We cross the Po in swinging batteaux. Two are placed
side by side, and kept together by a plank-floor, common to both, and
lying on the gunwales. The carriage drives on this, without taking out
any of the horses. About one hundred and fifty yards up the river is a
fixed stake, and a rope tied to it, the other end of which is made fast
to one side of the batteaux, so as to throw them oblique to the current.
The stream then acting on them, as on an inclined plane, forces them
across the current in the portion of a circle, of which the rope is
the radius. To support the rope in its whole length, there are two
intermediate canoes, about fifty yards apart, in the heads of which are
short masts. To the top of these the rope is lashed, the canoes being
free otherwise to concur with the general vibration in their smaller
arcs of circles. The Po is there about fifty yards wide, and about one
hundred in the neighborhood of Turin.
April 17, 18. _Turin_. The first nightingale I have heard this year is
to-day (18th). There is a red wine of Nebiule made in this neighborhood,
which is very singular.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301