The palace faces the sea, and the slope of the hill is cut into terraces, which are adorned with fountains, waterfalls, and basins with Neptunes, swans, nymphs, tritons, and other aquatic ornaments. Beneath a fountain, which throws a jet eighty feet high, is a kind of canal, extending five hundred yards down the slope to the bay, in which there is a succession of cataracts. The fountains play at five o'clock every Sunday afternoon in the summer, but on this occasion the water was let on as a special favor, which can perhaps be obtained at any time by paying a ruble or two. The effect was very fine, and compared favorably with the water works at Versailles. On fête days, lamps are placed under the sheets of water in the evening, and the appearance is said to be both unique and brilliant. In the garden below, near the sea-shore, are the small structures called Marly and Montplaisir. In the former Peter used to look out upon his fleet at Cronstadt. In the latter the great Czar died, and his bed is still preserved, as he used it, with his night clothes and dressing gown on the pillow. It is a small, Dutch-built house, and the interior looks very much like that of a country farm-house. Peter's boots, slippers, writing-desk, sedan-chair, and other articles belonging to him, are to be seen in the several apartments. The Hermitage is the cottage of Catharine. A table in the dining-room is provided with a contrivance by which dishes are sent down through the floor, or sent up, without the servants coming into the apartment. The same thing is shown in one of the palaces at Potsdam, where Frederick the Great used to carouse, without any menials to witness his revels. In an oblong pond a vast number of tame fish are kept, and regularly fed. The man in charge of the straw cottage goes to the edge of the water and rings a bell, with some parade, when visitors are present, and the fish are supposed to come at his call; but Scott protested that it was all a humbug, for not a fish was seen until the man had thrown the food into the water. Then they scrambled for the bits of black bread, piling themselves up in stacks, to the intense amusement of the boys. There are several other palaces near Peterhoff, one of which was occupied by Nicholas as his summer residence; and Stretna, the palace of the Grand Duke Constantine, is about half way to St. Petersburg by railroad. At ten the company took the train, and stopped at _Krasnoé Sélo_, where there is an immense camp, containing forty thousand troops or more, during the summer season. The soldiers were drilling, marching, and manœuvring in large bodies. In every Russian camp there is a quantity of simple gymnastic apparatus, on which the men are required to exercise regularly. Near the end of August the emperor reviews the troops, when sham fights and other kinds of mimic warfare are exhibited. Taking the next train, the party reached St. Petersburg in season for dinner.