The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-31

in the play what no one ever did in
fact-get the best of the chosen one of
IsraePs race" 1 have always thought
that Shylock was not well treated in
that affair.
Except from the summit of the Rialto
which is dishgured by little wooden
shops-there is no view" in Venice
worth the name. It is interesting to sit
in your gondola and go twisting about
the little narrow streets. grazing the
corners of palaces and humping passing
vehicles. But it soon grows tiresone,
and you cannot but think how incon-
venient it must be for burglars, and
cats, and people who are obliged to
move quickly and in hurry. especially
if they cannot swim.
Twisting and turning like a great
black water snake, We again reach the
square of Saint Mark and disembark.
Two bronze figures on the summit of
the clock tower near the cathedral,
strike the hour of two upon the bell,
and at the sound several thousand of
the feathered citizens Of Venice cry
Zoo" for the wheat and bread crumbs
and seeds which they know are coming.
These are the pigeons, which are fed by
the authorities every day at 2 o'clock
on the plaza, and the bright-eyed ras-
Gals know the time to a minute, for
about five minutes before the hour they
commence to gather there from all
parts of the city. At half-past one
o'clock and again at half-past two
O'Clock you will not see fifty pigeons
On the grand plaza, but at two o'clock
the ground is black with them.
Near the landing place on the square
of Saint Mark are two lofty columns
of red granite, one surmounted by the
winged lion of Saint Mark, and the
other by statue of the patron saint OF
Venice, Saint Theodore. The architect
who erected these pillars had been
promised any reward he chose to name
for his services. He asked that gamb-
ling-which was prohibited in Venice
by severe penalties-might be per-
mitted between the columns. The Vene-
tan Senate never repudiated its
pledges-that is to say directly-and it
granted the required permission. but at
the same decreed that all public execu-
lions should take place at the same
spot AS may be ina gined this had the
effect to nullify the profit of the license
to play, for gamblers are more or less
superstitious, and who would care to
indulge in a social game of draw" I'M
der a creaking gibbet, or interview
the Egyptian while surrounded by the
paraphernalia of death?
The Palace of the Doges, which has
been five times destroyed during the
last ten centuries and as often rebuilt,
each time with greater magnificence, is.
perhaps, the most interesting edifice in
Venice. The present building is about
five hundred years old, and was con-
structed before the Portuguese de-
stroyed the prosperity of the city by
discovering the passage to India around
the Cape of Good Hope. On two sides
there are coIonnades of over one hun
dred marble columns, one above the
other; two of these are of red marble,
and from between these sanguinary pill
lars death sentences We're read in the
time of the republic. The ediffce Is
built around a court wherein are sunk
the vast rain-water cisterns with open
ings of bronze. There are here statues
of Adam and Eve, and at the head of
the staircase above are giant statues
of Neptune and Mars. We pass through
the public reading-room into the great
picture gallery, with its gilt and
carved ceiling, and it's cornice contain
ing the portraits of the seventy-odd
Doges of Venice, some by Titan and
some by Trintoretto. A black curtain
over one of these portraits bears the
inscription ''FIic locus est Marini Fale-
tri, decapitati pro criminibus;" and if
the reader does not know what that
means neither do /. 1t sounds like
statement to the effect that Marini was
low cuss who lost his head. The walls
are covered with paintings, mostly
aIlegorical and historical, and the
glories of Venice and achievements of
Venetians are abundantly apotheosised.
Tn an adjacent apartment is the paint
ing of 1.-THE Last Judgment" Here it
was that the forty-one mobiles were
elected who in turn acted as electors OF
the Doge And so through picture
hung rooms and up sculpture-adorned
stairways, we reach the upper story
and enter the Sala della Bussola, the
ancient anti-chamber of the Inquisitors.
Near the entrance is an opening in the
wall, where once was the lions head,
into which the anonymous accusations
were thrown. Suppose, dear readers,
YOU were possessed of such metal or
marble grand jury postoffice box in
your town, and the inquest of the
county was OpuSSu ny lS. ~ AiiNSStA
gate all the charges thus preferred,
what would become of you all? BY the
Bridge of Signs we emerge again into
the grand square, surrounded by gilt
tering cafes, and silver shops, and coral
stores, and jewelers. windows, blazing
with beaten gold, and diamonds, and
saDpnires, and little booths where all
the pretty things in the world are sold
hxy enf+-voicad and bright-eyed DANES.
we stop a moment at the block of por-
phyry at the church corner, from
whence the laws were publicly pro-
claimed in the days of the Republic
we gaze at the Coptic inscriptions on