enough; but I wish simply to assure travellers who may be desirous of visiting St. Petersburgh, that " things are not always as bad as represented."

There is a curious circumstance connected with the Post-office, which I must not omit to mention. Any subject of his Imperial Majesty may address his Sovereign through the Post-office. For this purpose, the letter for the Emperor must be put in at the Post-office of Tzarscoeçelo; and it is said, that none dares either suppress or open such letters, but that they must be safely conveyed to the hands of the Emperor himself. I believe that this system was commenced in the time of the late Emperor Alexander.

The revenue of the Post-office amounts, one year with another, to about twelve millions of roubles, five or six of which are expended in supporting the establishment. This revenue is derived not only from the postage of letters, but from the conveyance of parcels, which latter have increased to such a number, that the business of the office is often retarded by attending to them, and an intention exists of suppressing this branch of the establishment. As stagecoaches or diligences have been established on many roads at present, it would be a source of encouragement to the proprietors if they were made to carry parcels upon fixed and moderate rates of transport.

The largest source of the Post-office revenue, however, is the conveyance of money, which it undertakes both on account of Government and private individuals. The latter, on declaring the amount, pay a duty of one per cent. upon it, if the place to which it is to be forwarded exceeds a distance of five hundred versts, and only one-half per cent. if within that distance. The Government is charged the same, but the transaction between it and the office is merely nominal on this point, as Government in fact does not pay the actual amount of duty for the capital which it circulates through the Empire by means of that office, but is de

bited for that amount against the same sum entered on the credit side of the department, as part of the revenue which it would have produced, had the money actually been paid. I have been informed, on very good authority, that the amount of private monies which circulate through the Post-office, is generally from five to six hundred millions of roubles annually; and that although the Office guarantees for its safe conveyance, that department has seldom, if ever, sustained any loss in consequence.

As for the post-horses department, which is under the direction of the General Post-office, I believe that no net revenue is obtained from it. I have stated that posting is very cheap in Russia. In some parts of the Empire it is even lower than I have asserted, being five, instead of eight kopeeks for each horse; Government, therefore, undertakes to indemnify the post-masters; and for this purpose a post-horse duty is levied throughout those parts of the Empire in Europe, in which posting is established, amounting to eleven millions of roubles annually. The Post-office does not make a regular annual return of its revenue to the Treasury; but supplies from time to time sums out of its funds on the demand of Government, and is called upon to present a "Rendiconto" every three or four years.

A foreigner on arriving in St. Petersburgh, and observing its imposing exterior, its occasional outward show of bustle, and the apparently great distances of its different parts, is surprised to learn that there is no petite poste, (two-penny post); but three reasons were given me for this striking difference between the Russian capital and those of other nations, which I thought plausible. But with respect to the environs of St. Petersburgh, which in the summer season are so thickly peopled with families from the capital, to whom it must be a great object to be able to send and receive letters, at least twice daily, to and

from their friends in town, the reasons in question are not applicable; and it is to be expected that such a daily conveyance of letters, with a moderate postage charged on them, will be found desirable and expedient hereafter.

Sir James Wylie, whom I shall have pleasure in introducing more particularly to my readers hereafter, favoured me with a letter to the commandant of the citadel, situated, as I before observed, on a small island in the Neva, exactly opposite the Winter Palace. This edifice, which, even after having satisfied his curiosity with Imperial palaces, deserves to engage the attention of the stranger, was erected by Peter, and may with justice be considered as the first foundation of the city of St. Petersburgh.

It is fortified by five regular bastions, which range around the island in question to the extent of not quite an English mile. On the land-side the bastions are mere ramparts covered with grass, and communication exists. on this part, by means of drawbridges, with the Island of St. Petersburgh, on which are some corresponding fortifications opposite to the citadel. On the river-side it is surrounded by walls, cased with granite, in the centre of which is a large gate, or sallyport, used particularly when persons visit the citadel by water, or over the ice. Whatever may have been the importance attached to this fortress in the time of Peter, it is manifest that at present it can neither serve for the defence of the city, nor defend itself in case of an attack, an event not likely to take place. Its utility, therefore, is confined to more subordinate points; that of forming a striking and handsome object of embellishment to the river and neighbouring parts of the town; and of containing the Imperial Mint, as well as the church in which are deposited the mortal remains of the sovereigns of the country.

To the latter establishment I proceeded with Count

Stroganoff, one of the Emperor's aid-de-camps, who had obtained the necessary permission a day or two before, and had apprized the officers of the establishment of our intended visit. Count Stroganoff is not the direct descendant of the nobleman of that name, whose love of the Fine Arts and well-known collection of valuable paintings are among the least distinguishing features of his life. The direct male branch of that nobleman is now quite extinct; but he is a son of Baron Stroganoff, who with all his family have been lately raised to the rank of Counts; he not long since married a most amiable lady, daughter of the President of the Imperial Council, Count Kotchoubey. The young Count Stroganoff unites to a very striking personal appearance the manners of a highly educated individual. He is much attached to science, which he has assiduously and successfully cultivated, particu larly mineralogy and geology. In visiting, therefore, the Mint with him, I had the good fortune of being with one, who brought to the task of inquiring into the operation of coining, feelings congenial with my own, on the subject of the application of chemistry to the useful arts. The Count was also of great assistance in interpreting to me the descriptions of the different processes followed in this establishment, given by one of its superior officers, who understood, but could not speak French, as well as his answers to my questions.

We were first introduced into the Assay Room, on the ground floor, which, considering the value in gold it contains, I was surprised to see unguarded by any sentinel at the door. We had, however, passed through some guards in an ante-chamber. Some large vessels, made of thick wrought iron, containing the ingots of gold as they arrive from the mines in Siberia are kept in this room. The amount of this metal received thence annually at the

Mint is 250 poods, or 144,000 ounces; that of silver is 1200 poods; from which latter quantity twenty-five poods more of gold are obtained. In the ingots of Siberian gold there is generally found in the 250 poods about twenty poods of silver. The gold ingots from Siberia are one foot long, and four inches and a half wide and deep. These ingots bear a particular stamp; they contain always a certain quantity of silver, which it is the object of the operation performed in this room to separate.

The proportions of silver added to the gold ingot to be parted, in order to accomplish that process, are, three parts to one of gold. These are melted together, broken into small rough pieces, and treated by aquafortis, which dissolves the silver, and the solution is decanted. From this solution the silver is thrown down in a metallic state by clean laminæ of copper being immersed in the decanted liquid.

The gold, thus freed of its union with the principal part of the silver, is washed with sulphuric acid, to clear it of even the most minute particle of that alloy-when it appears under the form of a dull yellow earthy substance, like the native gold earth found near Perm. This substance is pure gold, susceptible of the finest polish by fric-. tion; and being melted in large crucibles, forms the ingots of pure gold, fit for the purpose of coining, which we saw in considerable number in another part of the room. These ingots weigh three poods each, 1728 ounces. In passing through the operation of melting and casting into ingots, the metal suffers no loss whatever.

The resulting solutions of both the sulphate and nitrate of silver are treated in an adjoining room, by means of large bars of copper immersed in them, and the silver is thus collected. The silver, as received from Siberia, is cupelled in large furnaces with lead, as usual. The smelting of both the oxyde of gold and silver, obtained by the preliminary