RUSSIAN ICE-HILLS.
"A scaffold is raised to the height of thirty or forty feet, the posts being set in holes drilled in the frozen earth or pavement, and fixed in their places by pouring water around them. In a few minutes the water is converted into ice and the post is immovable. On one side of the scaffold there are steps for ascending it, and generally there is a track at the side for drawing up the sleds. The other side slopes off very steeply at the start; then it becomes more gentle, and finally extends a considerable distance on a level.
"Blocks of ice are laid on the slope; water is poured over them to be converted into ice and make a smooth surface; and when the slide is completed and opened it is thronged by patrons. It takes away one's breath at first when he is pitched over the edge of the slope and finds himself rushing with a speed surpassing that of a railway-train. The impetus gained in the first part of the descent is sufficient to carry the sled a long distance on the level. I tried the slide two or three times, and think if I had been ten or twenty years younger I should have enjoyed it very much."
"Where do they put up these ice-hills?" Frank inquired.
"Several are erected in Admiralty Square," said the Doctor, "and others in various other squares and along the bank of the river. They are frequently arranged so that the level part of the slide is over the ice of the Neva, and care is taken that the track shall be smooth as glass. There are usually two of these hills side by side, the slides being in opposite directions.
"Those I speak of are for the general public. Smaller slides are in the court-yards of private houses, and there are imitations of them in many summer-houses, where polished wood takes the place of ice. One of the slides in the Imperial palace is of mahogany, which has been polished till it shines like a finely finished bureau or wardrobe.
