hroughout the world as the seat
of the renowned and impregnable fortress of Cronstadt.

There was a Swedish ship in the offing at the time when Peter visited the
island, and this ship drew near to the island and began to fire upon it
as soon as those on board saw that the Russian soldiers had landed there.
This cannonading drove the Russians back from the shores, but instead of
retiring from the island they went and concealed themselves behind some
rocks. The Swedes supposed that the Russians had gone around to the
other side of the island, and that they had there taken to their boats
again and returned to the main land; so they determined to go to the
island themselves, and examine it, in order to find out what the Russians
had been doing there.

They accordingly let down their boats, and a large party of Swedes
embarking in them rowed to the island. Soon after they had landed the
Russians rushed out upon them from their ambuscade, and, after a sharp
contest, drove them back to their boats. Several of the men were killed,
but the rest succeeded in making their way to the ship, and the ship soon
afterward weighed anchor and put to sea.

Peter was now at liberty to examine the island, the mouth of the river,
and all the adjacent shores, as much as he pleased. He found that the
situation of the place was well adapted to the purposes of a sea-port.
The island would serve to defend the mouth of the river, and yet there
was deep water along the side of it to afford an entrance for ships. The
water, too, was deep in the river, and the flow of the current smooth.
It is true that in many places the land along the banks of the river was
low and marshy, but this difficulty could be remedied by the driving of
piles for the foundation of the buildings, which had been done so
extensively in Holland.

There was no town on the spot at the time of Peter's visit to it, but
only a few fishermen's huts near the outlet of the river, and the ruins
of an old fort a few miles above. Peter examined the whole region with
great care, and came decidedly to the conclusion that he would make the
spot the site of a great city.

He matured his plans during the winter, and in the following spring he
commenced the execution of them. The first building that was erected was
a low one-story structure, made of wood, to be used as a sort of office
and place of shelter for himself while superintending the commencement of
the works that he had pro