e Vallaresso. The last house of all before the
gardens is the office of the Harbour Master; the little pavilion at the
corner of the gardens belongs to the yacht club called the Bucintoro,
whose boats are to be seen moored between here and the Molo, and whose
members are, with those of sculling clubs on the Zattere and elsewhere,
the only adult Venetians to use their waters for pleasure. As for the
Royal Palace, it is quite unworthy and a blot on the Venetian panorama
as seen from the Customs House or S. Giorgio Maggiore, or as one sees it
from the little Zattere steamboat as the Riva opens up on rounding the
Punta di Dogana. Amid architecture that is almost or quite magical it is
just a common utilitarian facade. But that it was once better can be
seen in one of the Guardis at the National Gallery, No. 2099.

Finally we have Sansovino's mint, now S. Mark's Library, with the
steamboat bridge for passengers for the Giudecca and the Zattere in
front of it, and then the corner of the matchless Old Library, and the
Molo with all its life beneath the columns.

And now that we have completed the voyage of the Grand Canal, each way,
let me remind the reader that although the largest palaces were situated
there, they are not always the best. All over Venice are others as well
worth study.

CHAPTER XIV

ISLAND AFTERNOONS' ENTERTAINMENTS. I: MURANO, BURANO AND TORCELLO

The Campo Santo--The Vivarini--The glass-blowers--An artist at work--S.
Pietro--A good Bellini--A keen sacristan--S. Donato--A foreign
church--An enthusiast--Signor "Rooskin"--The blue Madonna--The voyage to
Burano--The importunate boatman--A squalid town--The pretty lace
workers--Torcello--A Christian exodus--Deserted temples--The bishop's
throne--The Last Judgment--The stone shutters--The Porto di Lido.

The cheap way to Murano is by the little penny steamer from the
Fondamenta Nuova. This side of Venice is poor and squalid, but there is
more fun here than anywhere else, for on Sundays the boys borrow any
kind of craft that can be obtained and hold merry little regattas, which
even those sardonic officials, the captains of the steamboats, respect:
stopping or easing down so as to interfere with no event. But one should
go to Murano by gondola, and go in the afternoon.

Starting anywhere near the Molo, this means that the route will be by
the Rio del Palazzo, under the Ponte di Paglia and the Bridge of Sighs,
between the Doges' Palace and the priso