ASPECT OP THE COUNTRY. 121 



historical associations. It is the town of Pleshkoff, built 

 on the banks of the Velikaia and the Plescova, by the 

 famous Russian Princess Olga, who was born in a village 

 about eight miles distant from it, named Sibout, whence 

 the young prince Igor espoused her for his wife, But 

 her love for her native place was so strong, that after she 

 had become a Christian, about the year 965, she came 

 from Kief to propagate the Christian religion among its 

 heathen inhabitants : and at that time, as the legend 

 goes, founded the city on the spot indicated to her by a 

 supernatural light from heaven, which descended upon a 

 certain place on the banks of the two above mentioned 

 streams. She began by erecting a church to the Holy 

 Trinity, and the city rose around it, and became distin- 

 guished for its power and commercial importance through 

 many succeeding ages. The evidence of this is seen in 

 the extent of the ruins of the massive buildings required 

 by the necessities of a crowded city of enterprising 

 merchants, enriched by the gains of an extensive and 

 successful trade, now yielding materials which have been 

 employed extensively in the repairs and erection of 

 buildings required by the demands of modern times. It 

 is described as being in a most dilapidated condition. It 

 is still divided into three parts the Kremlin, the central 

 city, and the great city. The towers and fortifications of 

 the outer walls occupy a circle of about seven versts : these 

 are all of limestone ; and are so reduced by the effects of 

 the frosts in winter, and the heat in summer, that 

 certainly a few ages more will cover the mouldering heaps 

 with green turf. 



' The population is about 10,000 people. 



' When the famous Vladimir the First divided his 

 kingdom among his ten children, whom he had by an 

 equal number of wives, Pleshkoff fell to the lot of 

 Sondislav, who became in consequence its first sovereign 

 about 1030. But the fate, and even the government of 

 Pleshkoff, was in general intimately connected with that 

 of its rival, and elder sieter, Novgorod, until its union 



