therefore flowingly polite to the Inglese, and he is even civil to the
Tedesco; but he is not at all bound in courtesy to that provincial Italian
who comes from the country to Venice, bargains furiously for his boat, and
commonly pays under the tariff. The Venetian who does not himself keep a
gondola seldom hires one, and even on this rare occasion makes no lavish
demand such as "How much do you want for taking me to the rail-way
station?" Lest the fervid imagination of the gondolier rise to zwanzigers
and florins, and a tedious dispute ensue, he asks: "How many centissimi do
you want?" and the contract is made, for a number of soldi.

The number of private gondolas owned in Venice is not very great. The
custom is rather to hire a gondolier with his boat. The exclusive use of
the gondola is thus secured, and the gondolier gives his services as a
domestic when off his special duty. He waits at table, goes marketing,
takes the children to school, and serves the ladies as footman, for five
francs a day, himself paying the proprietor of the gondola about a franc
daily for the boat. In former times, when Venice was rich and prosperous,
many noble families kept six or seven gondolas; and what with this
service, and the numerous gala-days of the Republic, when the whole city
took boat for the Lido, or the Giudecca, or Murano, and the gondoliers
were allowed to exact any pay they could, they were a numerous and
prosperous class. But these times have passed from Venice forever, and
though the gondoliers are still, counting the boatmen of the Giudecca and
Lido, some thousands in number, there are comparatively few young men
among them, and their gains are meagre.

In the little city of Venice, where the dialect spoken at Canareggio or
Castello is a different tongue from that heard under the Procuratie of St.
Mark's Place, the boatmen of the several quarters of the city of course
vary greatly in character and appearance; and the gondolier who lounges at