690 COXe’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA .

forty-eight, two of forty-two, fourteen of thirty-four, two of thirty-two, three of thirty',one of twenty-fix, one of twenty-four, .four of eighteen, three of fourteen, and four ofeight guns; befide eighteen triremes, one hundred brigantines, and three hundredboats in the Dnieper . This flupendous account would be incredible were it not recordedby the fecretary * to the Auftrian embalfy, then refident at Mofcow ; it is fcarcely pa-rallelled by the naval exertions of the Romans in the firft Punic war. The rapiditywith which Peter created his fleet for the Black Sea , was equalled by fimilar exertionsupon the Baltic, after the acquifition of Cronfladt and the foundation of Peterfburgh.

But to return to the boat which occafioned this digreffion, and which gave rife tothe Ruffian navy. In 1723, at the clofe of the Perfian expedition, it was tranfportedfrom Mofcow to the new metropolis, and Peter gave a public entertainment, which wascalled the Confecration of the Little Grandfire. Twenty-feven men of war, being rangedat Cronftadt in the form of a crefcent, the Emperor embarked in this boat, himfelffleering, while three Admirals and Prince Mentchikof performed the office of rowers :being then towed by two Hoops, it made a fmall circuit in the Gulf: and, returning bythe fleet, the fhips ftruck their flags, and faluted with all their guns; while the LittleGrandfire returned each falute by a difcharge of three fmall pieces. It was thenbrought into the harbour, and furrounded by the men of war. A few days afterwardsthe Little Grandfire was conveyed to St. Peterfburgh, and its arrival folemnizedby a mafquerade upon the water f. This memorable boat, freighted with theEmperor , proceeded to the fortrefs, and was conducted, under the difchargeof all the artillery, to the place where it now remains enfhrined as a memorial topoflerity.

From the fortrefs we took water, and landed at an adjacent fpot in the ifland of Pe-terfburgh, near a wooden hovel, remarkable as the habitation of Peter the Great ,while the fortrefs was conftrucling. It flill remains in its original flate, and (lands undera brick building, eredled to preferve it from deflruction. The houfe is aground floor,with only three rooms, which I had the curiofity to meafure. They are but eight feetin height; the apartment for the reception of company is fifteen feet fquare; the din-ing-room fifteen by twelve, and the bed-chamber ten. Near this houfe is another four-oared boat, the work of Peter’s own hands, which has been erroneoufly called the LittleGrandfire.

Chap. VI.— Congelation f Quickfilver. — Dr. Guthrie's Experiments to afcertain thefreezing Point of Mercury, and to prove that the Purity or Impurity of the Mercury, byno means a fie Pis the Congelation.

AS the curious experiment of freezing quickfilver was firffc made at Peterfburgh byProfeffor Braun, I was defirous of witneffing the repetition of the fame procefs $ parti-cularly as many doubts were entertained by feveral philofophers, concerning the realcongelation of pure quickfilver, and I had frequent opportunities of feeing this pheno-menon during a feries of experiments by Dr. Guthrie, phyfician to the Imperial Corps ofCadets.

* Korb Diarium. The reader will find, in p. 236, a catalogue of the names of all thefe vefiels, toge-ther with the breadth,length, depth, number of guns, and complement of men. See alfo Le Bruyn’sTravels, vol. i. p. 62.

+ Confett’s prefent State of Ruffia, p. 218.

Having