burg with a knapsack on my back and a hundred
dollars in my pocket. An extensive tour along the borders of the
Arctic Circle was before me, and it was necessary I should husband my
resources.

In my search for a cheap German gasthaus I walked nearly all over the
city. My impressions were probably tinctured by the circumstances of
my position, but it seemed to me I had never seen so strange a place.

[Illustration: LABORERS AND SHIPWRIGHTS.]

[Illustration: RUSSIAN AND FINN.]

The best streets of St. Petersburg resemble on an inferior scale the
best parts of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. Nothing in the architecture
conveys any idea of national taste except the glittering cupolas of
the churches, the showy colors of the houses, and the vast extent and
ornamentation of the palaces. The general aspect of the city is that
of immense level space. Built upon islands, cut up into various
sections by the branches of the Neva, intersected by canals, destitute
of eminent points of observation, the whole city has a scattered and
incongruous effect--an incomprehensible remoteness about it, as if one
might continually wander about without finding the centre. Some parts,
of course, are better than others; some streets are indicative of
wealth and luxury; but without a guide it is extremely difficult to
determine whether there are not still finer buildings and quarters in
the main part of the city--if you could only get at it. The eye
wanders continually in search of heights and prominent objects. Even
the Winter Palace, the Admiralty, and the Izaak Church lose much of
their grandeur in the surrounding deserts of space from the absence of
contrast with familiar and tangible objects. It is only by a careful
examination in detail that one can become fully sensible of their
extraordinary magnificence. Vast streets of almost interminable
length, lined by insignificant two-story houses with green roofs and
yellow walls; vast open squares or ploschads; palaces, public
buildings, and churches, dwindled down to mere toy-work in the deserts
of space intervening; countless throngs of citizens and carriages
scarcely bigger than ants to the eye; broad sheets of water, dotted
with steamers, brigs, barks, wood-barges and row-boats, still
infinitesimal in the distance; long rows of trees, forming a foliage
to some of the principal promenades, with glimpses of gardens and
shrubbery at remote intervals; canals and dismal green swamps--not all
at