Dirtiness is very conspicuous in the country, but that of the houses and the clothes strikes me more than that of the individuals. The Russians take much care of their persons. Their vapour baths, it is true, appear to us disgusting ; and I should for myself much prefer the contact of pure water ; still these boiling fogs cleanse and strengthen the body, though they wrinkle the skin prematurely. By virtue of their use, the peasants may be often seen with clean beards and hair, when as much cannot be said for their garments. Warm clothing costs money, and has to be worn a long time ; the rooms also, in which
THE COUNTRY WOMEN.181
they think only of protecting themselves from the cold, are necessarily less aired than those of southern people. Of the air that purifies, the Russians are deprived for nine months in the year, so that their dirtiness is rather the inevitable effect of their climate than of their negligence.
In some districts the workpeople wear a cap of blue cloth, bulging out in the shape of a balloon. They have several other species of head-dress, all pleasing to the eye, and showing good taste as compared with the saucy affectation of negligence, visible among the lower orders in the environs of Paris.
When they work bare-headed, they remedy the inconvenience of their long hair by binding it with a kind of diadem, or fillet made of a riband, a wreath of rushes, or of some other simple material, always placed with care, and which looks well on the young people; for the men of this race have in general finely formed, oval heads, so that their working head-dress becomes an ornament. But what shall I say of the women ? All whom I have hitherto seen have appeared to me repulsive : I had hoped in this excursion to have met some fair villagers ; but here, as at Petersburg, they are broad and short in figure, and they gird their forms at the shoulders, a little above the bosom, which spreads freely under the petticoat. It is hideous ! Add to this voluntary deformity, large men's boots and a species of riding coat, or jacket of sheep's skin, similar to the pelisses of their husbands, but, doubtless through a laudable economy, much less gracefully cut, and far more worn ; falling indeed literally in rags — such is their toilette. Assuredly there is no part of the world
182
BAD ROADS.
where the fair sex so completely dispenses with coquettish finery as in Russia (I speak only of the female peasants and of the corner of the land that I have seen). Nevertheless these women are the mothers of the soldiers of which the Emperor is so proud, and of the handsome coachmen of the streets of Petersburg.
It should be observed that the greater number of the women in the government of Petersburg are of Finnish extraction. I am told that in the interior of the country I shall see very good-looking female peasants.
The road from Petersburg to Schlusselburg is bad in many parts: there are sometimes deep beds of sand, sometimes holes of mud to be passed, over which planks have been very uselessly thrown. What is yet worse, are the small logs of wood rudely laid across each other, on certain marshy portions of the route, which would swallow up any other foundation. This rustic, ill-joined and movable flooring dances under the wheels; and frequent broken bones and broken carriages on Russian
On my arrival at Schlusselburg, where I was expected, the engineer who has the direction of the sluices received me.
The weather was raw and gloomy. My carriage stopped before the comfortable wood-house of the
THE ENGINEER AND HIS WIFE.183
engineer, who introduced me himself into a parlour, where he offered me a light collation, and presented me, with a kind of conjugal pride, to a young and handsome person, his wife. She sat all alone, upon a sofa from which she did not rise on my entering. Not understanding French, she remained silent, and also motionless, I cannot tell why, unless she mistook immovability for good breeding, and starched airs for taste. Her object seemed to be to represent before me the statue of hospitality clothed in white muslin over a pink petticoat. I ate and warmed myself in silence : she watched me without daring to turn away her eyes, for this would be to move them, and immobility was the part she had to perform. If I had suspected there could be timidity at the bottom of this singular reception, I should have experienced sympathy, and felt only surprise ; but I could, hardly be deceived in such a case, for I am familiar with timidity.
My host suffered me to contemplate at leisure this curious image of rosy wax-work, dressed up in order to dazzle the stranger, though it confirmed him only in his opinion that the women of the North are seldom natural. The worthy engineer seemed flattered with the effect that his wife produced on me. He took my wonder for admiration ; nevertheless, desirous of conscientiously acquitting himself of his duty, he at length said, ' I regret to disturb you, lint wTe have scarcely sufficient time to visit the works which I have received an order to show to you in detail.'
I had foreseen the blow without being able to parry it. I therefore submitted with resignation, and suffered myself to be led from sluice to sluice, my mind still dwelling with useless regret upon
184SLUICES OF SCHLUSSELBURG.
the fortress, that tomb of the youthful Ivan, which they would not suffer me to approach. It will be seen shortly how this secret object of my journey was attained.
To enumerate all the structures of granite that I have seen this morning, the floodgates fixed in grooves worked in blocks of that stone, the flags, of the same material, employed as the pavement of a gigantic canal, would fortunately little interest the reader; it will suffice him to know that during the ten years that have elapsed since the first sluices were finished, they have required no repairs. This is an astonishing instance of stability in a climate like that of Lake Ladoga. The object of the magnificent work is to equalise the difference of level that there is between the canal of Ladoga and the course of the Neva near to its source. With .this object, sluices have been multiplied, without reference to cost, in order to render as easy and prompt as possible a navigation that the rigour of the seasons leaves open for only three or four months in the year.
Nothing has been spared to perfect the solidity and the precision of the work. The granite of Finland has been used for the bridges, the parapets, and even, I repeat it with admiration, for lining the bed of the canal; in short, all the improvements of modem science have been had recourse to, in order to complete, at Schlussclburg, a work as perfect in its kind as the rigours of the climate will permit.
The interior navigation of Russia deserves the attention of all scientific and commercial men : it constitutes one of the principal sources of the riches of the land. By means of a series of canals, the en-
UNION OF THE CASPIAN AND BALTIC. 185
tire extent of which is, like every other undertaking in this country, colossal, they have, since the reign of Peter the Great, succeeded in joining, so as to form a safe navigation for boats, the Caspian with the Baltic by the Volga, Lake Ladoga, and the Neva. This enterprise, bold in conception, prodigious in execution, is now completed, and forms one of the wonders of the civilised world. Although thus magnificent to contemplate, I found it rather
