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M,
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S TR A V E L S THROUGH
I CANNOT, however, quit Venice without giving a iketch of the charaâer of the irtofl
numerous part of its Inhabitants ; who, tliough not ennobled by birth or purchafc, have
retained in their manners fome remains of the warhke fpirit and heroic deeds of their
anceftors.
THEY may alfo be divided into three clafles ; the firft (being the moil opulent) comprehend
the bankers and the merchants; the fécond, the mechanics; and the third, tlie
gondoliers; who are by far the moft numerous, and moft deferving the attention of an
inquifitive traveller; as they have in particular retained much of the ancient iimplicity
in their manners and cuftoms.
THE name of gondolier is given at Venice to thofe who conduft in the channels or
lagunes the gondolas, which are a kind of boat, ingeniouily contrived, and very light:
tliey may be hired by the hour or by the day, on reafonable terms.
THOSE people, owing to their extreme honefty, and entire attachment to the patricians,
whom they ferve, are treated by the State with great indulgence.
THEY are robuft, and remarkably well made; and_ much admired for their agility
and vivacity. They are not infbufled; neither would the State wiih to promote their
improvement : but their natural gaiety, affifted by an excellent memory and quicknefs
of repartee, renders their converfation interefting.
THEY are alfo the only clafs of people among the Italians who, like them, owe their
origin to the Greeks, and have preferved fome remains of that illuftrious nation.
Like them, they encourage tlie fame degree of emulation by various feats of aftivity.
THEY have, on ail public rejoicings what the Engliih term a rowing match, by
them called REGATTA. The principle charafters of the Republic countenance this
entertainment, by fixing the prize due to the conqueror; which, though trifling in itfcif,
is more than fufEcient to fatisfy this honeil clafs of people.
I MOST not pafs unnoticed an amufcmcnt which they have among themfelves, which is
not only iingular, but muft naturally create aftonilhment to every ftranger that viilts
Venice. They offer a reward to him who is capable of reciting the greateft number
of verfes from ARIOSTO or TASSO ; and many, although they cannot read, are capable
of finging moft part of GERUSALEMME LIBERATA. It is when feated at the ftern, and
refting on their oars, the boat gliding gently on, that they make the palaces which
border the lagunes refound with the harmonious verfes of their HOMER.
i HAVE been led to fay more on the origin and government of Veniec than I ihould
otherwife have done, had the fituation of that city been as favourable for the obfervations
of a Naturalift as others of which I lhall have occafion to fpeak.
THE geologift will do well to examine the coaft, from the mouth of the Po to the
gulf of the TRIESTE, and he will find many objeits worth his attention. He will alfo
perceive that wliole extent of that coaft, and for five or fix miles in tlie interior part
of
T H E RH^TIAN ALPS. g
of the country, are encroachments made in the fea by a quantity of eartli, pebbles,
and gravel, which liave been carried, in the courfe of feveral centuries, by the moft
confiderable rivers of Italy, that difcharge themfelves in the gulf, and may in time
fill up the lagunes.
ALL thofe rivers defcend from the Alps, viz. Padus the Po, Atliefis or Adige,
Meduacus Major or Brenta, Meduacus Minor or Bacchiglione, Tiliaventum or Tajamento,
Lignentia or Livenza, Silis or Sile, Aneffus or Piave.
THOSE rivers, during the melting of the fnow, carrying with them, as I have already
obferved, an immenfe quanrity of earth, See. from the primitive and fecondary mountains,
are forced to depofit that earth on the coaft, on account of the refiftance it
meets with from the fea. They have alfo been, without doubt, the original caufe of
the land-bank that nearly feparates Venice from the gulf, and which is called the Lido,
about thirty-eight or forty miles in extent, refembling the ftring of a bent bow, fuppofiiig
the latter to be the continent.
MANY Italian authors, and particularly Gianotti tells us, that formerly the city of
Venice was ten miles from the continent; for Oriago, or Oralacus, which is now
.five miles from Lizza Fuffina, where they take boat for Venice, was at that time
lying upon the ihore of the lagune. And what confirmed me ftill more in his opinion,
was fome obfervations I was led to make on that fpot.
HAVING a curiofity to afcertain the different ftrata of the earth, I was let down into
a kind of well or pit which they were digging between Lizza FuiTina and Oriago: the
entrance being wide, and the depth about twenty feet, I could with great eafe make ray
obfervations, particularly as the earth jn that place was cut perpendicularly under the
i l r a t u m : I remarked that the ftrata inclined towards the fea {forming an angle of fifteen
degrees and a half). I reckoned fifteen perfeftly diftinift, and was convinced that they
were formed of the different decompofitions of the primitive and fecondary mountains,
and that the fediments were not placed according to their gravity; for there were ftrata
compofed of fmall ftones, called Gallet, mixed with pieces of granite, quartz, fchift,
and a pecidiar kind of calcarious ftone, which I ihall fpeak of hereafter, forming a
bed at two thirds of the height of the pit, thirteen inches in tliicknefs, entirely
fupported by different ftxata of fand.
THE grain of one of them was particularly fine, mixed with particles of mica and.
granite, intermixed witli maritime and fluviatic fliells, whicli formed the fcvcnth ftrata,
and is a clear proof that the fea formerly overflowed that country: but as the vegetable
earth was nearly eleven inches in thicknefs, we may naturally fuppofe that it has been
in its prefent ftate for many centuries.
IT is to be wifhcd that fuch obfervations could be followed with fome degree of
C accuracy.
liil.