792 
PETERSBURG. 
corners of all the ftreets. In fummer it is cuftomary to 
cool it with ice. The juice of the cranberry yields an ex¬ 
cellent and refrefhing liquor, in very frequent ufe under 
the appellation of klukva. By a mixture of klukva, it is 
by no means uncommon not only to improve the quas 
and other drinks, but it is ufed, even in good houfes, for 
making punch, when lemons are at a high price, or not 
to be had. Sbiten is prepared of honey and pepper 
boiled in water, and hawked about the town by people 
who make it their trade, and are therefore called fbiteii/hiks. 
In the public houfes may be had beer, mead, and brandy. 
Among the more delicious forts of national liquors, the 
rijhnefca and rnalinofca rnuft not be forgot, a fort of wine 
made from cherry-juice put into fermentation by fugar 
and brandy; mflijhtjhi, a f'pecies of quas of a fuperior qua¬ 
lity, and feveral others. Their confumption, however, 
fails very fhort, when compared with that of foreign li¬ 
quors. Wine, porter, and ale, are in general ufe. Of 
the firft, upwards of 150.000 hogfheads are imported 
every year, and of the two laft to an amount exceeding 
260.000 rubles, the greater part of which is here confumed. 
The wood for firing produced in the circumjacent diftrift 
is not fufficient for the prodigious, demand of this city; 
about 150,000 fathoms, moftly of birch, being annually 
brought in from other parts of the country. 
No capital, except London, is perhaps fo well fupplied 
with water as this city. The Neva, with its numerous 
branches and canals, conveys it through every part of the 
town ; fo that no family can have far to fetch it. Some¬ 
times indeed they have too much of it; for the Neva is 
apt to overflow, and inundate the city in a very diftrefiing 
manner. On the 9th of September, in the evening, while 
Mr. Coxe was at Peterfburg, a violent ftorm of wind 
blowing at firft fouth-weft and afterwards weft, raifed the 
Neva and its various branches to fo great a height, that 
at five in the morning the waters poured over the town, 
but more particularly the Vaflili Oftrof and the Ifland of 
St. Peterfburg. The torrent rofe in feveral ftreets to the 
depth of four feet and a half, and overturned, by its ra¬ 
pidity, various buildings and bridges. About feven, the 
wind fhifting to north-weft, the flood fell as fuddenly; 
and at mid-day molt of the ftreets, which in the morning 
could only be pafled in boats, became dry. For a fhort 
time, the river rofe ten feet feven inches above its ordi¬ 
nary level. 
Mr. Kraft, profeflor of experimental philofophy to the 
Imperial Academy of Sciences, has written a judicious 
treatife upon the inundation of the Neva, from which the 
following obfervations were extracted by Mr. Coxe: 
“ Thefe floods are lefs alarming than formerly, as the 
fuelling of the river to about fix feet above its ufual 
level, which ufed to overflow the whole town, has no 
longer any efteft, excepting upon the lower parts of Pe¬ 
te! fburg; a circumftance owing to the gradual railing of 
the ground by buildings and other caufes. Upon tra¬ 
cing the principal inundations, the profeflor informs us 
that the moll ancient, of which there is any tradition, 
happened in 1691, and is mentioned by Weber, from the 
account of fome fifhermen inhabiting near Niefchauts, a 
Swedifh redoubt upon the Neva, about three miles from 
the prefent fortrefs of Peterfburg. At that period the 
waters ufually rofe every five years 5 and the inhabitants 
of that diftrift no fooner perceived the particular ftorms 
which they had been taught by fatal experience to confi- 
der as forerunners of a flood, than they took their hovels 
to pieces, and, joining the timbers together in the form 
of rafts, fattened them to the fummits of the higheft 
trees, and repaired to the mountain of Duderof, which 
is diftant fix miles from their place of abode, where they 
waited till the waters fubiided. The circumftances molt 
liable to promote the overflowings of the Neva, are when, 
at the autumnal equinox, three or four days before or 
after the full or new moon, that luminary being near her 
perigaeum, a violent north-weft wind drives the waters 
of the Northern Ocean, during the influx of the tide, into 
the Baltic, and is accompanied or inftantaneoufiy fuc- 
ceeded by a fouth-weft wind in that fea and the gulf of 
Finland. All thefe circumftances concurred at the in¬ 
undation of 1777 : it happened two days before the au¬ 
tumnal equinox, four before the full moon, two after her 
patting through the perigseum, and by a ftorm at fouth- 
weft, which was preceded by ftrong weft winds in the 
northern ocean, and ftrong north winds at the mouth of 
the Baltic.” See Remarques lur les Debordemens de la 
Neva a St. Peterfbourg, accompagnees d’une Carte repre- 
fentant la Crue et la Diminution des Eaux, &c. in Nov. 
