ockets prowling among the crowd.

Of this immense mass of strangers now in Nijni, the town itself,
and especially the upper town, sees and hears but little.

The fair has its own ground, on its own side of the bridge, its
own hotels and lodging-houses, its own churches, chapels, theatres,
eating, gambling, and other houses, its long straight streets and
boulevards, and pleasure as well as business resorts.

It has its fine Chinese Row, though Chinamen have lately discontinued
their attendance; it has rich traders' temporary homes, fitted up
with comfort, and even taste and luxury; and it has its charity
dormitory, a vast wooden shed, built by Court Ignatieff, and bearing
his name, intended to accommodate 250 houseless vagrants, but alas! in
a place where there must be 20,000, if not 200,000 persons answering
that description.

Of women coming to this market the number is comparatively small--one,
I should say, for every 100 men; of ladies not one in 10,000, or
100,000.

Of those who muster sufficiently strong at the evening promenade
on the Boulevard, indigenous or resident, for the most part, rather
the look than the number is formidable; and it is here in Nijni,
as it is generally in Russia, that a Mussulman becomes convinced
of the wisdom of his Arabian prophet, who invented the yashmak
as man's best protection, and hallowed it; for of the charms of
most Russian women, blessed are those who believe without seeing!

In working hours only men and beasts are to be seen--a jumble and
scramble of men and beasts: car-loads of goods; piles of hogsheads,
barrels, bales, boxes, and bundles, merchandise of all kinds, of
every shape, colour, or smell, all lying in a mass topsy-turvy,
higgledy-piggledy; the thoroughfares blocked up, the foot-paths
encumbered; chaos and noise all-pervading; and yet, by degrees, almost
imperceptibly, you will see everything going its way, finding its own
place; for every branch of trade has, or was at least intended to
have, here its appointed abode; and there are Tea Rows; Silversmiths
and Calico Streets; Fur Lanes; Soap, Candle, and Caviare Alleys;
Photograph, Holy Images, and Priestly Vestments Bazaars; Boot,
Slop, Tag and Rag Marts and Depositories--all in their compartments,
kin with kin, and like with like; and everything is made to clear
out of the way, and all is smoothed down; all subsides into order
and rule, and not very late at night--quiet.

The Tartars do the most of the wor