I must tell you about this lovely city and the beautiful sights I
have seen. The fine old Church of St. Mark faces a square or
piazza, and near this is an arch with a large clock; on top of this
is an immense bell, with two bronze figures of men with hammers in
their hands, with which they strike the bell when the hour comes
round. There are several hundred pigeons here, which are fed by the
city every day at two o'clock, and many times I have bought corn
and fed them too; they are so tame that two or three have eaten
from my hand at once. Two weeks ago this square was illuminated. It
was called "The Illumination of the Architecture," and there were
one hundred thousand lights in the piazza. The gas lamps, which are
always lighted, had this night red glass globes on, thirty for each
lamp. On the Campanile, or belfry, was the "Star of Italy," which
had three thousand lights. The Church of St. Mark looked
magnificent, illuminated by electric lights placed in front of it.
An island called St. George was flashing with thousands of lights,
so that it looked like an enchanted palace rising out of the water.
Altogether it was the most beautiful sight I ever saw. A regatta
also took place, which I watched from the balcony of an old palace.
First I saw the King and Queen of Italy in a gondola, with their
son the Prince of Naples. They had four men to row, called
gondoliers. These men wore scarlet coats trimmed with gold braid.
After a little while the nine gondolas of the race passed, their
crews dressed according to the color of their boats--green, white,
blue, yellow, solferino, gray, purple, red, and orange. The one in
green won the first prize. After the race, the gondola in which was
the royal family went up and down the Grand Canal, followed by
hundreds of gondolas, some of them with streamers of silk, some
with velvet trimmed with gold and silver fringe trailing in the
water. Some boats larger than a gondola, called "bissom," were all
covered with silk and velvet, the gondoliers dressed in gay colors.
Some had eight and some ten men to row. It was a beautiful scene.