The misery that follows upon a general inundation is indescribable. Every one still talks of the suffierings and calamities brought upon the city by the disastrous I7th of November, 1824. On that day, there occurred the highest inundation of which a record has been preserved, and in every street the height to which the river rose is still marked. The water rose quite quietly, as is usually the case with the inundations of St. Petersburg, where there are no dykes to break through. Impelled by a furious west wind, the water continued to rise higher and higher, came streaming through the streets, lifted all the carts and equipages from the ground, rushed in mighty cataracts through the windows and into the cellars, and rose in huge columns from the common sewers. On Vasiliefskoi Island and on the St. Petersburg side the suffering was greatest, particularly on the latter island, where many of the poor were lodged in tenements of no very solid construction. Some of the wooden houses were lifted from the ground and? continued to swim about with all their inhabitants in them, and without going to pieces. Equipages were abandoned in the streets, and the horses, unable to disengage themselves from their harness, were miserably drowned, while their masters had sought safety in some more elevated spot. The trees in the public squares were as crowded with men as they had ever before been with sparrows. Still the water kept rising, and towards evening had attained such a height, that it was feared the stomi would tear the men of war from their moorings and drive them in among the houses. The calamity was the more destructive as it had come so noiselessly upon the city, that none had imagined the danger so great as it really was. The worst effects were those that were operated unseen. Many houses fell in only on the following day, when the river had already returned into its accustomed bed ; but from those that remained standing, it was long before the damp could be expelled. Sickness became general, and deadly epidemics continued to rage in some quarters for many weeks afterwards.
The night was terrible. The waters had continued to rise till tlie evening, and should thoy continue to do so, there seemed to be no chance of escape during the pitchy darkness that might be looked for. Thousands of families, the members of which were separated, spent the night in torturing anxiety.
Even the most serious things liave often a ludicrous side on which tliey may be viewed, and along with the gloomy recollections of that calamitous day, a variety of amusing anecdotes have also been preserved. A gardener told me that he had been busy clipping some trees, and had not noticed the rising of the water, till it was too late for him to attempt to seek refuge any where but on the roof of an adjoining garden pavilion, where he was soon joined by such a host of rats and mice, that he became apprehensive of being devoured by them. Fortunately, however, a dog and a cat sought refuge in the same place . With these he immediately entered into an offensive and defensive alUance, and the three confederates were able to make good their position during the night.
A merchant of my acquaintance was looking out of his window on the second floor, when there came floating by a fragment of a bridge, with three human beings clinging to it. They stretched out their hands to him for help. He threw out a rope, and, with the assistance of his servant, succeeded in rescuing them all three from their perilous position. The first whom they landed was a poor Jew who trembled Uke an aspen-tree, the second was a bearded believer in the orthodox Russian Greek church, the third a bareheaded Mahometan Tartar. My protestant friend equipped them all three in his Parisian coats and in linen of the latest London fashion, for which they were all well pleased to exchange the drenched costumes of their several nations ; and after this unexpected metamorphosis, the host entertained his grateful guests with a truly Christian and refreshing supper.
Many believe that what with merchandise spoiled, houses destroyed, furniture injured, damage to the pavement, &c., this inundation cost the city more than a hundred million of rubles, and that directly and indirectly several thousands of the inhabitants lost their lives on the occasion. In every street the highest point attained by the water is marked by a line on the sides of the houses. God grant that the house-painters may never again be employed in so melancholy an office. Every inch that they might have had to place their marks higher, would have cost the city several millions more, and would have plunged at least a hundred more families into mourning.