It is not to be denied that the Russian pavements are in general very bad. Good-looking enough when just laid down, but calculated rather for show than wear. One kind of pavement, however, is admirable in St. Petersburg ; I mean the wooden pavement, over which the carriages roll as smoothly and as noiselessly, as ivory balls over a billiard-table. Thig kind of pavement, however, which has been adopted only in a few of the principal streets, occasions great expense, on account of the constant repairs which it requires, single blocks sinking eveiy now and then into the watery soil, and leaving dangerous holes behind. The pavement, however, is a matter of less importance here than in most of the European capitals, where nature has not provided a spontaneous railroad for the greater part of the year. For more than six months the streets of St. Petei-sbm-g are filled with snow and ice that form a more convenient road for man and horse than any that art has been able to construct. It is curious to observe the various metamoi-phoses which the snow road undergoes as the seasons advance. In autumn, vast quantities of snow begin to fall, and lie at first in loose and formless masses, through which the Russian steeds dash fearlessly, scattering showers of sparkling Hakes ai'ound them in their progress. Gradually the snow is beaten down, and then forms a beautiful solid Bahn. A gentle thaw tends very much to improve its solidity ; whereas, after a long and severe frost, the constant trampling of the liorscs reduces the surface to a fine powder, that often rises in clouds like dust, to the great annoyance of pedestrians. This, of course, happens only in the Nevskoi Prospekt, the Gorokhovaia Oulitza, and a few others of the most frequented thoroughfares ; in most of the streets, the mass remains compact throughout the winter.
On the return of spring, all this undergoes a remarkable change. In German cities, the police usually takes care to remove the snow ; but in St. Petersburg, owing to the great accumulation in its broad streets, this would scarcely be possible. All that the police, therefore, does, when the thaw sets in in good earnest, is to cut trenches through the icy mass to allow the water to run oif in proportion as the snow melts. It is not difficult to imagine the filthy state in which the streets necessarily remain under these circumstances. The month of May is in general far advanced, when the pavement still presents nothing to the eye but a lake of mud, with a dirty stream of water rolling through the centre, where the gutter is invariably constructed. The horses are often all but swimming, and a man may sometimes be thankful if he can get from the house-door into his carriage without an accident. This season must be a regular harvest time for the brushmakers. The lackeys and shoeblacks are heard to groan aloud over the condition of their masters' boots and cloaks, and to swear that they never hired themselves for such dirty work. A sudden return of frost often restores the whole mass to a solid substance. The streets are then covered again with ice, on wliich many an over-driven horse is doomed to break a limb.
A Russian isvoshtshik prefers his sledge to every other kind of vehicle, and continues to use it as long as an apology for snow is to be found in the streets. The consequence is, that sledges will often be seen on the shady side, when on the sunny side nothing but a wheeled carriage is able to get along.