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When I cast my eyes up at the sign-boards, and read about grand fabrications and steam-companies, and walked along the quays of the Neva, and saw wood enough piled up in big broad-bottomed boats to satisfy the wants of myself and family for ten thousand years; when I strolled into the Nevskoi, and jostled my way through crowds of nobles, officers, soldiers, dandies, and commoners, stopping suddenly at every picture-shop, gazing dreamily into the gorgeous millinery establishments, pondering thoughtfully over the glittering wares of the jewelers, lagging moodily by the grand cafes, and snuffing reflectively the odors that came from the grand restaurations when all this occurred, and I went down into a beer-cellar and made acquaintance with a worthy German, and he asked me if I had any meerschaums to sell, the notion that I had no particular business in so costly and luxurious a place began to grow stronger than ever.

All this might have been obviated by the use of a few Russian words, but our time seemed too short to look into the vocabulary. Our first drive was past the statue of Peter the Great, near the Admiralty, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and along the Nevskoi Prospect, the Regent Street of St. Petersburg, three miles long and very wide, having in some parts the advantage of a wooden pavement.

Alexander Nevskoi, one of the most celebrated in Russia, containing within its walls towers, churches and gardens, with many paintings, and a very remarkable monument of Alexander Nevskoi, of massive silver, which, with its ornaments, weighs 5,000 lbs. of pure metal.

A little above the landing-place of the Baltic steamers, a magnificent bridge connects the Wasseli-Ostrow with the main part of the city, embracing the Winter Palace, the Admiralty, and the Nevskoi, generally known as the Bolshaia, or Great Side.

A peculiar and almost supernatural light glistens upon the gilded domes of the churches; the glaring waters of the Neva are alive with gondolas; miniature steamers are flying through the winding channels of the islands; strains of music float upon the air; gay and festive throngs move along the promenades of the Nevskoi; gilded and glittering equipages pass over the bridges and disappear in the shadowy recesses of the islands.