OF THE CANAL OF MARTESANA.

By making the canal of Martesana the water of the Adda is greatly
diminished by its distribution over many districts for the
irrigation of the fields. A remedy for this would be to make several
little channels, since the water drunk up by the earth is of no more
use to any one, nor mischief neither, because it is taken from no
one; and by making these channels the water which before was lost
returns again and is once more serviceable and useful to men.

[Footnote: _"el navilio di Martagano"_ is also mentioned in a note
written in red chalk, MS. H2 17a Leonardo has, as it seems, little
to do with Lodovico il Moro's scheme to render this canal navigable.
The canal had been made in 1460 by Bertonino da Novara. Il Moro
issued his degree in 1493, but Leonardo's notes about this canal
were, with the exception of one (No. 1343), written about sixteen
years later.]