416 ON THE ALLUVIUM OF THE t>O. 



streams, which was a necessary consequence, of the pro- 

 longation of their bed, to the confinement of the waters 

 between dikes, and to the facility with which the increas- 

 ed cultivation of the ground enabled the mountain tor- 

 rents which flowed into them to carry away the soil. 

 Owing to these causes, the bay called Sacra di Goro 

 was very soon filled up, and the two promontories which 

 had been formed by the two former principal mouths of 

 Mazzorno and jTo, were united into one vast projecting 

 cape, the most advanced point of which is now 32,000 

 or 33,000 metres * beyond the meridian of Adria : so 

 that in the course of two hundred years, the mouths or 

 delta of the Po have gained about 14,000 metres^ upon 

 the sea. 



From all these facts, of which I have given a brief 

 enumeration, the following results are clearly establish- 

 ed. 



First, That, at some ancient period, the precise date 

 of which cannot be now ascertained, the waves of the 

 Adriatic washed the walls of Adria. 



Secondly, That, in the twelfth century, before a pas- 

 sage had been opened for the waters of the Po at Ficar- 

 rolo ; on its left or northern bank, the shore had been al- 

 ready removed to the distance of nine or ten thousand 

 metres \ from Adria. 



* From 19 miles 7 furlongs and 15 yards, to 20 miles 4 furlongs and 9 

 yards, English measure Transl 



f Or 15,366 yards Transl. 



$ Equal to 9,842 or 10.936 .yards. Transl. 



