The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-22
should take passengers first. The goudola

SHOULD TAKE passengers 1rSt. Inc g0nQ0la
is long and narrow with sharp steel edge,
and 1t glides through the water with
sWiftness and directness. 1t is painted
black and has usually carriage canopy in
the centre. These boats are often very
pretty but the day when they were so gorge
Gus as to inspire the lover and the poet is no
longer. On the grand canal the prosac
steamboat has supplemented them, though
not without struggle, about four years
ago. Still there are 1900 gondolas in
Venice.
The sight of beautiful Venice from the
steamer deck is indispensable. She looks
like number of detached towns bath
Ing IN the sea. | was fortunate
enough to witness also the sunrise,
which, before had thought could exist in
such beauty only on canvass. The streets
are rivers, except few narrow alleys, and
even these are intercepted by water. The
Broadway of Venice is the grand canal
down which we pass to the depot. Tur-
rets and old castles line the waters edges
1t is an odd and striking scene, yet what is
wanting seems to be compensated for in
one grand plaza called the st. Mark ~
which Is magnihcentas nothing else. There
are many bridges leading from house to
house across the streets. One is marble
bridge called the Rialto, another, the
Bridge of Signs, which Hood has made
prisoners were taken to the bridge and
dumped into the channel below.
The bridge is span between the palace
OF the Doges and the opposite building and
Is about twenty feet wide We selected
from the crowd of Fostering guides which
followed our footsteps, one who could
speak English tolerably WELL and he con-
Quoted US to the palace of the Doges, where
we inspected the fourteen immense sa-
Of
these was the room in which the Doges
during the time of the Venetian republic
were elected, the result being announced
to the public below from window An
other was the room where the golden book
OF the republic was kept. Ia this room
Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed part of the
seats. The paintings in the palace illus
trate the entire history Of the country and
demand our attention. One in oils on can
vass is seventy feet by forty feet and con-
talns 800 figures. 1t was the work of sew
enteen years and is called Paradise. An
other represents the last judgment, in
which the artist depicts his wife in heaven,
hell and purgatory.
Along the palace is long and wide
balcony surrounded by a row of white
marble pillars, excepting two Immediately
in front of the door which are red, and be-
tween these the death sentences of po-
llt1cal conv1cts were read. BY the door is
lions head with open mouth, into which
secret Information was thrust upon which
many poor wretch forfeited his life On
the left is the pillory where the unfortu-
mates were exposed, sometimes for several
days, to the rude gaze and iibes of the
mob before they were banished or exc
cuted. To the right and near the sea are
two noble columns, likewise of marble.
Here the executions took place, the head of
the victim being chopped off, after which
the body was thrown into the sea.
st. Marks square is without exception
the most beautiful in the world, and the
most conspicuous object theron is the grand
st. Marks cathedral with its lions mosaics,
domes, organ and history known the world
over 1t is tianked by the royal palace
another ambitious pile.
l also visited the Venetian glass factory
and was shown through the works and
storehouses. The proprietor speaks Eng
lsh ana counts Americans among his best
customers. The glass is spun as thin and
flexible as the finest thread and braided
and converted into all conceivable forms.
One man made a bead with my initials on
1T while | was watching him and also a
spray OF flowers with the natural colors in
delicate layers.
mosaics and glassware are truly beautiful.
If also expensive. One little dish cost $40,
but the Italian told me that Tiffany, in New
York, would ask $50 at the least for the
same piece. AT 2 pm. we left Venice ov r
the Grand canal and then by rail over an
immense bridge, for old Verona, the scene
of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet"
VERONA E. POLLOCK,
VENICE November 5 1891