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those who have not had
that advantage.
    The city of Venice stands on a cluster of low sandy islands. It is
probable that the country which lies nearest to the gulf, if not the
whole of the immense plain of Lombardy itself, is of alluvial formation.
Whatever may have been the origin of that wide and fertile kingdom, the
causes which have given to the Lagunes their existence, and to Venice
its unique and picturesque foundation, are too apparent to be mistaken.
Several torrents which flow from the valleys of the Alps pour their
tribute into the Adriatic at this point. Their waters come charged with
the débris of the mountains, pulverized nearly to their original
elements. Released from the violence of the stream, these particles have
necessarily been deposited in the gulf, at the spot where they have
first become subjected to the power of the sea. Under the influence of
counteracting currents, eddies, and waves, the sands have been thrown
into submarine piles, until some of the banks have arisen above the
surface, forming islands, whose elevation has been gradually augmented
by the decay of vegetation. A glance at the map will show that, while
the Gulf of Venice is not literally, it is practically, considered with
reference to the effect produced by the south-east wind called the
Sirocco, at the head of the Adriatic. This accidental circumstance is
probably the reason why the Lagunes have a more determined character at
the mouths of the minor streams that empty themselves here than at the
mouths of most of the other rivers, which equally flow from the Alps or
the Apennines into the same shallow sea.
    The natural consequence of a current of a river meeting the waters of
any broad basin, and where there is no base of rock, is the formation,
at or near the spot where the opposing actions are neutralized, of a
bank, which is technically called a bar. The coast of the Union
furnishes constant evidence of the truth of this theory, every river
having its bar, with channels that are often shifted, or cleared, by the
freshets, the gales, or the tides. The constant and powerful operation
of the south-eastern winds on one side, with the periodical increase of
the Alpine streams on the other, have converted this bar at the entrance
of the Venetian Lagunes, into a succession of long, low, sandy islands,
which extend in a direct line nearly across the mouth of the gulf. The
waters of the rivers have necessarily cut a few channels for their
passage, or, what is now a lagune, would long since have become a lake.
Another thousand years may so far change the character of this
extraordinary estuary as to convert the channels of the bay into rivers,
and the muddy banks into marshes and meadows, resembling those that are
now seen for so many leagues inland.
    The low margin of sand that, in truth, gives all its maritime security
to the port of Venice and the Lagunes, is called the Lido di Palestrino.
It has been artificially connected and secured, in many places, and the
wall of the Lido (literally the beach), though incomplete, like most of
the great and vaunted works of the other hemisphere, and more
particularly of Italy, ranks with the mole of Ancona, and the sea-wall
of Cherbourg. The hundred little islands which now contain the ruins of
what, during the middle ages, was the mart of the Mediterranean, are
grouped together within cannon-shot of the natural barrier. Art has
united with nature to turn the whole to good account; and, apart from
the influence of moral causes, the rivalry of a neighboring town, which
has been fostered by political care, and the gradual filling up of the
waters, by the constant deposit of the streams, it would be difficult to
imagine a more commodious, or a safer haven when entered, than that
which Venice affords, even to this hour.
    As all the deeper channels of the Lagunes have been preserved, the city
is intersected in every direction by passages, which from their
appearance are called canals, but which, in truth,