book B y t a k in g th e m e d ium , th e r e fo r e , b e tw e e n th e fe two
. , fum s , w e h a v e 126,697 fo r th e n um b e r o f in h a b itan ts *.
Peteriburgh, from its low and martby fituation, is fubject
to inundations, which have occafionaliy rifen fo High as to
threaten the town with a total fubmerilon. Thefe floods are
chiefly occalioned by a weft or fouth-weft wind, which,
blowing direftly from the gulf, obftru&s the current of the
Neva, and caufes a vaft accumulation, of its waters. On the
1 6th of November we had nearly perfonal experience of
this dreadful calamity.: being invited to a mafquerade at the
Cadet’s in the Vaffili Oftrof, on our approach to the bridge,
we perceived that a ftormy weft wind had already j fo much
fwelled the river as coniiderably to elevate the pontoons ;
and the tenfion of the bridge was fo great as to endanger its
being broken to pieces. Inftead, therefore, of repairing to
the mafquerade, we returned home, and waited for fome
hours in awful expectation of an immediate deluge. Providentially,
however, a fudden change of wind preferved
Peteriburgh from the impending cataftrophe, and the inhabitants
from an almolt univerfal conlternation, which their
recent fufferings had imprefled upon their minds. I allude
to the flood which overwhelmed the town in the month of
September, 1 7 7 7 , and whofe.effetts are thus defcribed :
“ t In the evening of the 9th, a violent ftorm of wind blow-
“ ing at fir ft S.-W. and afterwards W. raifed the Neva and
“ its various branches to fo great an height, that at five in
* Sufslick eftimates the population o f there arc more births than deaths. Upon
Peteriburgh at 133,196, by multiplying the the whole, the population o f Peteriburgh
births with 28 ; and 132,990 by multiplying may be eftimated in round numbers at
the deaths by 26 ; neither o f which num- 130,000 o f fouls. See Sufslick Gottliche
bers differs efientially from the average Orldnung, V o l. I II. p. 650,
number in the context: he adds, that Pe- Journ. St, Pet, Sept. 17 77*
terlburgh is the only large town in which
I the
“ the morning the waters poured over their banks, and fud- c^ p>
“ denly overflowed the town, but more particularly the - . .
“ Vaffili Oftrof and the ifland o f St. Peteriburgh. The
“ torrent rofe in feveral ftreets to the depth of four feet
“ and an half, and overturned, by its rapidity, various
“ buildings and bridges. About feven, the wind fhifting
“ to N. W. the flood fell as fuddenly ; and at mid-day moft
“ of the ftreets, which in the morning could only he pafled
“ in boats, became dry. For a ffiort time the river rofe 10
“ feet 7 inches above its ordinary level
The oppoffte divifions of Peteriburgh, fituated on each
fide of the Neva, are connected by a bridge on pontoons,
whieh,
* Mr. Kraft, profeffor o f experimental
philofophy to the Imperial Academy of
Sciences, has written a judicious treatife
upon the inundation o f the Neva, from
which the following obfervati'o'ns are e x tradited.
Thefe floods are lefs alarming than
formerly, as the fvvelling o f the river to
about fix feet above its ufual level, which
ufed to overflow the whole town, have no
longer any effedt, excepting upon the lower
parts o f Peteriburgh ; a cifeumftan.ce owing
to the gradual railing o f the ground by
buildings and other caufes.
Upon, tracing the principal inundations,
the profeflor informs us, that the moft an-
tient, o f which there is any tradition, happened
in 1691, and is mentioned by Weber,
from the account o f fome fiihermen inhabiting
near Niefchants, a Swedifli redoubt
upon the Neva, about three miles from the
prefent fort refs o f Peteriburgh. A t that
period the waters ufually rofe every five
years j and the inhabitants o f that diftridt
no fooner perceived the particular ftorms
which they had been taught from fatal experience
to confider as forerunners o f a
flood, than they took their hovels to pieces,
and, joining the timbers together in the
form o f rafts, fattened them to the fummits
o f the higheft trees, and repaired to the
mountain o f Duderof, which is diftant fix
miles from their place o f abode, where they
waited until the waters fubfide.d.
T he higheft inundations, excepting the
laft o f 1777, were thofe o f the ift o f November,
1726, when the waters rofe 8.feet
2 inches, and on the 2d o f Odtober, 1752,
when they rofe 8 feet 5 inches.
From a long courfe o f obfervations the
profeflor draws the following concluiion.
The j higheft floods, namely, thofe which
rife about fix feet, have generally happened
in one o f the four laft months o f the year:
no fenfible effedt is ever produced by rain or
fnow j a fwelJ is foinecimes occafioned by
the accumulation o f malíes o f ice at the
mouth o f the Neva; but the principal
caufes o f the overflowing o f that river are
derived from violent ftorms and winds
blowing S. W . W , or N. W. which ufually
prevail at the autumnal equinox; and the
height o f the waters is always in proportion,
to the violence and duration o f thofe winds.
In a word, the circumftances moft liable to.
promote the overflowings o f the Neva, are
when, at the autumnal equinox, three or
four days before or after the full or new
moon, that luminary being near her peri
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