204 SIHKUIA. 



on tlio2()Uio(Auyu.>it and (•unlinucii 15 days, that i.s to the Otli of Soplember. In 1^68 goods to 

 iIk! value of 4,:-i97,0CXJ roubles were brouglit to this fair, of which 3,794,000 roubles worth 

 were sold; in J 870 the business doubled, the figures being respectively 8,050,000 aud 

 0,552,00<') ronbh^s; in 18'JJ, the business again declined, the g(jods brought amounting to 

 5,750,000 roubles; in 1892, there was a further fall, to 4,942,a>J, of which only 3,7'^:5,000 

 1011 bios worth wore sold. 



The third considerable Siberian fair, llie Xikolsk, takes place in Ishiiu in I)ecember, 

 Irmii ilio 1st to the 25lli, and has a special object. Hero is carried on the trade in tln' 

 produce of slock breeding, mainly tallow, butter ami liides. The total business of the fair 

 aiiioiiiits from four to live million roubles per annum. The Xikolsk fair determines the prices 

 for tallow and the character of the trade in this article, although the latter is for sale in 

 many other fairs. The total offer in the winter is as much as one million pouds of tallow, 

 the greater part of which is forwarded to the port of St. I'etersburg for export, chiefly 

 to England. During recent years, however, in conso(|uence of the enlivcnment of man- 

 ul'actures based upon tallow within the Empire, the destination of this article has somewhat 

 altered. Tallow is not only nbtainod from the local cattle, but most of all Irom cattle driven 

 from the Kirghiz steppes to the fair near lake Toinchi-Kul in the territory of Akniolinsk. At 

 this fair about half a million head of small cattle and about lOO.OT'O head of large 

 cattle arc sold. 



Fully half a million roubles worth of butter is brought to the Ishim fair, where it is 

 bought up principally for Moscow, St. I*cteisburgh and Rostov-on-Don. The butter is taken from 

 the fair to Ekaterinburg, the centre of this trade. Here it is melted, clarified and forwarded 

 in tli(> Slimmer per raft by the Ivama to St. Potersburgh and Rostov, aud in winter it goes 

 to Moscow ill the form of kolobovoe. Besides the three fairs considered, possessing im- 

 portance exclusively for Siberia, several others may be pointed out, in Perm and in the 

 neighbouring government of Orenburg, in the district of Cheliabin=k. At these fairs the chief 

 trade is in Siberian produce and goods destined for Siberia. Independently of this in Siberia 

 itself there are reckoned more than iOO fairs, of which in the government of Tobolsk 95, in the 

 territory of Akniolinsk 30, in the government of Tomsk 19, in the territory of Semipala- 

 tinsk 13. ill that of Traiisbaikal 11, in the goveriiiiient of Yeniseisk 8, in that of Irkutsk 

 9, et cetera. They last not less than three days. 



In the small Aniuisk fort in the Kolymsk district of the Yakutsk territory there an- 

 nually assembles the so-called Chukche Fair which brings together for the purposes of trade 

 and the payment of y a s a k, or the tax in furs, natives belonging to the most various 

 tribes. Among them are the three divisions of the Cliukches, Olenny, Xosovy aud Anadyr, 

 and represetantives of the Toungouz, Lasliuts, Yakutsk, and Chuvaus. The Chukche Fair however 

 has latterly been less frequented, the inhabitants of the Coast finding it possible to exchan^re 

 their productions for American goods brought them in the shape of contraband in the 

 whalers. This illicit trade is accompanied by frightful exploitation of the native population 

 and their depravemeut by drink. Various measures have been taken by the local government 

 authorities to combat this evil. 



In the territory of Semipalatinsk the trade is mainly carried on between the Cossacks 



