24 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA, 



breath through the small apertures of the almost chocked 

 arches. On the other side the river is free of ice, and a 

 furious stream, as if all the imprisoned waters of Russia 

 were let loose, is dashing down, bearing with it some huge 

 leviathan of semi-transparent crystal, and curdling its 

 waters about it, till this again is stopped by another field 

 of ice lower down. 



'The waters were rising every minute night was 

 approaching, and the beautiful old bridge gave us great 

 alarm, when a party of peasants, fresh from their supper 

 at the Hof, and cheered with brandy, arrived to relieve it. 

 Each was armed with a long pole with an iron point, and 

 flying down the piles and on to the ice itself, began 

 hacking at the sides of the foremost monster, till, 

 impelled by the current beneath, it could fit and grind 

 itself through the bridge and gallop down to thunder 

 against its comrades below. The men were utterly 

 fearless, giving a keen sense of adventure to their danger- 

 ous task which rivetted us to the spot ; some of the most 

 daring standing and leaning with their whole weight over 

 the bed of the torrent upon the very mass they were 

 hewing off, till the slow swing which preceded the final 

 plunge made them fly to the piles for safety. Some 

 fragments were doubly hard with imbedded stones and 

 pieces of timber, and no sooner was one enemy despatched 

 than another succeeded ; and although bodies of men 

 continued relieving each other all night, the bridge 

 sustained such damage as could not be repaired. All was 

 over in twelve hours, but meanwhile, " the waters pre- 

 vailed exceedingly upon the earth," and every hill and 

 building stood insulated. 



' Such was the picture of our life a fortnight ago, since 

 when a still more striking change, if possible, has come 

 over the face of things. The earth, which so lately 

 emerged from her winter garb, is now clad in the liveliest 

 livery ; while every tree and shrub have hastily changed 

 their dresses in Nature's vast green-room, and stand all 



