Fairs, past and present

by Cornelius Walford

The connecting streets are some thirty or forty yards wide; and the centre avenue is yet much wider, and planted with trees. These streets much resemble those of Cairo, Smyrna, and other oriental towns. In the centre of that block of permanent buildings is located the official residence of the governor during the fair, as also all the business offices for the administration. It was in this official residence that the Duke of Edinburgh stayed during his visit to the fair a few years since. It is equivalent to the royal pavilion of some of the early English fairs. The principal avenues of the fair are connected with some ten miles of wharves or river frontage; and during the fair bridges are erected so as to give easy access from the town to the fair. The cost of preparing the site and the principal buildings was forty millions of roubles—£1,670,000 sterling. The fair, however, has long outgrown the original limits, and miles of temporary structures spring into existence for the occasion. It extends over some seven or eight square miles!

Unloading.—As the period of the fair approaches, the ordinary desolation of the location passes rapidly away. The rivers, busy indeed at all times when navigation is possible, now become almost blocked by traffic. A perfect forest of masts is visible. All distinct trace of the ordinary bridge of boats seems lost. The 400 or 500 steamers, built mainly in England and Belgium, which in the ordinary way are trading on the 1,600 miles from this to the Caspian sea, all seem concentrated here. They dart about like straws on these mighty rivers. But more striking-looking are the quaint mediæval-looking barges, coming as they do from the most distant parts of the empire, piloted through canals and rivers in order to find their appointed place here. These are all being rapidly discharged of their cargoes by an army of ragged Tartar labourers. Here will be found merchandise from every quarter of the globe; merchandise which has in some cases been several years on its way hither; merchandise which comes from localities so remote as not to be brought into voluntary association with this fair. Centuries ago, we are told by the historian of Genoa, the Genoese merchants built larger ships than were required for their regular trading operations, ships calculated to withstand the terrors of the Bay of Biscay, and the storms of the German Ocean, in order to make voyages to the Hanseatic towns, to Wisburg and Gotland, as also to the coast of Russia in order to participate in this great fair (Bent’s “Genoa,” 1881, p. 107).

The Fair.—And now we arrive at the fair itself. Round the public offices in the centre are ranged the European wares, the French millinery, and English broadcloth. Next follow the Armenians, a numerous and distinguished class in every commercial assemblage throughout the East. Near these the Bokharians usually range themselves, and they are easily distinguishable from other Asiatics by their squat corpulent figures and dark complexions. Nearly a whole side of the bazaar is occupied by the Chinese market, in which the shops are all laid out in Chinese fashion. Tea is the chief article of the Chinese trade; and on this portion of the fair I shall speak later. Beyond the stone buildings of the bazaar commence the rows of wooden booths in which the motley Siberian and Tartar tribes establish themselves with their furs and peltry; the most remarkable to a European eye, though not the least common of their wares, being the dark mouse-coloured hide of the wild horse, with black mane and streak along the back, much prized by the Bashkirs and other tribes for its warmth as well as beauty.

The wine trade has never constituted a great feature of the fair, although wine skins from the Caucasus may be seen; and many of the brands of southern Russia may be found on application.

Most of the streets of the fair have elegant light arcades on each side, supported in front by cast-iron columns, where purchasers can walk about, well sheltered in all kinds of weather. The stalls are generally very handsome, and in some instances extend from street to street, so as to leave two fronts. They present nothing of the confusion of an ordinary fair; the goods of every kind are as neatly ranged as in the shops of a city. To facilitate business there is a separate quarter set apart for each different and important class of goods. One quarter contains groceries, of which the value sold is very great. In another, dried fish and caviar are exposed in most fragrant variety, of which great quantities are sold, amounting to about £60,000 in value. I may here remark that the annual value of the sturgeon alone taken in the Volga is estimated at two and half millions of roubles; and above 30,000 barrels of caviar have been dispatched from Astrakhan in a single year. A third quarter contains leather articles of every kind, which may be bought exceedingly cheap; boots and shoes are disposed of in very large quantities. Morocco leather is also sold wholesale to a very large amount. A great deal of it comes from Astrakhan, where, as in other parts of European Russia, goats are kept for the use of their hides to make this leather, more than for their milk or flesh. The pleasant soap of Kasan is sold in large quantities. One is glad to find that it is in such demand.

