144

HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.

Book I.

Within the outer harbour arc two smaller, for galleys and merchant ships used by thecoasting trade.

Fig.155.

On the west side, without the harbour, on an extreme point of land, is the lighthouse,a square building of many stories, based upon a rock, which may be seen at sea for manymiles.

The latitude of Genoa is 44° 45' north, and the longitude 8° 50' east, and its situation ison the northern shores of the Mediterranean; the town is about 6 miles in circumfe-rence, inclosed in a double rampart. By Strabo it was called the Emporium TotiusLigurise : it was at a very early time the chief city of the Ligurians ; commerce then, as inthe latter period of its history, was always the favourite pursuit of its inhabitants ; the noblesin the middle ages were both its merchants and defenders, and in the twelfth century theysent out a fleet consisting of twenty-eight galleys and six other vessels to assist in takingCesarea.

Venice , in north latitude 45° 25', and in east longitude 12° 20', is on the north-easterncoast of Italy : it may be reckoned one of the earliest as well as the most considerable com-mercial cities of modern Europe, having been established soon after Attila invaded Italy ,in the year 452. It is built upon a number of small islands, near the northern extremityof the Adriatic Sea, or Gulph of Venice , and separated from the main land by a marshylake, about five miles in breadth and covered with water to the depth of 3 feet. A canal, 1200yards in length, and about 100 feet in breadth, separates the city into two nearly equaldivisions; from this branch off many other canals, which are crossed by upwards of 500bridges, most of them constructed of stone, and some of great beauty. The inhabitantspass from house to house in gondolas or small boats, and the merchandise is landed at oncefrom the barge to the doorways of the warehouses. The Venetian ships of the largestdimensions were called galeasses or argosies, some of which carried crews of 600 men,and mounted 50 pieces of cannon ; they must have entered many of the ports of Englandat a very early period, for we find from our own records, that in the year 1325 they had acharter, and full liberty to discharge their cargoes, and return in safety. There was a mag-nificent arsenal situated near the eastern end of the city, defended by a rampart; and beforethe entrance were the two lions in granite that once adorned the Piraeus at Athens.

The houses are constructed both of brick and stone, and their foundations formed uponpiles; many are more than four stories in height. The bell tower or campanile is the