d and furnished with a door and
glass windows like a carriage. They are propelled by one man
standing near the stern, with a single oar, which he pushes, moving
the boat in the same direction as he looks. Those persons who are
not rich enough to possess a gondola of their own, hire them, as we
do cabs, when they require to go abroad. The Venetian territories
are as fruitful as any in Italy, abounding with vineyards, and
mulberry plantations. Its chief towns are Venice (which I have
described), Padua, Verona, Milan, Cremona, Lodi, and Mantua. Venice
was once at the head of the European naval powers; 'her merchants
were princes, and her traffickers the honorable of the earth,' but
now--

"'Her pageants on the sunny waves are gone,
Her glory lives in memory's page alone.'

"In a beautiful poem written by the lamented Miss Landon, there are
some very appropriate lines:--

"'But her glory is departed,
And her pleasure is no more,
Like a pale queen broken-hearted,
Left lonely on the shore.
No more thy waves are cumbered
With her galleys bold and free;
For her days of pride are numbered,
And she rules no more the sea.
Her sword has left her keeping,
Her prows forget the tide,
And the Adriatic, weeping,
Wails round his mourning bride.'

* * * * *

"'In those straits is desolation,
And darkness and dismay--
Venice, no more a nation,
Has owned the stranger's sway.'"

CHARLES. "I have some scraps belonging to the 'tideless sea,' which
will come in here very well. The first is the account of the
Bosphorus, now called the Canal of Constantinople, situated between
the Euxine and the Sea of Marmora. The whole length of it is about
seventeen miles, and most delightful excursions are made on it in
pretty vessels called 'Caiques.' They rest so lightly on the water,
that you are never certain of being 'safely stowed.' The rowers are
splendid-looking fellows from two to four in number, each man with
two light sculls, and they sit lightly on thwarts on the same level
with the gunwale of the caique. Their costume is beautiful; the head
covered with the crimson tarbouche, and the long silk tassel
dangling over the shoulders; a loose vest of striped silk and
cotton, fine as gauze, with wide open collar, and loose flowing
sleeves; a brilliant-colored shawl envelops the waist, and huge
folds of Turkish trousers extend to the knee; t