The iron and iron-ware stored in the mile of shops where nothing but this metal is sold, has been brought at immense expense from Siberia; yet much of it in its original crude state probably came from Tula, not a great distance from where it is now, in its highly finished form, exposed for sale. Weapons and glittering arms of all kinds occupy conspicuous places in the hardware stores. There is, as a set-off, a very considerable supply of holy images and priestly vestments!

The cloth range is large and well stocked. One quarter contains ready-made clothes of all descriptions. The cloaks alike for men and women are made from stuffs with most singular patterns. Some of the figured works from Asia are really beautiful. The value of the woollen goods (Russian and foreign) sold annually is seldom less than three millions of roubles—£375,000. The quarter for fancy articles—gloves, handkerchiefs, ribbons, &c.,—is always crowded with purchasers, attracted by the graces of the fair occupants from Rue St. Honoré. The division for cotton goods is fully stocked. The mills of England are largely drawn upon for these; but they are not in the hands of Englishmen at this fair. The value of cotton goods sold here averages about twenty-two million roubles—£2,750,000! A grand display is made by the silks and shawls, chiefly of oriental manufacture, and hence in very brilliant colours. The manufactured silks disposed of here yearly are estimated at ten and half millions of roubles, or £1,312,000; while of raw silk there is sold over 300,000 lbs. The furniture shops constitute a great feature of the fair; and one can but be surprised to see costly carved tables, chairs, sofas, and still more large and valuable mirrors from France and St. Petersburg. Glass and crystal articles, mainly from Bohemia, constitute a very attractive display, while the jewellery alike of Europe and of Asia is always a source of considerable attraction, and the means of creating a large expenditure of cash. The precious stones from Bokhara and other parts of Central Asia are placed in the most tempting prominence and profusion. But beware of talismans and turquoises that appear to be cheap; they will probably be found equally cheap and much more satisfactory nearer home. The malachite and lapis-lazuli ornaments and other stones from Siberia are sometimes good investments; but some expert knowledge is required. Curious belts of silver may be purchased, but not without long bargaining. The hall-mark is represented by the number 84. There is a stall for the sale of ornaments in gold and silver, set with Siberian and Persian stones. Beware! But it is impossible to recount in any detail all that may be purchased or seen.

The Tea Quarter.—One of the most singular sights of the fair is the tea quarter, which occupies the greater portion of an immense division standing by itself, and distinguishable by its Chinese architecture. The Chinese superintend this business themselves, or rather formerly did so. Along the wharves enormous pyramids of chests of tea are heaped upon the ground, covered only with matting made from the inner bark of the birch tree. These chests of tea, called “tsibiki,” are so packed as to be impervious to rain or damp. Outside the ordinary wooden chest is a covering of wickerwork of cane or bamboo, round which, at Kiakhta, raw bull-hides are tightly stretched, with the hair inwards. These chests arrive at Nijni from China, having been received in barter, at Kiakhta or Maimatchin, on the Chinese border of Russia. The Russians, who are great tea drinkers, are accustomed to the higher qualities of tea grown in North China; but these are now quite as easily obtained from Canton as from Kiakhta (which see), and it is said (contrary to former belief) that the sea carriage has no deteriorating effect whatever. Here may be seen some kinds of tea which scarcely ever enter into the English trade, viz. yellow and brick, the former of a delicious fragrance and very pale, but injurious to the nerves if taken very frequently; it is handed round after dinner, in lieu of coffee, in Russia. The brick tea is consumed by the Kalmucks and Kirghizes of the Steppe. The best yellow tea sells for about 35s. per pound. The tea trade of the fair has shown a tendency to decrease.

Outskirts of the Fair.—To the casual visitor the outskirts of the fair are almost more interesting than its centre, for observation and study. The constant succession of carts in long strings; the crowds of labourers; the knots of earnest-looking traders with long beards; the itinerant vendors of liquid refreshments and white rabbit-skins; the greasy slovenly monk collecting kopecks of those who fear to withhold their charity lest their transactions be influenced by the Evil One; the frequent beggars, pleading for the most part that they have been burned out, and showing the most dreadful-looking sores as evidence of their veracity; all these go to make up the great assemblage, the unique tout ensemble of the great fair of Nijni-Novgorod as it has been, and is to-day. How long will it remain?