The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-05-19

ehouO W vain any approaching Doat.
1t is eleven o'clock at night; all is still
as tomb; you hear no footfall-no
rumbling carriage-no busy sound of any
kind. The dipping of an oar, the gentle
gurgle of ripples under the bow, the gon-
dolier's shout at the turnings-these are
all the sounds you hear. You are amazed
to turn so many corners, and you wonder
how the boatmen find their way, or if they
arc really lost, Or if this can be the way,
to real hotel where hungry man can
find supper, and weary one bed
But all things end, and so docs your boat
ride, as you find your gondola alongside of q
handsome marble staircase. Half dozen
gentlemanly officials of the hotel are wait
ing to welcome you. You enter spa
cious hall in the hotel Barbesi, and before
an hour is past you feel yourself at home
in Venice.
hear dozen readers asking how this
is, and how were men ever led to build
houses and palaces, and all the structures
of busy city, in place 50 very wet
Perhaps | may as we'll answer this ques-
ton at the outset.
Venice owes its existence as city to
the fugitives who, on the invasion of
Italy by Attila, sought safety from the
sword of the Huns among the islands of
this region. CAT the extremity of the
gulf" says Gibbon, "wherc the Adriatic
feobly initiates the tides of the ocean, near
a hundred small islands are separated by
shallow water from the Continent, and
protected from the waves by several long
slips of land, which admit the entrance of
vessels through some secret and narrow
channels" The shore of the Adriatic
Sea, all the way from the river Adigc to
the Piave, was originally cut by many
streams, whose broad mouths, clustered
together along the coast, have received
the wash and delta of the country for CEN
turtles. The accumulation of sand and
earth thus broug int down formed clusters
of islands, some of them large and formed
of solid land, others barely visible at low
water, (the tide varies only about three
feet here,) and others always below the
surface.
Some of these islands were occupied in
the first quarter of the fifth century,
These settlements were made under the
protection of the neighboring cities on the
Continent, among which were Padua and
Aquileia. These cities were overpowered
by Attila in the year 442, when the peo-
pie, for greater security, betook them
selves to these watery refugees.
Enu muSt fancu RI unurcaluas n oo,o
try like that which lies between New York
and Newark, where we pass dreary acres
of salt marsh. Only let the plain lie
few feet lower, SO that the tide should
always cover it, and you have good idea
of the situation of Venice, with this ex-
ception, however, that the Venetian Ia
gune is enormously extended, while long
and narrow islands separate it from the
Adriatic, and form a secure breakwater
from the violence of the sea. The early
settlers built first, no doubt, on the high
er islands, which were more firm and dry.
As their houses multiplied they naturally
occupied all the area which was above
water, after which the city could be ex-
tended only by redeoming land from the
shallow sea adjoining.
Thus, by degrees, and under the stimu-
lus of commerce, Venice grew to be the
great, powerful and splendid city that it
was in the days of the Republic. l am
told that the foundations of stone and of
wooden piles which underlie the Venetian
palaces, were laid at enormous expense
l have heard some figures mentioned to
represent this cost, but they are so large
that | am afraid to quote them. Venice
is divided into two unequal parts by the
Grand Canal, the course of which through
the city follows the form of the letter S.
This broad canal is three hundred feet
wide, and it is crossed near its middle by
the, famous Rialto bridge, splendid mar
BILE structure of one spacious arch of more
than ninety feet. This remarkable bridge
was begun nearly three hundred years ago,
and so solidly was it built, that it stands
to-day as firm as could be desired. The
bridge is twonty-four feet above the water,
and seventy-two feet wide. 1t is divided
lengthwise into five parts, aAording three
streets or passages and two rows of shops
In the best days of Venice this bridge was
SO thronged by passengers that there was
hardly an hour of the day when you could
get along without considerable difficulty
The area between the bends of the
Grand Canal, and on every side of it, is
cut up into narrower canals and Streets
The great buildings, public Offices, every
thing representing wealth, are placed on
the canals, with access in the rear to the
narrow passages of pavement which are
called streets.
These streets are exceedingly crooked
and close; but they are lined with shops,
which are accessible, of course, to pedos-
TRANS. In fact, one can walk over a large
portion of the town, through these streets,
crossing the canals by bridges, which are
met with SO constantly that Venice might
be called the city of bridges. There are
nearly five hundred of them. But whoev-
er goes. on solid ground in Xenica must