Beyond the Fontanka, along whose banks are ranged a succession of palaces, lie the more remote portions of the city ; and beyond these, bordering on the swamps of Ingermanland may be dimly seen, through the mists of the horizon, the suburbs on the Ligof ka and Zagarodnoi canals, together with the subm-ban villages of great and Little Okhta. Even these remote quarters, peopled by yemshtshiks, plotniks, and mushiks, bear no resemblance to the wretched abodes of poverty in most of our European cities. There are in London and Paris, and even in many German cities, quarters that seem the chosen domain of famine and misery, and where a filthy, ragged, insolent, and demoralized race of beings, are crowded into houses as dirty, as dilapidated, and as repulsive as themselves. Not so in St. Petersburg. Beggars, rag-gatherers, and halfnaked cripples, are nowhere to be seen in the city graced by the imperial residence. Indeed, in none of the large cities of Russia is there to be seen
Waggoners, carpenters, and peasants. B 2
a street population such as we have just described. Of this, the state of serfage in which the lower classes Hve is the cause. The poor are all in a condition of dependence; and that very dependence, while it impedes the workman in his attempts to raise himself, prevents the possibility of his falhng so low as may sometimes be the case with a free labourer. In no city of Russia do we see the wretched hovels of poverty offering a painful contrast to the mansions of the wealthy, as may be seen in almost every city of Western Europe. The suburbs of St. Petersburg, where dwell the labouring classes, or the black people, as they are there called, have a desolate and uninviting air ; still there is nothing repulsive or disgusting in them.
The roofs in St. Petersburg are generally flat, and few houses can boast of more than two floors ; indeed the majority have only one, particularly in the remoter quarters. Even in the heart of the town many one-floored houses are seen, and houses of three or four floors are to be met with only in the three Admiralty sections. Now that groundrents have risen so much, and the town is stretching itself out in every direction, loftier houses are beginning to be built, and additional floors are in some places erected over those that already exist. Wliile I was in St. Petersburg some hundreds of houses underwent the process of having their roofs taken off, for the purpose of having additional floors added.
In the same way that the three prospekts diverge from the Admiralty Tower towards the south, the several arms of the Neva stretch away towards the north, and when the stranger with his telescope is tired of watching the dasliing equipages on the one side, he may turn and contemplate the ships and gondolas on the other. Bridges there are but few over the Neva, and a man would, therefore, often have to go a round of several versts when he wanted to cross the river, were there not all along the banks a multitude of boats ready, for a few copeks, to convey him to the other side. These boats are mostly uncovered, and are rowed, by two men. Covered boats, however, with six, ten, and even twelve rowers are not wanting. The watermen ply their calling with much dexterity, and sometimes even entertain their passengers with songs and music. The court, the ministers, the nobles, and many of the pubUc institutions, have their private barges, richly ornamented, and rowed by men in handsome liveries. The canals and the several arms of the Neva are as much animated by these boats as the streets by equipages ; and, on Sundays, httle fleets may be seen gliding aw'ay to the enchanted islands that form the favourite resort for amusement to the citizens of the Russian capital.
In the spacious arms of the Neva, the ships of war, as well as the merchant-vessels, find a spacious anchorage ; they are not, therefore, crowded together, as is the case in some large maritime places, but lie grouf)ed and scattered along the quays. These quays, again, are bordered by noble buildings ; by the sumptuous mansions of the English Quay, by a range of )alaces on V^assili Ostrof Quay, by the Exchange, the Coq)s of Cadets, the Academy of Sciences, the University, the Academy of Ai-ts, the Corps of Cadets of the Mines, &c. All these buildings arc pompous and of vast extent.
The Kadrtskoi Korpus. The Russians apply the word " corps" not only to the young ifoutknieu themselves, but likewise to the biiildinp; that serves them as a fi'sidenee.