PETERHOF 



for officials and members of the Court, sur- 

 rounded with flowers, and painted terra-cotta 

 and white, the former a shade of colour only 

 used for the Peterhof Palaces. Though some 

 of these houses are made entirely of wood, 

 they successfully withstand the bitter winter 

 cold. 



When the Court is in residence the neighbour- 

 hood of the palace and the park is full of brilliance. 

 In the hot summer sun of June and July, pro- 

 longed into the long northern evenings, Cossacks, 

 sometimes on horseback, pennons on their up- 

 lifted lances, ride two and two singing Cossack 

 melodies, round the palace enclosures, or small 

 bodies march through the grounds clad in their 

 long cloaks. The officers' uniforms are a blaze of 

 blue or scarlet, with exquisite silver embroidery. 

 In the evening ladies in the lightest silken and 

 gossamer garments, gossamer veils wound round 

 their hair, droshky drivers with their padded-out 

 figures, and gay silk rainbow-coloured sleeves, 

 officers and Court officials in uniform, pass 

 through the park or meet at the band, all the 

 fountains playing from 6 till 10 P.M. Close to 

 the palace, on evenings when the Tsar dines with 



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