ST. PETERSBURG. 887 



including the huge oblong pile of the Admiralty, surmounted by a gilded tower, 

 the cathedral of St. Isaac, a marble and granite domed nave glittering in gold, 

 malachite, and precious stones ; the vast Winter Palace, with its long sculptured 

 façade rising above the Neva ; and other stately mansions adorned with colonnades, 

 and often surrounded with verdure. Close to the Admiralty, and in a square 

 whose granite steps are washed by the Neva, stands the famous equestrian statue 

 of Peter the Great by Falconet, poised on a block 16 feet high, and proudly 

 pointing to the frowning stronghold raised by him in the midst of swamps. 

 Facing the neighbouring Winter Palace stands the Alexander column, a Finland 

 granite monolith 76 feet high ; but this remarkable monument of human industry is 

 already crumbling, and will soon have to be kept together by means of iron clamps. 



A general view of the city may be had from the Admiralty tower, or better 

 from the dome of St. Isaac's. Southwards are seen the diverging lines of the 

 great avenues, or " perspectives," amongst them the famous Nevskiy Perspective, 

 flanked by palaces, bazaars, churches, and stretching for about 2 miles to the 

 Moscow railway terminus. The Neva winds east, north, and west under the 

 arches of the great bridges, and nearly opposite the Admiralty it ramifies round 

 the island of Vasiliy, on which stand the Exchange, Custom House, and principal 

 learned institutions, such as the University, Academies of Sciences and Fine Arts, 

 Historical and Philological Institute, Physical Observatory. Beyond the buildings 

 stretch north-westwards the wooded " isles of the Neva," with their winding 

 avenues, kiosks, and pleasure boats. This panoramic view presents many points of 

 interest, but there are few quarters which can be visited with pleasure. Like 

 Washington, Petersburg is a city of "magnificent distances," with interminable, 

 broad, regular, monotonous streets, lined everywhere with the same gloomy 

 barracks, stone or wooden houses, without beauty or originality of design. 



Nor is it a wholesome place, the annual mortality, as in Odessa, exceeding the 

 births, so that but for the constant immigration this swamp- encompassed city 

 would soon revert to its original state. But so considerable is the inflow, con- 

 sisting chiefly of young men in the vigour of life, that amongst all European cities 

 St. Petersburg is remarkable for the great excess of its male population, generally 

 averaging about four to three of the opposite sex. According to the statistical 

 returns the proportion was more than double before the middle of this century, 

 and although most of the men are married, about half of them have left their 

 wives and families in the provinces. Every part of the empire and all its races — 

 Slavs, Finns, and even Tatars — take part in the yearly immigration. The Tatars 

 chiefly follow the smaller occupations, and are largely engaged as waiters in the 

 first-class restaurants, or as old-clothes dealers. There are no less than 50,000 

 Germans following every calling, licit or illicit, from the merchant and banker 

 to the artisan and smuggler. One Lutheran parish is composed entirely of 

 Germans by descent, who have forgotten their mother tongue, and now speak 

 Russian alone. Both public health and morality naturally suffer from the 

 social condition, and the rate of illegit/imacy was as high as 30 per cent, between 

 1856 and 1865, Infant mortality attains fearful proportions, the chronic 

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