of them, rattling along the quays and over the
bridge to the English hotel, among hundreds of similar vehicles and
long-coated, bearded people, who looked as if they did not think there
was anything strange in the matter at all.

The Miss Bensons, the kind-hearted landladies of the hotel, could just
manage to accommodate the travellers; and they soon found themselves
lodged in very clean rooms, and as comfortable as at any hotel in
England. After the fresh sea air they found the heat very great, and
the houses felt like stoves; indeed, they heard that the weather had
been excessively hot for some days. They, however, had come up with a
fresh breeze, which increased almost to a gale, and effectually cooled
the air.

Cousin Giles was not a man to let the grass grow under his feet; so, as
soon as dinner was over, he and his young companions sauntered out to
take in, as he said, as much of Saint Petersburg as they could that
evening. Just above the city the Neva divides itself into several
branches, which form a number of marshy islands, on which islands Saint
Petersburg is built. The streets have been laid out to accommodate
themselves somewhat to the turnings of the river; so that they are not
at right angles to each other, as might have been expected, though as
much regularity as possible has been observed. The most central spot is
the Admiralty Square, a vast, irregular, open space, with the river on
one side of it; and near the river stands, on a vast block of granite, a
colossal equestrian statue of Peter the Great, with his arm stretched
out in an attitude of command. Forming the different sides of this vast
open space are some of the finest public buildings in the city: the
Admiralty with its golden spire, the beautiful Isaac Church with its
superb granite columns, the Winter Palace with its long rows of richly
ornamented windows, the War Office, the Senate House, and many others.
At one end, with a crescent of fine buildings before it, which contain
the War Office, stands a lofty column of polished granite, consisting
only of two blocks of stone, it is said. It is called the Alexander
Column, and is dedicated to him as "the Restorer of Peace to the World."
He is so called by the Russians in consequence of the part he took in
the overthrow of Napoleon. On its summit stands a green bronze statue
of the Archangel Michael, holding the cross of peace in his hand. From
the space before the Admiralty radiate off