Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

AT THE FAIR OF NIJNI.215

The governor informs me that the value of the merchandise brought this year to the fair of Nijni exceeds one hundred and fifty millions*, according to the manifestoes of the merchants themselves, who, with the mistrust natural to Orientals, always conceal a part of the value of their stock.

Although all the countries in the world send the tri-bute of their soil and industry to Xijni, the principal importance of this annual market is owing to its being a depot for the provisions, the precious stones, the stuffs, and the furs of Asia. The wealth of the Tartars, the Persians, and the Buchanans, is the object which most strikes the imagination of the strangers attracted by the reputation of the fair ; yet, notwithstanding its commercial importance, I, as merely a curious observer, find it below its reputation. They reply to this, that the Emperor Alexander spoiled its picturesque and amusing aspect. He rendered the streets which separate the stalls more spacious and regular; but such stiffness is dull: besides, everything is gloomy and silent in Russia; everywhere the reciprocal distrust of government and people banishes mirth. Every passion and every pleasure has to answer for its consequences to some rigid confessor, disguised as an agent of police; every Russian is a school-boy liable to the rod; all Riissia is a vast college, where discipline is enforced by severe and rigid rule, until constraint and ennui, becoming insupportable, occasion here and there an outbreak. When this takes place, it is a regular

* The author does not state whether these are francs or roubles. — Trans.