hant, a goose, a horse's head, a bull, a serpent, a
half-moon, a windmill, and sometimes an outstretched arm holding some
article that is for sale in the shop. If it be a house-door--in which
case it is always kept closed--it bears a brass plate on which is
written the name of the tenant, another plate with an opening for
letters, and a third plate on the wall holding the bell-handle. The
plates, nails, and locks are all kept shining like gold. Before the
door there is frequently a little wooden bridge--for in many houses
the ground floor is made lower than the street--and in front of the
bridge are two small stone pillars surmounted by two balls; below
these stand other pillars united by iron chains made of large links in
the shape of crosses, stars, and polygons. In the space between the
street and the house are pots of flowers. On the window-seats of the
basement, hidden in the hollow, are more flowers and curtains. In the
less frequented streets there are bird-cages on either side of the
windows, boxes full of growing plants, clothes and linen hung out to
dry. Indeed, innumerable articles of varied colors dangle and swing
about, so that it all seems like a great fair.

But without quitting the old town one need only walk toward its
outskirts in order to see novel sights at every step.

In passing through certain of the straight, narrow streets one
suddenly sees before him, as it were, a curtain that has fallen and
cut off the view. It is immediately withdrawn, and one perceives that
it is the sail of a ship passing down one of the canals. At the foot
of other streets a network of ropes seems to be stretched between the
two end houses to stop the passage. This is the rigging of a ship that
is anchored at one of the docks. On other streets there are
drawbridges surmounted by long parallel boards, presenting a fantastic
appearance, as though they were gigantic swings for the amusement of
the light-hearted people living in these peculiar houses. Other
streets have at the foot windmills as high as a steeple and black as
an ancient tower, turning and twisting their arms like large wheels
revolving over the roofs of the neighboring houses. Everywhere, in
short, among the houses, over the roofs, in the midst of the distant
trees, we see the masts of ships, pennons, sails, and what not, to
remind us that we are surrounded by water, and that the city is built
in the very middle of the port.

In the mean time, the shops hav