395 
Geology of the Envirofis of Petersburg . 
Cesterbeck* road ; and on the south shore at Peterhof, where a 
part of the gardens of the palace, and oaks, ash, and alder, of great 
size, are planted on the alluvial flat. The oak, if not the ash, are 
said to have been planted by Peter the Great ; the alders, which 
both here and at Oranienbaum, as wmll as the pines at Becova, all 
planted on this alluvial plain, exhibit the marks of great age, may 
be still older, as they are natives of the country. It is remarkable, 
that between each of the three localities above given on the southern 
shore, there exists a small portion of the coast where the marsh still 
gains on the sea. This may perhaps be occasioned by a difference 
in the depth of water, which is in general very shallow. 
This alluvial land does not extend far above the delta. The 
banks of the Neva, (at least of that portion of it which is below the 
sudden turn which it takes at Pella), consist of an accumulation of 
diluvian gravel, which will be hereafter more particularly described. 
Where these banks separate, the alluvial flats begin ; the southern 
bank of gravel, being continued under a small portion of the town, 
is divided by the deep stream called the Chorny Bechka, or black 
rivulet (a common and appropriate name in this country for all 
the brooks whose waters are derived from peat bogs,) on the right 
bank of which stand the monastery and gardens of St. Alexander 
Newsky. About four versts from Petersburg, on the Peterhof road, 
the same bank makes its appearance, and is continued without 
interruption, except from ravines and brooks, to about fifty versts in 
the same direction, where meeting the present shore of the gulf, 
it forms the headland of Crasna Gorka, or the red hills. It will 
be seen that a change in its materials takes place at about half the 
* In the Russian maps, Cestroretsk, of which Cesterbeck is only a corrupt German 
translation. Cestra reca, or Cester Back, meaning only the river Cestra, on a lake at 
the mouth of which the village and iron works commonly called Cesterbeck are situated. 
