lso several prints of the city, and some
very amusing ones descriptive of the battles between the Russians and
the Allies, or the Turks or Circassians, by which it appeared that the
accounts received by the rest of the world must be totally incorrect, as
in all instances, at the Alma, Inkermann, in the Caucasus, the
Muscovites were signally victorious, their enemy flying like chaff
before them.

The Chinese City, or Kitai Gorod, to the east of the Kremlin, was one of
their favourite resorts. The name is most appropriate; and certainly it
is most unlike any place in Europe. It is enclosed on three sides by a
thick buttressed and round-towered wall, the upper part of which
projects considerably; and altogether, from its strange style of
architecture, it looks as if it had been imported bodily from some city
of the Celestial Empire. The fourth side is formed by the east walls of
the Kremlin, of which the Kitai Gorod appears to have been an outwork.
The interior contains two long streets, and several smaller ones,
besides the truly Oriental bazaar, already spoken of, with its numerous
narrow lanes, running under one vast roof, dirty and mean, and crowded
with shops of every possible description. Tea-sellers, with their
Chinese signboards; paper-sellers, ironmongers, and perfumery and
spices, silks and cottons, and shoes and hats, and trunk-makers and
workers in leather,--indeed it is useless to enumerate all the trades
there carried on. There is generally a row or half a row of the stalls
of each trade together. As visitors pass along, the long-coated dealers
rush eagerly forward, and with bows and grimaces endeavour to induce
them to become customers. Here also the dealers in the holy pictures,
or images, as they are called, are to be found. These pictures have the
faces and hands only shown, the rest being covered with a casing of gold
or silver. They are of all sizes, from two feet to one or two inches
square; but as even for the smallest our friends were asked four
roubles, they declined buying any of them. Here, also, are sold cups
and censers, and all sorts of utensils used in churches. The
travellers, however, were little disposed to become purchasers.

Near the bazaar stood, ready to start, three or four diligences--huge
black machines, having a vast boot behind, a roomy inside, and a large,
comfortable-looking _coupe_. They were bound for Nishni-Novogorood,
where a large fair was taking place. Several