Aft. Pet. for 1777. 
The benediftion of the waters of the Neva, is a very 
interefting ceremony which takes place annually at Pe¬ 
terfburg. The late celebrated Dr. Clarke was prefent at 
this fpeftacle; and in the laft volume of his Travels, juft 
publifhed, he had defcribed it in the following terms. 
“ The benediftion of the waters of the Neva, takes 
place on the 6th of January (Old Style), and was for¬ 
merly celebrated with great fplendourand magnificence, 
on the river. At prefent, a fmall temple, of an oft agon 
form, made of wood, painted and adorned with crofles 
and piftures, reprefenting parts of the hiftory of John 
the Baptift, is erefted on the Admiralty Canal : an in- 
clofure is formed around it, and within is a hole cut in 
the ice. A platform, covered with fcarlet cloth, leads 
from the palace to the temple ; along which the proceflion 
advances, confifting of the archbifhop, accompanied by 
bifhops and dignitaries of the church, the imperial fami¬ 
ly, and perfons attached to the court. Having arrived at 
the temple, different prayers are recited; after which, 
the archbifhop defcends a ladder placed within the ofta- 
gon building, and dips the crofs thrice in the water; the 
benediftion being pronounced at the fame time. Some 
of the water is then taken up in a vefiel, and fprinkled on 
the furrounding fpeftators. The military with their 
ftandards, the religious orders in their different drefies, 
the prefence of the imperial family, and the crowds of 
people affembled together, form a very linking fcene. 
The laft occafion on which Peter the Great appeared in 
public, was at the celebration of this ceremony. He was 
previoufly indifpofed ; a fevere cold attacked him on the 
day of the benediftion of the waters, increafed his difor- 
der, and in a fhort time brought on his death. At the 
celebration of a ceremony of the fame kind, which was 
inftituted in the early period of the empire, at Mofcow, 
an image of the Holy Virgin was plunged into the river; 
the water was bleffed by the patriarch, and the tfar, and 
the perfons of the court who were prefent, were fprinkled 
with it.” 
The inhabitants of this large city, beficles Ruffians, con- 
fift or ail nations; fo that a perfon hears a great variety 
of languages, and fees an infinite diverfity of fafhions 
and cuftoins, at St. Peterfburg. The fplendour of the 
court is imitated by the inhabitants in general; though 
every thing belonging to apparel, and efpecially if made 
by foreign artifans, is very dear; and likewife furniture, 
and houfes in an eligible fituation, bear fometimes an ex¬ 
travagant price. The police is well regulated, and li¬ 
berty of confcience is enjoyed to its utmoft extent. 
Peter the Great has been much cenfured for transfer¬ 
ring the feat of the empire from Mofcow to St. Peterf¬ 
burg; the former of which lay nearer to the centre of his 
dominions. But thefe objections will have little weight 
with thofe who confider the confequences of the removal. 
The new city is nearer than Mofcow was to the more ci¬ 
vilized parts of Europe; and from an intercourfe with 
them the manners of the Ruffians have been improved, 
and the nobility in particular have loft much of their feu¬ 
dal importance. Above all, the grand objeft of Peter, 
that of having a formidable navy in the Baltic, has cer¬ 
tainly been obtained ; and the emperor of Ruftia is now 
the arbiter of the north, and, in fome degree, the medi¬ 
ator of all Europe. In fhort, the ereftion of St. Peterfburg 
was perhaps one of the beft afts of Peter’s reign, and has 
