Evening star., 1924-07-31
G0ND0L|ER FIGHTS
FORH|SEX|STENCE
Venice Sees Struggle to
Keep Ancient Craft Against
Motor Boats Rise.
SUPREME FOR CENTURIES
Evolution of Environment Like
Fippers of Seals and Ducks
= Web Feet.
SUPREME FOR CENTURIES

"A recent demonstration by indie-
nant gondoliers in Venice because of
| the increasing use of motor boats on
the canals of the city may have the
| most elementary ECONOMIC considera-
ton at its roots--the fight TO hold
ones job@-but there is much more al
! the bottom OF it as well. according 20
bulletin from the Washington head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society.
Venice's environment evolved the
gondola almost as truly as an aquatic
life changed legs into ffppers for
seals Or put web feet on ducks" says
the bulletin. Venice not only has
| water avenues large canals in which
motor boats can operate. but also
many scores. of narrow and shallow,
water lanes and water alleys where
the use Of observation-disclosures
GrAtt would be out of the question
Probaoly no other boat as large as 4
sondola. even though driven by oar
| or pole, could navigate these small
cnanneis successfully. Extreme light
ness OF draft, and ability TO turn and
sWerve about agilely. are the CHIEF
requirements made by Venice's cansi
tramc, and every line and curve of a
gondola seems designed to achieve
these ends.
Like Skate Gliding Over Surface.
This distinctive craft is more like
a Skate gliding over surface than
a opat pioughing into it Both ends
are curved up and the bottom is
nattened. The weight Of the gondoIier
in the stern tends to raise the prow
ana the boat seems eager 70 climb out
o af
though few motor boats have oper-
ated satisfactorily for years on the
broad Grand Canal, one can imagine
thsir th troubles in a traffic jam on even
not unlike those of a farm tractor
set down among the darting. lodging
taxicabs of Fifth avenue
Even If 1t were not surely pro-
sected by the existence of the smaller
canals, sentiment would fight ably
| with the gondolers for the life Of
their institution-for il is little less
One can hardly ina aEine Venice with
out gondoias And the gondoliers
themselves are All important factor
in Venetian life. Henry James called
these sturdy, sun burned. water-lov-
ing men the true children of Venice
They typify much more closely than
the merchants and artisans and gen
try. on their pile-ma de ground, the
spirit of the founders of Venice who
built up among the waters the un-
equaled maritime world power of its
day.
Black by Law.
The visitor to Venice for the first
time is sure to be disappointed in
the appearance of the gondola- So
much that is romantic has been asso-
ciated with these boats that the
stranger unconsciously expects them
to be gayiy decorated. But each is
like all the rest somber, unrelieved
black. The powerful council of the
old Venetian republic provided for
this dusky hue back in the sixteenth
century, and the requirement has been
followed as faithfully ever since, as
If the mighty ten still held unqueS-
toned powers of life and death over
all the citiZenry. One explanation of
| the queer law is that Venetians were
souandering too much money vieing
with one another in decking their
gondolas with costly trappings. An
other 10 that it was to lend prestige
to authority. At any rate the edict
excepted the gondolas of the doge and
thee foreign amba assadors which were
richly embellished in gold and crimson.
Gauges of Prosperity.
AT the height of Venetian pros
perity the wealth of certain individ
| uals might be measured by the num-
ber of gondolas they maintained as
| in America today ones bank account
| may sometimes be inferred from the
| automobiles he owns At the present
| time there are relatively few pri-
vately owned gondolaS. They serve
| as taxicabs with stands at promi
| nent points along the canal banks.
| Some Venetian families hire gon-
| dolier and his boat from month to
month; and as is true of chauffeurs
| In some moderately well-to-do fami
| lies in the United States, the Condo
1ier,' when not rowing his boat. may
about the house.
"The gondola is first mentioned in
man uscripts of 1904 A. D., but had
probably been evolving from forms
not greatly different since the first
Venetians took up their abode on the
| lagoon mud banks several centuries
earlier. The unusual craft has -four
| ished only where it was born, and is
hardly known in other parts OF the
| world save as a curiosity, or to give
| a breath of Venice to the ornamental
| lakes of world fairs. One of the few
| ttransplantations of the gondola that
| has been attempted was to the Grand
| Canal that Louis XIV built at Yer
sailles in 1874. These boats, gift
| of Venice, unlike their patterns, were
| brilliantly decorated A colony of
| Italian gondoliers and their families
| was eSta blished in the Partisan
| suburb and remained until the French
Reyolution''