In fact, I was puzzled to know what I had got, and only hoped that I had drawn a prize. I threw the purchase over my shoulder, and was nearly covered with it, exciting some surprise and laughter as I walked along, even amongst the oddly-dressed denizens of the Fair. When I reached the railway station and threw down my extempore cloak, which had almost smothered me, I found that my clothes were as white as a miller's from the powder that had come off from the fur; and it turned out to have been made up of rabbit-skins, neatly sewed together! I need hardly say that I did not bring it with me to England.

The wholesale merchandise is stored on the outskirts of the Fair, along the right bank of the Volga. The most interesting part of it is that where the tea is tested and sold. It is all brought overland from China, partly by inland water-carriage, but for the greater part of the way on the backs of horses. It is packed in bullock-skins, and each packet is about the size of a third of a bale of American cotton. It was curious to see the way in which the quality of the tea is ascertained. A tea-smeller, who is a thorough expert in the trade, sits on a bale, and before him a package is brought, into which a man darts a long sharp iron instrument with a hollow groove, and he draws out with it a sample of tea, just as cheese is tasted in England. The tea-smeller then puts it to his nose, and, if it is not approved of, it is put on one side as unsaleable in the market. Of course a great deal of tea is spilt in the process, but this is afterwards carefully swept together and put into packages. I went into one of the huts where the tea-accounts are kept, and where the people connected with the trade live during the Fair. It was most carefully matted, and dreadfully close. I never saw a place more favourable for fleas, but, somehow or other, I escaped an attack.

Next to the tea came the cotton from Bokhara and other parts, and after that the iron, of which there was an immense quantity, and I was weary of walking along the warehouses where it was stored. I observed some Tartars eating remarkably white nice-looking bread, just like the fancy bread of Paris; and taking a piece from one of them, I ate it, and found it most excellent. The right bank of the Volga, along

which we were then strolling, was crowded with vessels loading and unloading their cargoes, and there were one or two steamers which ply between Nijni Novogorod and Kazan and Astrachan. Some of our party were very busy in acquiring useful knowledge and filling their note-books with statistics of the trade of the Fair. I confess that I was content with fill. ing my eye with the strange scene around me, and I am afraid that I showed a reprehensible indifference to figures, facts, and calculations. But I hold with Wordsworth :—

Nor less I deem that there are Powers

Which of themselves our minds impress,-
That we can feed this mind of ours
In a wise passiveness.

One of the most characteristic parts of the Fair is the long wooden bridge across the Oka, which connects the alluvial plain with Novogorod, perched aloft on the hill that overlooks it. It is a scene of indescribable confusion. A swarm of passengers is constantly traversing it with carts, and waggons, and droshkies, and horses, and donkeys; and men are flogging, and swearing, and crowding, and jostling along it all the day. A steep road leads up from the other side to Novogorod, and near the top is an old lofty tower, which we ascended, and had a magnificent view. We could not see to the south-east, as the hill rises behind the tower and shuts out the view in that direction; but to the north-east and west the eye wanders over an immense space perfectly flat, with the Volga winding on the right and the Oka on the left, each hastening to meet the other beneath the walls of Novogorod. Below, the Fair was spread out like a map, gay with flags and teeming with life. It is a sight not to be forgotten, and it will be long before I shall 'gaze upon its like again.'

We dined at the railway station in a private room—a party of twelve-and here we tasted the famous sterlet, served up in soup. I must say I thought the merits of this fish by no means equal to its reputation. It is about the size of a large trout, but not equal to it, me judice, in flavour. Incredible prices are given for it at St. Petersburg at those periods of the year when it is difficult to obtain.

Not liking the idea of sleeping on the boards of the room given up to us at the railway station, and as all idea of beds

385

A VISIT TO PORTLAND PRISON.

'Good Words,' October, 1873.

We have visited many prisons at home and abroad. We have been admitted by an order of the Prefect of the Seine into the interior of La Force, in the Rue de la Roquette, in Paris, where the worst malefactors are confined, and on the outside of which the guillotine is erected when capital punishment takes place. It was there that the atrocious criminal Tropmann, after being sentenced to death for the murder of the Kinck family, spent his last days. It seems to be well conducted, and the convicts are all employed in some trade; but we were surprised to see a gang of them walking round one of the yards, and smoking cigars. This they are allowed to do for an hour in the afternoon. At Genoa, also, we saw convicts in chains smoking cigars, and were told that all those -and they were numerous-who wore red caps had committed murders. They were chiefly from Sardinia. We have seen convicts at Moscow chained together, on their way to Siberia; and we have visited the well-known prison at Philadelphia, in the United States, where the separate and silent system is enforced. The cells are there arranged in corridors, which radiate from a common centre, so that a turnkey placed in it can see the whole of them at once. We went into several of the cells, and were allowed to converse with the inmates, who never leave them by day or night, and occupy themselves with such work as they have taste or aptitude for. In one of these cells there was a pretty little murderess, who had killed her husband and her paramour, and had been sentenced to twenty-three years' imprisonment. Of these, five only had expired. She seemed to be very cheerful, and made no complaint. Being a Roman Catholic, she had ornamented her cell with a variety of religious pictures cut out of blue paper,

C C

In fact, I was puzzled to know what I had got, and only hoped that I had drawn a prize. I threw the purchase over my shoulder, and was nearly covered with it, exciting some surprise and laughter as I walked along, even amongst the oddly-dressed denizens of the Fair. When I reached the railway station and threw down my extempore cloak, which had almost smothered me, I found that my clothes were as white as a miller's from the powder that had come off from the fur; and it turned out to have been made up of rabbit-skins, neatly sewed together! I need hardly say that I did not bring it with me to England.

The wholesale merchandise is stored on the outskirts of the Fair, along the right bank of the Volga. The most interesting part of it is that where the tea is tested and sold. It is all brought overland from China, partly by inland water-carriage, but for the greater part of the way on the backs of horses. It is packed in bullock-skins, and each packet is about the size of a third of a bale of American cotton. It was curious to see the way in which the quality of the tea is ascertained. A tea-smeller, who is a thorough expert in the trade, sits on a bale, and before him a package is brought, into which a man darts a long sharp iron instrument with a hollow groove, and he draws out with it a sample of tea, just as cheese is tasted in England. The tea-smeller then puts it to his nose, and, if it is not approved of, it is put on one side as unsaleable in the market. Of course a great deal of tea is spilt in the process, but this is afterwards carefully swept together and put into packages. I went into one of the huts where the tea-accounts are kept, and where the people connected with the trade live during the Fair. It was most carefully matted, and dreadfully close. I never saw a place more favourable for fleas, but, somehow or other, I escaped an attack.

Next to the tea came the cotton from Bokhara and other parts, and after that the iron, of which there was an immense quantity, and I was weary of walking along the warehouses where it was stored. I observed some Tartars eating remarkably white nice-looking bread, just like the fancy bread of Paris; and taking a piece from one of them, I ate it, and found it most excellent. The right bank of the Volga, along