rough-looking carts
followed them, piled up with goods for the same destination. The fair
of Nishni is the largest in Russia, perhaps in the world, at the present
day. Here the merchants from the west meet the traders and producers
from the numerous countries bordering Russia on the east, as well as
from all the Russian provinces, and exchange their various commodities.
Here transactions are arranged not only for the present, but for the
following year, and many a farmer undertakes to deliver timber, and
flax, and hemp still growing thousands of miles away, or hides and wool
yet adhering to the backs of his cattle or sheep on the far-off
prairies, or thousands of sacks of wheat yet ungrown, at Saint
Petersburg, Riga, or Odessa, with every certainty of being able to
fulfil his contract. Our friends were so interested with the account
they heard of Nishni that they were eager to visit it. Russian carts
are curious vehicles, made without a particle of iron. The wheels are
kept on by various contrivances; some have bits of wood from the
projecting edge of the side, into which the ends of the axles fit;
others have bows of wood from the perch, which fit on over the axle
where the linch-pin should be. The carts used for conveying passengers
are covered with an awning of black canvas, and look as if they were
water-tight, with a fair possibility of being made comfortable.

The travellers had many other things to see, both in and about Moscow,
but they resolved not to delay longer than necessary, as they were
anxious to study more of the manners and customs of the people in the
interior; and they therefore made preparations for their further
progress into the country.

CHAPTER NINE.

Departure of Exiles for Siberia--The Russian Howard--Vast Exercise
House--Tartar Mosque--The Sparrow Hills--Burning of Moscow--
Magnificent View of the City--Ennobling of Merchants--The Schoolmaster
in Russia--Decay of the Old Nobility--The Donskoy Convent--Russian
Monks--Their Interpreter--Palace of Petrofsky--Encampment near
Moscow--Preparations for the Coronation Fete--Public Gardens--Zingari
Singers.

Early on Sunday morning our travellers left then hotel to witness a
painful though interesting sight, the departure of the convicts
condemned to exile in Siberia from the Ragoshky Gate of the city, where
they bid farewell to their relatives and friends. They are first
collected from all parts of the neighbouring coun