﻿STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 109 



considered as rapid. So interesting was the spectacle of the enor- 

 mous mass when moving, with the two drummers at their posts, the 

 forge erected on it continually at work, and forty workmen constantly 

 employed in reducing it to a regular form, that the empress and the 

 court visited the spot to see the novel sight ; and, notwithstanding 

 the rigor of the season, crowds of persons of all ranks went out every 

 day as spectators. Small flat sledges were attached to each side of 

 the stone by ropes, on which were seated men provided with iron 

 levers, whose duty it was to prevent the balls, of which fifteen on a 

 side were used, from striking against each other, and thus impeding 

 the motion. The tool-house was also attached, and moved with the 

 stone, in order that everything might be ready to hand when re- 

 quired. Experiments were tried with balls and grooves of cast-iron ; 

 but this material crumbled into fragments as readily as if made of 

 clay. No metal was found to bear the weight so well as the mixture 

 of copper and tin ; and even with this the balls were sometimes flat 

 tened, and the grooves curled up, when the pressure by any accident 

 became unequal. The utility of rollers was also tried ; but with 

 double the number of capstans and power, the cables broke, while 

 the stone did not advance an inch. 



The work went on favorably, when it was suddenly checked by 

 the sinking of the stone to a depth of 18 inches in the road, to the 

 great chagrin of the engineer, who was suffering under a severe at- 

 tack of marsh fever. He was not, however, disheartened, and speed- 

 ily remedied the accidei t, spite of the idle clamors of the multitude ; 

 and in six weeks from the time of first drawing the stone from its 

 bed, he had the satisfaction of seeing it safely deposited on the tem- 

 porary wharf built for the purpose of embarkation on the banks of 

 the river, when the charge fell into the hands of the Admiralty, who 

 had undertaken the transport by water to the city. 



A vessel or barge 180 feet in length, 66 feet in width, and 17 feet 

 from deck to keel, had been built with every appliance that skill 

 could suggest, to render it capable of supporting the enormous bur- 

 den. Great precautions were now necessary to prevent the possibil- 

 ity of the falling of the rock into the stream ; water was let into the 

 vessel until she sank to the bottom of the river, which brought her 

 deck on a level with the wharf; the rock was then drawn on board 



