Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/600

Rh 572 Joliette (55 acres) was added in 1853. Communicating with the old harbour by a channel which passes behind Fort St Jean, this dock opens on the south into the outer harbour, opposite the palace and the Anse du Pharo ; it is separated from the roadstead on the west by a simple jetty. A series of similar basins have since been added along the shore to the north, viz., the Lazaret or &quot; Bassin des Docks&quot; (37 acres), that of Arenc (59 acres), the &quot; Bassin National,&quot; twice as large as the preceding, and tlia graving dock of 20 acres; a fine revolving bridge, worked by steam, separates the graving clock from the rest. Farther out, the Chateau d lf and the islets of Pomegue and Ratonneau, where vessels formerly did quarantine, have 45 acres of harbour accommodation. The port of Marseilles hf~s in all an area of 422 acres, but there are only 4J miles of quays, an amount of accommodation quite inadequate for the enormous traffic, now amount ing to more than 3,400,000 tons. Protected on the east by Cape Croisette, and on the west by Cape Couronne, the roadstead of Marseilles and its approaches are lighted by six lighthouses, of which the most distant (130 feet high) is 8 miles south-west of the town, on the Planier rock. The docks along the Lazaret basin cover an area of 45 acres, and the company to which they belong also holds a large area of ground for their enlargement, and has ex clusive rights over 1| to 2 miles of quays. The ware houses occupy 27 acres of floor space on their several stories, and the 200,000 tons of goods for which they afford storage are easily manipulated by powerful hydraulic machinery wrought by steam. From the harbour station at the docks the railway is carried up to the principal station, &quot; Gare St Charles,&quot; which commands the town. The Toulon line goes round the zoological gardens, and the whole upper part of Marseilles, and sends a branch to the Prado station. There is a fourth station to the south of the old harbour near the custom-house, and at the foot of the steps of St Victor ; it is proposed to join it by a tunnel to the Marseille-Prado station. The large steam vessels for trading with Algiers, the Levant, and the further East lie in La Joliette, but the old harbour still displays the ancient characteristics of Marseilles. The old-fashioned Mediter ranean traders with their lateen sails are crowded together in the Rive Neuve Canal to the south, while the sailing vessels of heavy tonnage are moored to the quay by their sterns. At the end of the old harbour opens out La Cannebiere, so called from former rope-walks, of which it occupies the site ; it is now the liveliest part of the town, where the principal cafe s, shops, hotels, naval and com mercial agencies, as well as the Bourse, are found. Despite its antiquity, Marseilles has no ancient monu ments. The old cathedral, which superseded a temple of Diana, itself preceded, it is said, by an altar of Baal, has given place to a modern structure, of which the exterior only is completely finished. It is a Byzantine basilica, in the form of a Latin cross, 460 feet long, built in grey Florentine stone blended with white stone from the neigh bourhood of Aries. Near the cathedral stands the bishop s palace. The cathedral is situated at the entrance of the harbours, but a more distant church lias superior attrac tions for the sailors, the celebrated Notre Dame de la Garde, the steeple of which, surmounted by a gilded statue of the Virgin, 30 feet in height, rises 150 feet above the summit of the hill on which it stands, commanding a view of the whole port and town, as well as of the sur rounding mountains and the neighbouring sea. The pre sent chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde occupies the site of one built in 1214. Like the new cathedral it is in the Byzantine style, and constructed of the richest materials. Descending from Notre Dame by steps, with shops on both sides containing objects of devotion, such as medals and chaplets, and passing the Promenade Pierre Puget, which affords another fine view of the sea, we reach the- church of St Victor, close by Fort St Nicolas. Originally an abbey founded about 410 by St Cassian, it was afterwards destroyed by the Saracens, but rebuilt in the llth century ; destroyed a second time, it was finally restored by Pope Urban V., a former abbot, who surrounded it in 1350 with high square crenellated towers. Tradition relates that St Lazarus inhabited the catacombs under St Victor ; and th& black Virgin, still preserved there, is popularly attributed to St Luke. The spire of the ancient church des Accoules marks the centre of Old Marseilles. At its foot are a &quot; Calvary &quot; and a curious chapel of modern construction in rock work. Notre Dame du Mont Carmel, also in the old town, occupies the place of what was the citadel of the Massaliots when they were besieged by Julius Caesar. The new Hotel de la Prefecture, at the end of the Rue St Ferreol, the Palais de Justice, and the Bourse, are all buildings of the last twenty years. The first is a palatial edifice 300 feet long and 260 wide, adorned with statues and bas reliefs ; it has a fine staircase and large reception rooms, decorated with paintings. Before the Palais de Justice stands a statue of Berry er. The pediment and peristyle are decorated with bas reliefs by Guillaume. The outer hall is surrounded by beautiful pillars of red marble. The Bourse has in the vestibule a bas relief representing Marseilles receiving the productions of all parts of the world, and allegorical statues of Marseilles and France. The hall is larger than even that of the Bourse at Paris. The hall of the Chamber of Commerce, at whose cost the whole edifice was built, is remarkable for the magnificence of its mural paintings and gildings. The Hotel de Ville, an old and unimportant building, stands on the quay to the north of the old harbour. The Palais des Arts de Longchamps, completed in 1870, is a work of consummate taste; it is built at the terminus of the Canal de Marseille, that great work which has metamorphosed the town and its surroundings by bringing into it the waters of the Durance. This canal, which leaves the river opposite Pertuis, has a length of 94 miles, of which more than 15 are underground. It crosses the valley of the Arc, between Aix and Rognac, by the magnificent aqueduct of Roquefavour, comparable with the noblest works of ancient or modern times. The canal then purifies its waters, charged with ooze, in the basins of R6altort, sets in motion seventy-two mills, which it supplies with upwards of 1200 horse-power, carrying about 200 cubic feet of water per second to the district of Marseilles. Right and left of the Chateau d Eau, which occupies the centre of the Palais de Longchamps, and is 128 feet in height, are the picture gallery, a fine collection of ancient and modern works, and the natural- history museum, remarkable for its conchological department and the interesting collection of ammonites. Behind are exten sive zoological gardens, with the astronomical observatory, one of the most important in France. The museum of an tiquities is established in the Palais Borely, in a fine park, recently purchased by the town, at the end of the Prado, and approached by the two finest promenades of the city. It includes a Phoenician collection (containing the remains that support the hypothesis of the Phoenician origin of Marseilles), an Egyptian collection, numerous Greek, Latin, and Christian inscriptions in stone, &c. A building within the city, recently finished, 177 feet by 64, with an impos ing facade, contains the school of art and a valuable library. The triumphal arch of Aix, originally dedicated to the victors of the Trocadero, was in 1830 appropriated to the conquests of the empire. Marseilles contains large hospitals. The Hotel Dieu in the old town was founded in 1188, and rebuilt in 1593 ; it lias 450 beds. The Hospice de la Charite, in the same neighbourhood, accommo-