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.
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.
1 | While Bornholdt was Danish, United States Congressional records identify him as "N. P. Bornholdt, United States consul at Riga." |
2 | Dubulti, in the Jūrmala area, a suburb of Rīga |