nded the operations. This hut is still preserved as one of
the curiosities of St. Petersburg. In less than a year thirty thousand
houses were reared, and these were all crowded by the many thousands
Peter had ordered to the rising city, from all parts of the empire.
Death made terrible ravages among them; but the remote provinces
furnished an abundant supply to fill the places of the dead. Exposure,
toil, and the insalubrity of the marshy ground, consigned one hundred
thousand to the grave during this first year.

The morass had to be drained, and the ground raised by bringing earth
from a distance. Wheelbarrows were not in use there, and the laborers
conveyed the earth in baskets, bags and even in the skirts of their
clothes, scooping it up with their hands and with wooden paddles. The
tzar always manifested great respect for the outward observances of
religion, and was constant in his attendance upon divine service. As
we have mentioned, the first building the tzar erected was a fort, the
second was a church, the third a hotel. In the meantime private
individuals were busily employed, by thousands, in putting up shops
and houses. The city of Amsterdam was essentially the model upon which
St. Petersburg was built. The wharves, the canals, the bridges and the
rectangular streets lined with trees were arranged by architects
brought from the Dutch metropolis. When Charles XII. was informed of
the rapid progress the tzar was making in building a city on the banks
of the Neva, he said,

"Let him amuse himself as he thinks fit in building his city. I shall
soon find time to take it from him and to put his wooden houses in a
blaze."

Five months had not passed away, from the commencement of operations
upon these vast morasses at the mouth of the Neva, ere, one day, it
was reported to the tzar that a large ship under Dutch colors was in
full sail entering the harbor. Peter was overjoyed at this realization
of the dearest wish of his heart. With ardor he set off to meet the
welcome stranger. He found that the ship had been sent by one of his
old friends at Zaandam. The cargo consisted of salt, wine and
provisions generally. The cargo was landed free from all duties and
was speedily sold to the great profit of the owners. To protect his
capital, Peter immediately commenced his defenses at Cronstadt, about
thirty miles down the bay. From that hour until this, Russia has been
at work upon those fortifications, and they can now