I l l i
0,c ¡Mated rock noticcd in t t e preceding clmptet. At the edge of this rock has been cut
a beautiful road, which tends in a direiUon from north to forith , and when the bafon will
befinifhed,whichis already begun, it will doubtlefs be the fafell and bell harbo.n: for
merchant (hips .n the Mediterranean, for as neither fhips of the line or frigates can enter
for want of fuffieient deptli. government had diotted Vilia-Franca entirely for that ufe.
The bafon of the harbour of Nice, which I have traced in the anneied plan, will be,
when finfflied, one thoufand four htmdred Englifh feet long, and fl™e hundred and fifty
wide. The wharfs were to be extenCve, and to be built of free-tone. The houfes on the
keys the fame he.ght and arehitefture as thofe already completed; fo that it would be
prafttcable to go, as it were, round the port under arcades or arclres, which will be particularly
convenient to thofe who are called hither by bnfmcfs, and to the mercantile part
of the community, who may there place their goods, in cafe of unfavourable weather, till
they can be ftored into the war^houfes, which are built above and below the keys.
At the extremity of the bafon there was to be a wide handfome ftreet, which was to
lead to La Place Vi aoi . « , a fquare lituated at the north end of the town on the road to
Turin.
. This fquare. which is fnrrounded by piazzas, or porticos, is now entirely fi.iithed, and
forms a beautiful -coup d'oed.' In faf l , Nice is fo aftonilhingly improved within thefe
eighteen or twenty yeani, that thofe who frequented it at that thne, and have not teen it
fmee, would fcat^ly know it again.
The entrance of the harbour, which is toward, the fouth-eaH, is rather difficult, owing
to the proximity of the outward piers, which was at firfl deemed neceirary, in order to
protea or thelter the port agamft the winds, which particularly a f f e a it m the months of
Oaobc r , November, and oftentimes February. The one which is dreaded by the feamen,
and indeed proves moft fatal, is called by the inhabitants Lebcehe, from the Latin Lybicns.
This wind blows in a direaion tending from fouth-weft to north-eafl, for three days fuceeffively,
but is always reckoned to be the forerunner of £rir weather.
The piers are of free-ftone, and well executed, and what is not only fingular, but
wonderful, is a fountam of excellent water at the extremity of the inner mole, which has
not been eifeaed without much trouble and expence. as its fource is tipwards of five miles
from the fpot where its courfe has been eonduaed.
• Befrdes this fountain, where the vetTels in gcneml take in water, there is under each
arch formed in the piers -mr robinet,' which fnrnifhes water from the fame fpring for the