THE SAIMA SEE. 29 



Alexander Pillar in St. Petersburg was wrought.* Other 

 boulders may be seen heaped one on the other in strange 

 confusion and fantastic shapes. The drive between Lovisa 

 and the next station is very beautiful, and hill and dale 

 are passed with scarcely time to look down on the torrent 

 that foams and boils below in its narrow and rocky bed, as 

 the traveller dashes over the narrow arch that spans each 

 yawning chasm/ A drive of something more than ten 

 miles brings the traveller to Aborrfors. ' The position of 

 this village is one of the most picturesque on the road. 

 Approaching it from Lovisa, there is passed a broad stream 

 winding along a valley, immediately beyond which rises a 

 hill of considerable elevation ; its sides and summit are 

 covered with red cottages, and around them is a forest, 

 with its giant boulders looking like specks on the dark- 

 green mantle/ 



Broby is next reached, some fourteen miles distant. 

 'Between this and the next station, a fortress which 

 formerly marked the frontier of Sweden, and was then 

 guarded with the most jealous care, is passed. Its scarped 

 sides and edges still remain ; but the place is, in other 

 respects, totally neglected, and even uninhabited. Shortly 

 after, a turn in the road brings the traveller in sight of 

 a beautiful waterfall of the river Kymen, near Hogfors ; 



* This monolith of red granite, exclusive of pedestal and capital, is 84 feet 

 in height, and 14 feet in diameter. It originally measured 102 feet, but was shortened 

 from a fear that it was not of sufficient girth to sustain such a length of column. The 

 base is also a monolith of the same red granite, 25 feet in height, and nearly the same 

 length and breadth The capital measures 6 feet ; it is surmounted by an angel and 

 cross, the former 14 feet, the latter 7 feet, in all the mount is 154 feet 9 inches in height. 

 The shaft of the column alone is computed to weigh 400 tons. It was raised in its 

 rough state, and polished after it was fixed on the pedestal. It was rolled up a spiral 

 corkscrew-like scaffolding whereby the upper extremities was raised, while the lower 

 was comparatively stationary, and it was thus brought to the perpendicular without a 

 shock. All was done under the direction of M. Montferrand, the architect of the Isaac 

 Church. I witnessed the completion of the work, but not its commencement. St. 

 Isaac's Plain, now laid out as a garden, was filled with soldiery, as were the windows 

 and roofs of the surrounding buildings. It was computed that 200,000 people were 

 present, 105,000 soldiers and 95,000 spectators. The former knelt, or bowed the 

 uncovered head if on horseback, while the metropolitan of St. Petersburg offered the 

 consecration prayer. The chaunt of his voice was heard on the house top where I 

 was, like the swell of long low waves, passing over the heads of the multitude, and 

 when these rose from their knees, or raised their bowed heads, it was like the resurrec- 

 tion of the dead as pictured by fancy. It has been mentioned ir. the beginning of the 

 chapter that the summit of it may be seen in passing up the Neva. 



