A GARDEN IN VENICE 



considerable, and we sell in their full season the 

 Marinelli cherries at five centimes, i.e., a half- 

 penny, the kilo of 7.\ lbs. Grapes at times as 

 low as eight centimes the kilo ; peaches eight to 

 ten centimes the kilo. Pears, such as one used 

 to pay one and even two francs apiece for at 

 Paris, at twenty to thirty centimes the kilo ; and 

 delicious figs at thirty centimes the hundred. A 

 huge melon, an excellent supper for four people 

 with bread, sells for ten centimes. Thus a 

 Venetian, be he Gondolier or Conte, may, and 

 often does in summer time, eat healthily at small 

 cost. The people's fire is rarely lit more than 

 once a day, when the polenta, made of maize 

 flour, is cooked in sufficient quantity to be eaten 

 hot at midday, cold at dusk. Sometimes even the 

 ever-present polenta is dispensed with, and the 

 outlay on the fire which is not laid out will 

 almost pay for the bread bought to take polenta's 

 place. 



For twopence, too, you may make a beggar 

 happy. Fifteen to twenty figs at five centimes, 

 fifteen centimes of bread, and a generous penny 



K2 75 



