emy. The
illumination of the streets is confined to small candle-power lights
in blue or purple bulbs, the weakened rays being visible for only a
short distance. To stroll at night in the darkened streets is to risk
falling into a canal, while the use of an electric torch would almost
certainly result in arrest as a spy. The ghastly effect produced by
the purple lights, the utter blackness of the canals, the deathly
silence, broken only by the sound of water lapping the walls of the
empty palazzos, combine to give the city a peculiarly weird and
sepulchral appearance.

Of the great hotels which line the Canale Grande, only the Danieli
remains open. Over the others fly the Red Cross flags, and in their
windows and on their terraces lounge wounded soldiers. The
smoking-room of the Danieli, where so many generations of travelling
Americans have chatted over their coffee and cigars, has been
converted into a _rifugio_, in which the guests can find shelter in
case of an air attack. A bomb-proof ceiling has been made of two
layers of steel rails, laid crosswise, and ramparts of sand-bags have
been built against the walls. On the doors of the bedrooms are posted
notices urging the guests, when hostile aircraft are reported, to make
directly for the _rifugio_, and remain there until the raid is over.
In other cities in the war zone the inhabitants take to their cellars
during aerial attacks, but in Venice there are no cellars, and the
buildings are, for the most part, too old and poorly built to afford
safety from bombs. To provide adequate protection for the population,
particularly in the poorer and more congested districts of the city,
has, therefore, proved a serious problem for the authorities. Owing to
its situation, Venice is extremely vulnerable to air attacks, for the
Austrian seaplanes, operating from Trieste or Pola, can glide across
the Adriatic under cover of darkness, and are over the city before
their presence is discovered. Before the anti-aircraft guns can get
their range, or the Italian airmen can rise and engage them, they have
dropped their bombs and fled. Although, generally speaking, the loss
of life resulting from these aerial forays is surprising small, they
are occasionally very serious affairs. During an air raid on Padua,
which occurred a few days before I was there, a bomb exploded in the
midst of a crowd of terrified townspeople who were struggling to gain
entrance to a _rifugio_. In that affair 15