freezes into one solid mass, on which the articles to be preserved are laid. An ice-cellar is reckoned by the Russians as a necessary of life, and they are at a loss to understand how housekeeping can be conducted without it. To find their stock of ice running short before the season is over causes as great dismay among the Russian dames as is felt in England on the discovery that the coalcellar is empty when the roads are blocked up with snow. It may be easily supposed, that during a Russian winter no care is necessary in the preservation of food. It can be kept for almost any length of time; and, accordingly, the market at Petersburg is supplied with meat and game from very distant places. "The partridges," says Mr. Köhl, "come mostly from Saratoff, the swans from Finland; Livonia and Esthonia supply heath-cocks and grouse, and the wide steppes must furnish the trapp-geese, which flutter over their endless plains, where the Cossack hunts them on horseback, and kills them with his formidable whip. All these birds, as soon as the life-blood has flown, are apparently converted into stone by the frost, and, packed in huge chests, are sent for sale to the capital." So rapid are the effects of frost in that country, that the snow-white hares which are brought in sledge-loads to the market, are usually frozen in the attitude of flight with their ears pointed, and their legs stretched out, just as they were at the moment of their death. Another curious sight at these markets is a frozen rein-deer, its knees doubled under its body, its hairy snout stretched forth upon the ground, and its antlers rising majestically into the air; or perhaps a mighty elk, which disappears piece by piece, as the action of the saw and the axe separate it for distribution among the several customers. CHAPTER V. THE ICE TRADE AND THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF ICE. THE oppressive heat of summer in Canada and the United States of America is in some way alleviated by the liberal use of ice. It is seen in á great variety of forms, and is used with much profusion; it is brought to table floating in water jugs, or is placed in a lump on butter, or handed round in small plates at dinner. In America, where ice is plentiful, it is not only used freely at home, but is also exported to other countries where it is scanty or is not produced at all. Indeed, in the United States, the ice harvests of winter almost rival in importance the corn harvests of summer. Not only is the ice stored for domestic use, but large quantities of it are collected as an article of merchandize, and shipped to distant parts of the world for summer use.* The first person who exported ice to low latitudes was Mr. Tudor, of Boston, who, in February, 1806, conveyed a cargo of ice to Martinique. The ice was cut with axes and saws, and carried in wagons to Gray's Wharf, Charlestown, which wharf has * We are indebted for much of our information on the ice trade of America to an article on that subject in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine for August, 1855. continued to the present day to be the centre of the wharves from whence ice is shipped at Boston. This first voyage was not profitable; the want of ice-houses, the expense of agents, the embargo, and the war, interfered with the project. During many years it was doubtful whether the traffic would ever succeed, but Mr. Tudor continued to send ice to the Southern States, to the West Indies, to Brazil, and even to the East Indies. In 1832, he shipped from Boston 4,352 tons of ice; in 1854, the quantity was 156,540 tons. Boston obtained the best market for ice in the ports of the southern cities of the Union, which took, in 1854, as many as 110,000 tons. The next best market was the East Indies, where 14,284 tons were sold. Other moderately good markets were Havannah, Rio Janeiro, Callao, Demerara, St. Thomas, and Peru. Great Britain took only 895 tons, Norway having entered into competition with the United States in the ice trade. "In the vicinity of New York only about 20,000 tons are annually harvested for exportation, the home market requiring nearly the entire crop. At Rockland Lake, 12,000 tons are annually secured; at Highland Lake, 30,000; at New Rochelle, 10,000; at Athens, on the Hudson, 15,000; at Rhinebeck, 18,000; at Kingston Creek and vicinity, 60,000; at Catskill, 20,000; near Barrytown, 12,000; making a total of 285,000 tons, or not far from the amount gathered in the vicinity of Boston." The principal towns on the Hudson lay up con |