cupation, which seemed to require great strength, led me to stop and inquire into its nature. I learned that the diversion is called the Swaika, and that it consists in pitching an iron bolt, the head of which weighs sometimes a great many pounds, within the circle of an iron ring, previously fixed flat on the ground. This species of gymnastics requires great address as well as strength, and a quick and correct eye. Like the Montagnes Russes, it is deserving of importation into our gymnastic academies. The bolt is whirled round in the air, being held by the point for that purpose; and when its strikes the earth, such is the force with which it penetrates the ring, that it requires the united power of two men to uproot it once more. When the player misses the centre of the ring, he passes the bolt to the next player, and pays a forfeit.

Just by this scene, I noticed a dangerous modification of what, in England, is called the swinging-board, and which consists in balancing a long board across a round and stout cylinder of wood or a tree, when two persons, generally young women, (those I saw were children,) place themselves one at each end, and by certain movements raise each other alternately, but so quickly, and so effectually, that either party is by turns thrown upwards some feet from the board, and comes down upon part of it with so much increased impetus and weight, that the elevation of each person is thereby considerably augmented with a corresponding increase of risk of mutually breaking their necks.

Russians will box, or rather spar, for they do it with roukavitzies on, or long gloves, and never draw blood; boxing, or Kulatschnoï Boy is often performed by several persons together, who take opposite sides, when it really becomes a very curious exhibition. The slight sketch of this national diversion of the lower classes, which I have

here introduced, will convey a tolerable idea of what I mean by "Russian boxing." The Russian seldom, if ever,

draws blood, when he comes to blows; and there is no nation in Europe so little inclined to proceed to that extremity, as they are.

It happens frequently that the three popular amusements last described, are to be seen at one and the same time on some holyday, in an open space crowded like the scene already described on the Neva, with spectators, who are generally of the very middling classes, although to look at the dress of some of the women, one would suppose them to be far superior in rank. In no other country, except perhaps in Turkey, have I noticed such a display of rich brocades, embroideries, lace, and pearls, as I have now and then remarked on the persons of some of the wives of wealthy people, free peasants, and monied men, all Russians. Their head-dress is frequently of immense value,

and picturesque in the extreme, when not covered by the plaided veil, not unlike a Spanish mantilla. The latter they wear when they go out, and this as well as the great care which they take to conceal the hair under their caps, is considered as a token of the married state. The husband, on the contrary, is all simplicity. His kaftan of fine blue or green cloth, gathered in numerous plaids around the waist, is the principal part of his dress, which descends as low down as the calf of his leg, covering the half of his boots. A plain hat with a low crown, the upper part of which is considerably larger than where it joins the broad brim, which is slightly turned up to the right and left, forms the more usual covering for the head. Such a hat has always a broad band of black velvet with a steel buckle. Some prefer a furred cap in the winter, in which case the most expensive furs are employed. Very few of this class of people wear the sash or koushak round the waist, and a great many have at last given up that national appendage, the only one which Peter dared not touch-the beard. It may be advanced as a general fact, that the native Russian merchants, resident in St. Petersburgh, are fast abandoning the peculiar national costume by which they have hitherto been distinguished, changing it for the tight coat and inexpressibles of other European nations, in which they neither study their convenience nor display their good taste; for what can be uglier than the modern European dress?

The Russians of St. Petersburgh have no cock-pit among their sports, but they have a goose-pit, a fact which, I believe, has been overlooked by former travellers. Fighting birds of that noisy yet apparently harmless tribe are trained for sport, and the practice prevails to a great extent among the hemp merchants. They are taught to peck at each other's shoulders, so as to draw blood. The

ganders have been known to have sold as high as five hundred roubles, and betting upon them runs very high. This sort of sport takes place in March.

But all the field sports are not equally tame and harmless; nor does the young Russian nobleman, the man of fashion or of fortune, content himself with showing his skill in riding, and the soundness of his wind, or that of his hack, in coursing a miserably frightened hare or a sly fox; but faces the danger of bear and wolf hunting. With regard to the latter, I was informed by Baron Mayendorff, who had often gone out with parties on that errand at night, that one of the modes employed consists in two persons driving in a sledge through those woods, which are known to be infested with ferocious animals of that class, well armed with short weapons, as well as ready loaded guns. The wolf is a very gourmand in pork flesh; the younger the better. The huntsmen, therefore, take care to have in the sledge with them a sucking pig, the ears of which they pull from time to time, when the squeaks of the tortured animal not unusually call forth the wished-for wild beast, which, blinded by that strongest of all instincts, hunger, falls ravenously on what it considers to be the noisy prey, but which is nothing more than a large bundle of straw dragging along the ground from behind the sledge, somewhat fashioned like a pig. While in this act the musketry of the sledgers is discharged at him, and there is generally an end of the wolf. But it sometimes happens that when a she-wolf has been thus disturbed and cheated, and that the hunters have missed their aim, the ferocious animal has made a dart at the inmates of the sledge, or followed for some time the rapid course of the carriage, howling most dismally, thus reversing the order of the chase until a more lucky shot has put an end to the pursuit. Now I have no relish for such sports; neither should I be inclined to join a party of

bear-huntsmen. Indeed I was fairly put to the test on this head, when I bravely declined joining a number of gentlemen, among whom were Count Matussevitch, Mr. Disbrowe, and his brother-in-law, who, immediately after dinner one day at Baron Nicolaï's, proposed to me to start with them that night in search of bruin in one of the neighbouring forests. Mine was not the courage of the Thane of Cawdor:

"Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear:"

but a much more peaceable feeling of the heart, which led me to say "No, I thank you!"

Bears, it appears, never lie down before the first snow has fallen. They then prepare a soft bed for themselves of moss, straw, and brush-wood, generally under a large tree, on which they repose, and never move again until the spring. They eat nothing during the whole of that time, which they spend in a quiescent and almost dormant state: they have, however, been observed to lick the upper part of their paws, which is always found destitute of hair, if they are shot or taken immediately after the winter. These animals are no little annoyance in many parts of Russia, during their active state of existence, and have, from time to time, infested the neighbourhood of large towns. Even the vicinity of St. Petersburgh is not always free from them which circumstance has made bear-hunting a fashionable diversion among the higher classes during the early part of the winter. A party, consisting of several gentlemen, agree to go bear-shooting, and find a man who can give them the necessary information respecting the track of one of these animals, which is generally perceived on the first fallen snow. The whole ground on which such a track appears is surrounded, so that the bear may not escape when roused and wounded. The party 2 D

VOL II.