RETURN TO KERTCH. 175 



able droshkies, droggies of rough logs tied together 

 with rope, lumbering fourgons, heavy ' pavosh- 

 kas,' light carts, like huge ozier baskets on 

 wheels, nearly six feet high, and the house on 

 wheels, which the Mingrelian calls his ' arba,' were 

 all ranged in rows to form the streets of the fair. 

 Round about them stood the beasts who drew 

 them, varying from a goat to a camel, from a pony 

 to a team of six grey oxen. The shops are simply 

 a sheet of canvas spread on the ground, perhaps 

 under a partially-inverted cart some few under a 

 more pretentious awning ; and here are laid out 

 the trader's wares, whilst he for the most part sits 

 cross-legged in the midst. The grandest shops, or 

 booths rather, are generally those in which are sold 

 the ' ikons,' or holy pictures, for which there is an 

 immense sale amongst the pious Russian peasantry. 

 They are gaudy pictures of the Virgin, or one of 

 the saints, encased in a deep frame of brass, with 

 much tinsel and tawdry ornament about them ; 

 but they are to be found in every moujik's cottage, 

 and before them he pays his simple devotions to 

 his God, night and morning, standing bare-headed 

 with bent head, for barely a minute perhaps, but 

 apparently in earnest during that minute. A little 

 taper is kept always burning before the ' ikon.' 



Next to the ' ikon '-seller, you detect by your 

 nose, if not by your eyes, the ' shouba '-seller, for 

 these sheepskin garments are excessively strong- 



