Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/289

Rh "Kirghese, Bokhariots, Turcomans, and other people of Central Asia, were to be seen here and there, and so were Kalmuck Tartars, Armenians, Persians, and an occasional Chinese. But sometimes we could walk around for an hour or so without seeing anybody but Russians, or hearing any language except the one to which we have become accustomed since our arrival at St. Petersburg.

"We bought a few souvenirs of the place; but, so far as we could observe, the prices were quite as high as in the Gostinna Dvor of St. Petersburg or Moscow. It requires a great deal of bargaining, and a knowledge of prices beforehand, to avoid being cheated, and even then you can never

be sure that you are fairly treated. The mode of dealing is emphatically Oriental, and a great deal of time is spent in dickering. Nobody seems to understand the advantages of fixed prices.

"It is said that the annual business at the fair of Nijni Novgorod amounts to three hundred millions of dollars, though it has somewhat diminished of late years. Much of the dealing is on credit, the goods being delivered at one fair and paid for at the next. Over a pot of tea transactions will be made that cover many thousands of dollars, and neither party has a scrap of paper to show for them. Collections through the courts would be next to an impossibility, and therefore personal honor is at a high premium. The merchant who fails to meet his engagements would be excluded from the fair, and thus deprived of the means of making new negotiations.