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

DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING A LODGING. 179

that the latter river may be crossed by striding from junk to junk. I use this Chinese word because a great portion of the vessels whieh resort to Nijni bring to the fair the merchandise, more especially the tea, of China.

Yesterday, on arriving, I expected that our horses would have run over twenty individuals before reaching the quay of the Oka, which is New Nijni, a suburb that will in a few years more be very extensive.

When I had gained the desired shore, I found that many other difficulties awaited me : before everything else it was necessary to find a lodging; and the inns were full. My feldjäger knocked at every door, and always returned with the same smile, ferocious by its very immobility, to tell me that he could not find a single chamber. He advised me to appeal to the hospitality of the governor; but this I was unwilling to do.

At length, arrived at the extremity of the long street that forms this suburb, at the foot of the steep hill whieh leads to the old city, and the summit of which is crowned by the Kremlin of Nijni, we perceived a coffee-house, the approach to which was obstructed by a covered public market, from whence exhaled odours that were anything but perfumes. Here I descended, and was politely received by the landlord, who conducted me through a series of apartments, all filled with men in pelisses, drinking tea and other liquors, until, by bringing me to the last room, he demonstrated to me that he had not one single chamber at liberty.