89 



At what period of time this city was founded, it is 

 ot in my power to determine 5 nevertheless, it claims 

 a rank of very high antiquity. 



M. de Prony observes, "The inhabitants of Adria 

 have formed exaggerated pretensions, in many res- 

 pects, as to the high antiquity of their city, though it if 

 undeniably one of the most ancient in Italy, as it gave 

 name to the sea (the Adriatic) which once washed its 

 icalls." 



Whatever claims to antiquity may be asserted by 

 the present inhabitants of the city of Adria, it is more 

 than probable, that an immense period of time must 

 have passed away, before the smallest marks of human 

 industry could have been traced upon the borders of 

 the Eridanus, or Po. If we extend our views over the 

 wide space, that lies between the Adriatic sea, and the 

 residence of the primitive inhabitants of our earth, and 

 consider the slow progress of civilization and popula- 

 tion, extending westerly towards the borders of the 

 Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea, we may reasonably con- 

 clude, that not until the Phoenicians had extended their 

 views of maritime commerce, to more distant regions 

 down the Mediterranean, was the Adriatic sea even 

 known, much less navigated, by any people then in 

 existence. Hence we may suppose that a period of 

 2000 years, and perhaps much more, had elapsed, be- 

 fore the site, on which Adria was fixed upon for a 

 commercial city, was known. At this period then, it 

 appears, there was no such thing as a delta formed, or 

 forming at the mouth of the Po, for they had establish- 



