CHAPTER XXI

Departure from Venice.—An engagement between the Venetians and the
Milanese.—Ferrara.—Pope Eugenius and the Emperor of the
EaSl.—A meeting of the Council.—The Marquis Niccolo.—
Parma.—Piacenza,—Milan.—Duke Filippo Maria Visconti.—
The government.

When I departed from Venice to go to the other
Chriftian countries I left there the goods I had brought
from the Levant, including the slaves, and my money,
and all that I had purchased, in the charge of Messer
Domenego Vent', a merchant of Venice, my very good
friend, and took only the money which I thought
sufficient for my needs. I took also bills of exchange
on certain merchants in Bruges in Flanders, and
departed in a boat, and slept the night of my departure
at a place called Chioggia, which is founded in the sea
like Venice, and is subjeft to it. There were certain
burnt ships there, which had been loft in the battle
when the Genoese came to that place to make war on
the Venetians. The next morning we departed, and
after four or five miles we entered the river Po, which is
one of the greateft rivers in the world, and the arm by
which I entered is one of three. The river is so large
that many times, when the Venetians are at war with
the Duke of Milan,^ they both of them arm great
fleets in it. The ships are the moft wonderful I have
ever seen. They are barques of great size and are
flat-bottomed, so that they can float in shallow water.
On the deck is a great caftle of wood with a lofty tower,
and in it they place ammunition for their artillery, such
as bombards, culverins and the like. The rowers
are below so that they cannot be attacked. These
ships do not carry sails nor are they built for sailing,

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