Our friends climbed to the top of Minin's Tower (Bashnia Minina), where they had a magnificent view of the surrounding country, including the valleys of the Volga and Oka for a long distance, the permanent town and its Kremlin, the site of the fair, with its miles of streets, and its thousands of boats and barges tied to the river-bank. Frank recalled the view from the hill near Hankow, at the junction of the Han and Yang-tse in China, and pointed out many features of similarity. Fred said he was reminded of the junction of the Ganges and Jumna at Allahabad, and an appeal to the Doctor brought out a reference to the union of the Alleghany and Monongahela at Pittsburg.
The permanent town was quickly disposed of, as the youths were impatient to inspect the great fair. For an account of what they saw we will again refer to their journals.
"What a cloud of dust there is here," said Frank, "and they say the dust turns to mud, and deep mud, too, after a heavy rain. They make a pretence of watering the streets when the weather is dry, but the work is not very well done; and besides, the vast number of people walking about keeps the ground in very active occupation.
"Nearly all the houses are of brick or iron, and great care is taken to prevent fires. The lower stories of the houses are used for shops, and the upper for storage, or for the residence of those who have hired the buildings. The sewerage system is said to be excellent, the sewers being flushed several times daily by water pumped from the river.
"The Governor's house is in the centre of this fair-town. Under it is a bazaar for the sale of goods from all parts of Europe and Asia, and we naturally took this house for the centre of trade. Along the streets and avenues there are shops of all kinds, and we seemed to be in the bazaars of all the Oriental countries we have ever visited, together with the shops and stores of all the Western ones. The list of the goods we saw would almost be a list of all the articles of trade throughout the civilized and uncivilized world, and we hesitate to begin. Name anything that you want to buy and the guide will take you to where it is sold.
"The mode of dealing is more Oriental than Occidental, as the merchants in any particular kind of goods are clustered together as in the bazaars of the East. For a mile or more there are warehouses filled only with iron, and very judiciously they are on the bank of the river, to save labor in handling and transportation. The tea-merchants are together, and so are the dealers in Bokharian cotton, Tartar sheepskins, Siberian furs, and other things on the long list we do not intend to write out in full.
"Restaurants of every name and kind are here, good, bad, and indifferent. The best is under the Governor's house, and we recommend it to any of our friends who follow in our footsteps and visit Nijni. There are Russian, Armenian, and Catholic churches, and there are mosques and pagodas, so that every visitor may suit himself in religious matters.
"As for the people we confess to some disappointment. The great majority are Russians, as a matter of course, but it is rather greater than we had looked for. We had thought we would see all the countries of Asia represented by their national dress, together with English, French, Germans, and other people of Western Europe. All were there, it is true, but not in the numbers we had expected.