ON THE ALLUVIUM OF THE PO. 413 



sea, except by five passages, the small islands of the Ar- 

 chipelago having been united into a continuous dike. 



To the east of the lagunes, and north from the city of 

 Este, we find the Euganian mountains, or hills, forming, 

 in the midst of a vast alluvial plain^ a remarkable iso- 

 lated group of rounded hills, near which spot the fable 

 of the ancients supposes the fall of Phaeton to have taken 

 place. Some writers have supposed that this fable may 

 have originated from the fall of some vast masses of in- 

 flamed matters near the mouths of the Eridanus, that 

 had been thrown up by a volcanic explosion ; and it is 

 certain that abundance of volcanic products are found in 

 the neighbourhood of Padua and Verona. 



The most ancient notices that I have been able to 

 procure respecting the situation of the shores of the Adri- 

 atic at the mouths of the Po, only begin to be precise in- 

 the twelfth century. At that epoch the whole waters of 

 this river flowed to the south of Ferrara, in the Po de 

 Volano and the Po di Primaro, branches which inclosed 

 the space occupied by the lagune of Commachio. The 

 two branches which were next formed by an irruption 

 of the waters of the Po to the north of Ferraro, were 

 named the river of Corbola, Longola, or Mazzorno, and 

 the river Tol. The former, and more northern of these, 

 received the Tartaro, or canal bianco, near the sea, and 

 the latter was joined at Ariano by another branch deriv- 

 ed from the Po, called the Goro river. The sea-coast 

 was evidently directed from south to north, at the distance 

 of ten or eleven thousand metres* from the meridian of 

 Adria ; and Loreo, to the north of Mesola, was only 

 about 2000 metres^ from the coast. 



* Equal to 10,936 or 12,030 yards English measure.- Trans!. 

 f Or 2,186 yards 2 feet English Transl. 



