A SAINT S DAY AT KIEFF. 493 



anchored alongside tlie busy quay of the Podole, or lower 

 town of Kieff. A ' droschky ' soon carried us up the steep 

 hill to the upper town, and after some difficulty in making 

 ourselves understood, we procured rooms in the ' Hotel 

 d'Europe.' 



We spent two days in Kieff, which is the most pictur- 

 esque and one of the most interesting of the great cities of 

 Russia. The town, built on the top of two lofty bluifs, 

 commands a wide view of the plains stretching far away 

 eastwards in the direction of Koursk ; as a matter of 

 course the public buildings are large, the streets wide, 

 and the open spaces numerous. The peculiar character of 

 the town is due to the multitude of churches with green, 

 gilt, or silvered cupolas, and the number of trees inter- 

 spersed amongst the houses. The public gardens are, for 

 Russia, exceptionally pretty and well-kept ; in a dell in 

 their centre, sheltered by wooded banks, is a large cafe and 

 pleasure-ground, where two excellent bands performed in the 

 evening. The cathedral is very old and curious, contain- 

 ing some fine eleventh-century mosaics and the tomb of 

 Yaroslaf ; but the great attraction to visitors is the famous 

 fortress-convent, or Lavra, considered the holiest in Russia, 

 to which crowds of pilgrims draw together from the far- 

 thest parts of the Empire. We were lucky in visiting it 

 on a saint's day, when every comer was crowded with 

 peasants in the most picturesque costumes — men in heavy 

 jackboots, bright-coloured shirts fastened in by a belt at 

 the waist, and low-crowned hats — and girls with gaudy 

 necklaces and wreaths of paper-flowers round their heads, 

 some of them fresh and pretty -looking, though all more or 

 less of the flat-faced Russian type. 



The churches are gorgeous with silver-plated pictures 

 of saints and jewelled relics. At the time of our visit a 

 large and excited crowd were pushing and jostling in the 



