JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERSBURG. li 



By a second line of railway the traveller proceeds from 

 Moscow to Nijni-Novgorod. The lower-lying Novgorod, 

 or Newtown, so named in contradistinction to Novgorod 

 the Great, an ancient capital of Russia. 



Nijni-Novgorod is situated at the confluence of the 

 Oka and the Volga, the connecting link of the several 

 chains of lake and river communication whereby produce 

 and goods may be transmitted from almost any part of 

 the empire to any other, and from St, Petersburg to the 

 remote east, from Odessa and Astrakhan to the remote 

 north, and from any of these parts to all places in connec- 

 tion with either of the others. 



An annual fair held here has long been famous, and has 

 been spoken of as one of the wonders of the world. 



The ground on which the fair is held lies between the 

 railway station and the river Oka. The town lies beyond. 

 From a steep hill, adjacent to the town and the river, 

 may be obtained a birds-eye view of the whole. Mr 

 Christie describing the scene in the volume I have cited, 

 tells : ' Two miles distant there lies the station . . . 

 and at our feet the confluence of the great rivers which 

 bind the whole empire of Russia together in a network of 

 water communication. Across the Oka a bridge of boats 

 is thrown, always crowded with strangely heterogeneous 

 specimens of humanity, and joining the town to the fair. 

 On the bosom of this river there float scores of steam- 

 boats, and curiously constructed barges, a number of 

 them capable of carrying a freight exceeding eight 

 hundred tons. The present destination of many of these 

 craft is Moscow, and the far-distant interior of Russsia, 

 whither they are carrying the treasures of the distant 

 East, while those now descending the river are bringing 

 to the fair the notions of the West for the bazaars of the 

 East. At right angles to the mouth of the Oka there 

 flows the mighty Volga, the Mississippi of Russia, by no 

 means a silent highway during the holding of the fair. 

 Even now in summer, it is a broad stream, and ever 

 widening the farther you descend, to the eye's delecta- 



