Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

FUEL IN PETERSBURG.307

sians already preparing their provision of winter fuel. Boats loaded with billets of birch Mrood, the only fuel used here (for the oak is a tree of luxury), obstruct the large and numerous canals which intersect the city in every direction. It is built on the model of Amsterdam : an arm of the Neva flows through the principal streets, which in winter is filled up by the ice and snow, and in summer by the innumerable boats. The wood is conveyed from the boats in narrow carts of a primitive simplicity of construction, on which it is piled to a height which makes it resemble a moving wall. I have never once seen any of these tottering edifices fall.

The Russian people are singularly adroit: it is against the will of nature that this race of men has been driven by human revolutions towards the pole, and that it is kept there by political circumstances. He who would penetrate further into the designs of Providence, might perhaps recognise a war with the elements as the rough trial to which God has subjected a nation, destined by Him some day to rule over others. A situation demanding a severe struggle is the school of Providence.

Fuel is becoming scarce in Russia. Wood is as dear in Petersburg as in Paris. There are houses here which consume the value of nine or ten thousand francs per winter. In beholding the inroads made upon the forests we may ask, with inquietude, how will the next generation warm themselves.

If the jest be pardonable, I would advise as a measure of prudence on the part of the people who enjoy a genial climate, that they should furnish the