Baltic RussiaHarper's New Monthly Magazine, July 1890, Henry Lansdell

 Continued from 301 We had been invited by Mr. Peter Bornholdt, the Danish consul1, to spend Saturday afternoon at his house by the sea-side at Dübeln2, the “Margate” of the Baltic provinces; and on our way by rail, 302 in crossing the Dvina, we had a peep at the Riga shipping. The river forms an inlet to the very heart of the empire, and though the imports of Riga are less than those of Revel, the exports are greater. The collection of exports is greatly facilitated by the position of Riga, at the mouth of the Dvina, which, besides its own course of nearly six hundred miles, has water communication with the basin of the Dnieper. By rail also the town is connected with St. Petersburg in the north, with Orenburg in the east, and Tsaritsin on the lower Volga. About half the exchange of Riga is with England, Russia sending flax, linseed, timber, hemp, and cereals, and receiving salt, coal, tobacco, wine and spirits, cotton, metals, machinery, oil, and fruits.

Navigation is impeded at the mouth of the Dvina by a bar which leaves only fourteen feet of water. Hence heavily laden vessels stop at Dünamünde, close to the mouth of the river, which is frozen at Riga for 127 days of the year, that is, from December to March.

SILVER STATE SALVER.

A run of an hour sufficed to bring us to Dübeln, which has the peculiarity of being a sea-side place where, in the house, no one can see the sea; for the village of wooden houses, with a few villas interspersed, is situated in a sandy hollow about a quarter of a mile inland, and separated from the waves by a low hill covered with pine-trees. So exceedingly proper are the authorities, indeed, that not only are no houses allowed to be built overlooking the sea and the bathers, but the hours of bathing for ladies and gentlemen respectively are strictly regulated, and neither sex may go on the sands during the hours that are given up to the other.

We heard a good story to the effect that even when on one occasion a wrecked vessel drove ashore during the ladies’ bathing hour, the sailors had to cling to the rigging for dear life, till the regulation time when male assistance could appear. I ventured to suggest the adoption of aquatic garments, and was told that their introduction had been attempted, but that neither sex cared for them.

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