Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/285

Rh On arriving at Nijni they were met at the station by a commissioner from the Hotel de la Poste, to which they had telegraphed for rooms. In the time of the fair it is necessary to secure accommodations in advance if one is intending to remain more than a single day. Tourists who are in a hurry generally come from Moscow by the night train, spend the day at Nijni, and return to Moscow the same evening. Thus they have no use for a hotel, as they can take their meals at the railway-station or in the restaurants on the fair grounds.

"This is practically the last of the great fairs of Europe," said the Doctor to his young companions as the train rolled out of Moscow. "Leipsic still maintains its three fairs every year, but they have greatly changed their character since the establishment of railways. They are more local than general, and one does not see people from all parts of Europe, as was the case forty or fifty years ago. The fairs of France and Germany have dwindled to insignificance, and now the only really great fair where Europe and Asia meet is the one we are about to visit."

Frank asked how long these fairs had been in existence.

"Fairs are of very ancient origin," the Doctor replied; "that of Leipsic can be distinctly traced for more than six hundred years. The word 'fair' comes from the Latin feria, meaning day of rest, or holiday, and the fairs for the sale of goods were and still are generally connected with religious festivals. The Greeks and Romans had fairs before the Christian era; fairs were established in France in the fifth century and in England in the ninth, and they were common in Germany about the beginning of the eleventh century, when they were principally devoted to the sale of slaves.

"Coming down with a single bound to the great fair of Russia, we find that there was an annual gathering of merchants at Nijni more than five hundred years ago. Long before that time there was a fair in Kazan, then under Tartar rule, but Russian merchants were prohibited from going there by order of John the Terrible. The fair of Nijni was removed to Makarieff, seventy miles down the river, in 1641, where it remained a long time. The monks of Makarieff controlled the fair until 1751, when it passed into the hands of the Government, and has remained there ever since.

"The fair at Makarieff was held on low ground near the town. Owing to an inundation in 1816, the Government restored the fair to Nijni, and decreed that it should be held annually between the 27th of July and the 22d of September. The ordinary population of Nijni is about forty thousand; two hundred and fifty thousand merchants, laborers, and others