tea," said to be the finest produced,
and of which the Russians partake so liberally, paying more than
double the price per pound that is usually charged for the best
brands that reach the American market. One who has travelled in Japan
is impressed with the idea that its people draw one half their
sustenance from tea-drinking, of which they partake many times each
day; but neither these Russians nor the Asiatics take the decoction
one quarter as strong as it is used with us. An idea prevails here
that the tea from China which comes by the overland route is much
superior to that which reaches Southern Europe and America by sea,
and the price is gauged accordingly; but even brick tea comes to
Nijni half the distance and more by water carriage, and if there is
any deteriorating effect traceable to that cause, it cannot be
exempt. There is a brand known as "yellow tea" in great favor
here,--a grade which we do not see in this country at all. It is of a
pale color when steeped and of delicate flavor, being used as an
after-dinner beverage in Russia, as we employ coffee. It is sold at
the fair in small fancy packages as put up in China, each containing
one pound of the leaves. Price six dollars for a package!

Where there is so large and promiscuous an assemblage of human
beings, sickness of an epidemic character would be sure to break out
were it not that a most rigid sanitary system is established and
enforced. This precaution is especially important, as personal
cleanliness is a virtue little known and less practised among
Russians and Asiatics. In the large cities the Russian takes his
weekly bath of steaming water, nearly parboiling his body; and that
must last him for seven days. The average citizen sleeps in his
clothes during the interim without change, satisfied with bathing his
face and hands in a pint or less of water daily. The Nijni
fair-grounds have open canals in various parts to afford immediate
access to water in case of fire, and also ample underground sewerage
formed by stone-lined drains which extend all over the place. These
drains are flushed several times daily during the season of the fair
by water pumped from the Volga.

The dance-halls, music-rooms, and places of general amusement are of
such a character as might naturally be anticipated, presenting
disgraceful features of frailty and vice scarcely surpassed in the
large European capitals. One spacious square of the grounds is
occupied by four la