f Siberia. Here, from morning
till night, the beloved _kvass_ flows in rivers, the strong stream of
_shchi_ (cabbage-soup) sends up its perpetual incense, and the samovar
of cheap tea is never empty. Here, although important interests are
represented, the intercourse between buyers and sellers is less grave
and methodical than in the bazaar. There are jokes, laughter, songs, and
a constant play of that repartee in which even the serfs are masters.
Here, too, jugglers and mountebanks of all sorts ply their trade;
gypsies sing, dance, and tell fortunes; and other vocations, less
respectable than these, flourish vigorously. For, whether the visitor be
an Ostiak from the Polar Circle, an Uzbek from the Upper Oxus, a
Crim-Tartar or Nogai, a Georgian from Tiflis, a Mongolian from the Land
of Grass, a Persian from Ispahan, a Jew from Hamburg, a Frenchman from
Lyons, a Tyrolese, Swiss, Bohemian, or an Anglo-Saxon from either side
of the Atlantic, he meets his fellow-visitors to the Great Fair on the
common ground, not of human brotherhood, but of human appetite; and all
the manifold nationalities succumb to the same allurements. If the
various forms of indulgence could be so used as to propagate ideas, the
world would speedily be regenerated; but as things go, "cakes and ale"
have more force than the loftiest ideas, the noblest theories of
improvement; and the impartial observer will make this discovery as
readily at Nijni-Novgorod as anywhere else.

Before taking leave of the Fair, let me give a word to the important
subject of tea. It is a much-disputed question with the connoisseurs of
that beverage which neither cheers nor inebriates, (though, I confess,
it is more agreeable than koumiss,) whether the Russian "caravan tea" is
really superior to that which is imported by sea. After much patient
observation, combined with serious reflection, I incline to the opinion
that the flavor of tea depends, not upon the method of transportation,
but upon the price paid for the article. I have tasted bad caravan tea
in Russia, and delicious tea in New York. In St. Petersburg you cannot
procure a good article for less than three roubles ($2.25, _gold_) per
pound; while the finer kinds bring twelve and even sixteen roubles.
Whoever is willing to import at that price can no doubt procure tea of
equal excellence. The fact is, that this land-transportation is slow,
laborious, and expensive; hence the finer kinds of tea are always
selected, a