316 VENICE. 



horde of savage Huns, with scalps dangling from the 

 trappings of their horses, poured over the land, some 

 citizens of Padua and other adjoining towns took 

 refuge in a cluster of islands in the lagoons which 

 were formed at the mouths of the Adige and the Po. 

 From Rialto, the chief of these islands, it was three 

 miles to the mainland ; a mile and a half to the sandy- 

 breakwater which divided the lagoons from the Adri- 

 atic. At high water the islands appeared to be at 

 sea ; but when the tide declined, they rose up from 

 the midst of a dark green plain in which blue gashes 

 were opened by the oar. But even at high water the 

 lagoons were too shallow to be entered by ships — ex- 

 cept through certain tortuous and secret channels ; and 

 even at low water they were too deep to be passed on 

 foot. Here, then, the Venetians were secure from 

 their foes, like the lake-dwellers of ancient times. 



At first they were merely salt-boilers and fisher- 

 men, and were dependent on the mainland for the 

 materials of life. There was no seaport in the neigh- 

 bourhood to send its vessels for the salt which they 

 prepared : they were forced to fetch everything that 

 they required for themselves. They became seamen 

 by necessity : they almost lived upon the water. As 

 their means improved, and as their wants expanded, 

 they bought fields and pastures on the main ; they 

 extended their commerce, and made long voyages. 

 They learnt in the dock-yards of Constantinople the 

 art of building tall ships ; they conquered the pirates 

 of the Adriatic Sea. The princes of Syria, Egypt, 

 Barbary, and Spain, were all of them merchants, for 

 commerce is an aristocratic occupation in the East. 

 With them the Venetians opened up a trade. At 

 first they had only timber and slaves to offer in ex- 



