r to abandon the fruitless contest,
he gave all his thoughts to his own interest in the coming struggle.

The narrowness of most of the canals of Venice, with the innumerable
angles and the constant passing, have given rise to a fashion of
construction and of rowing that are so peculiar to that city and its
immediate dependencies as to require some explanation. The reader has
doubtless already understood that a gondola is a long, narrow, and light
boat, adapted to the uses of the place, and distinct from the wherries
of all other towns. The distance between the dwellings on most of the
canals is so small, that the width of the latter does not admit of the
use of oars on both sides, at the same time. The necessity of constantly
turning aside to give room for others, and the frequency of the bridges
and the corners, have suggested the expediency of placing the face of
the waterman in the direction in which the boat is steering, and, of
course, of keeping him on his feet. As every gondola, when fully
equipped, has its pavilion in the centre, the height of the latter
renders it necessary to place him who steers on such an elevation as
will enable him to overlook it. From these several causes a one-oared
boat in Venice is propelled by a gondolier, who stands on a little
angular deck in its stern, formed like the low roof of a house, and the
stroke of the oar is given by a push, instead of a pull, as is common
elsewhere. This habit of rowing erect, however, which is usually done
by a forward, instead of a backward movement of the body, is not
unfrequent in all the ports of the Mediterranean, though in no other is
there a boat which resembles the gondola in all its properties or uses.
The upright position of the gondolier requires that the pivot on which
the oar rests should have a corresponding elevation; and there is,
consequently, a species of bumkin raised from the side of the boat to
the desired height, and which, being formed of a crooked and very
irregular knee of wood, has two or three row-locks, one above the other,
to suit the stature of different individuals, or to give a broader or a
narrower sweep of the blade as the movement shall require. As there is
frequent occasion to cast the oar from one of these row-locks to the
other, and not unfrequently to change its side, it rests in a very open
bed; and the instrument is kept in its place by great dexterity alone,
and by a perfect knowledge of the means of accommodatin