THE NEVA. ¥ 
Glavno Stab. Beyond the palace, and connected with it, 
is the Hermitage, containing a valuable collection of 
articles pertaining to Peter the Great, the founder of the 
city, and an invaluable collection of paintings by ancient and 
modern artists, of coins, of cameos, and of other gems. A 
little way brings us upon the Champs de Mars, an exten- 
sive plain devoted to reviews of the troops, dominated by 
palaces, among others that erected by the Emperor Paul, 
and in which he met his death. In front are the Summer 
Gardens, studded with statuary. Leaving the Champs de 
Mars, we pass a statue of Kotussof, and passing in front of 
the Summer Gardens we pass a shrine for prayer, erected 
on the spot where was made the first attempt to assassinate 
the late Emperor Alexander II. Passing onwards between 
a noble quay or line of palatial residences and the river, 
and passing the entrance to a noble granite bridge 
spaning the Neva, and leading to the Finnish railway, and 
the country beyond, we reach at. length the quay from 
which the steamers for Lake Onega take their departure. 
The commencement of the voyage is through miles of 
urban scenes—houses, churches, manufactories, and wharfs ; 
but these past, the rural scenery is reached. Here 
the banks of the Neva present aspects differing greatly 
from those of the Saima Canal in Finland: there the 
banks are wooded to the water’s edge, approximating and 
receding, and branching off into numerous lakelets, and 
presenting in front ofttimes a wooded barrier against 
advance, which, however, is found practicable bysome narrow 
outlet in a concealed corner ; here there is a broad expanse 
of river, winding indeed, but never so as to conceal what 
is ahead. Both banks of the Neva, from St. Petersburg 
upward, for a considerable distance, are crowded with 
timber yards and manufactories of different kinds, and not 
until Alexandrof, eight or nine miles distant by road, has 
been left a considerable way behind is it otherwise. 
Beyond this the banks are studded with villages, with 
‘datches’ or villas, and with churches admirably located 
