. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across ter of course, but it is rather greater thanwe had looked for. We had thought we would see all the countries ofAsia represented by their national dress, together with English, French,Germans, and other people of Western Europe. All were there, it is true,but not in the numbers we had expected. TARTAR MERCHANT. THE GREAT FAIE AT NUM. 283 Kirgliese, Bokliariots, Turcomans, and other people of Central Asia,were to be seen here and there, and s
. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across ter of course, but it is rather greater thanwe had looked for. We had thought we would see all the countries ofAsia represented by their national dress, together with English, French,Germans, and other people of Western Europe. All were there, it is true,but not in the numbers we had expected. TARTAR MERCHANT. THE GREAT FAIE AT NUM. 283 Kirgliese, Bokliariots, Turcomans, and other people of Central Asia,were to be seen here and there, and so were Kalmuck Tartars, Armenians,Persians, and an occasional Chinese. But sometimes we could walk aroundfor an hour or so without seeing anybody but Kussians, or hearing anylanguage except the one to which we have become accustomed since ourarrival at St. Petersburg. We bought a few souvenirs of the place; but, so far as we could ob-serve, the prices were quite as high as in the Gostinna Dvor of St. Peters-burg or Moscow. It requires a great deal of bargaining, and a knowledgeof prices beforehand, to avoid being cheated, and even then you can never. RETLRMNG FROM THE FAIR. be sure that you are fairly treated. The mode of dealing is emphaticallyOriental, and a great deal of time is spent in dickering. Xobody seemsto understand the advantages of fixed prices. It is said that the annual business at the fair of Nijni Novgorodamounts to three hundred millions of dollars, though it has somewhat di-minished of late years. Much of the dealing is on credit, the goods beingdelivered at one fair and paid for at the next. Over a pot of tea trans-actions will be made that cover many thousands of dollars, and neitherparty has a scrap of paper to show for them. Collections through thecourts would be next to an impossibility, and therefore personal honor isat a high premium. The merchant who fails to meet his engagementswould be excluded from the fair, and thus deprived of the means ofmaking
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