cost $4,000. The
bell-tower of the Cathedral is 3o3 feet
hgh-its summit is reached by winding
passage. and Napoleon ascended this
:. Venetian Chinborago = on horseback.
Formerly Venice had 900 palaces, but the
number is now greatly lessened.
The "Rialto'' and the square at ST
Marks are noisy places, and always filled
with people. but in many places. the
bridges. the streets and squares are over
grown with grass. Trees and gardens
are luxury in Venice. lots = are high
Tba II,
women wear neither hats nor bonnets. but
have their dark. rich hair arranged in form
Of a Roman helmet There is one Turk 8
Mosque and eight Jewish Synagogues in
Venice.
The average depth of the canals is six
feet, but the grand canal is 90 feet deep.
The arsenal is two miles in circuit and
contains arms for GO.OOO men.
In bidding person good by in Venice,
they say "your servant "--in Rome
:. adieu' and in Naples. 4" fare you well =
In salutng a person in England or Amer
lea. they say. - How do you do - In
Holland. 8. How do you sail - and in
Italy. " How do you stand 2"
The Venetian Republic. after a glor-
Gus career of 400 years. fell. on the ] 9th
May. 1897. into the hands Of Napoleon
Bonaparte. At that date her affairs were
governed by Lodovico Manin. the CXX.
and the last of the Doges. With the fall
of Napoleon. Venice was annexed to the
Austrian Empire. TO which power she is
still in hopeless subsection.
ITLate advices from Algiers state
that the Cholera has re-appeared there. +
The deaths in two days amount to 100. /.
tThree hundred and thrtv-two Nor !
mons. from England, landed at St. Louis
on Saturday last, on their way 10 the
Great Sal, Lake It is said that several
thousand more will follow the coming
winter.