16 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



' Smoking is rigidly prohibited within the bounds of 

 the fair proper, and until within the last two or three 

 years, any one inadvertently breaking the law on this 

 point, by smoking a papiros or cigar, was at once pounced 

 upon by a Cossack or policeman, and mulcted on the spot 

 to the tune of fifty roubles. Without thinking what I 

 was doing, I took my papiros with me into the street as I 

 left the restaurant where I had been dining, when the 

 instantaneous reminder of the policeman caused me to 

 fling it into the canal with certainly greater haste than 

 decorum. This precaution is not unnecessary. Most of 

 the rows, or lines, as they are called, being constructed of 

 wood, one single fire in the fair proper might endanger 

 the whole. The fire-towers are numerous, and, as usual, 

 the watchmen are always on the outlook. The sanitary 

 arrangements are admirable : a perfect system of stone- 

 built sewers has been constructed, and they are flushed 

 with water from the river twice each day. As the bulk 

 of the Russians are great smokers, it is a common thing 

 for the merchants to descend the round towers leading to 

 the sewers from time to time, and enjoy a quiet papiros.' 



In many accounts which have been given of the fair by 

 tourists are saddening accounts of the immorality prac- 

 tised during the fair falsehood, dishonesty, unchastity, 

 and intemperance. Beyond this mention of the fact I do 

 not fsel called on to give details. 



When I was resident in Russia the booths at the fair 

 were constructed of wood. They were left from the close 

 of one fair till the close of another. Thus they were 

 secured for the following year's gathering ; and the 

 merchants knew what accommodation they had secured 

 for goods at the following year's fair. In 1837 a few 

 friends with whom 1 was associated sent upwards of 

 50,000 tracts and books, besides copies of the Scriptures 

 in different languages, for sale at the fair ; these were all 

 disposed of by sale or barter ; and it was afterwards dis- 

 covered that part of them were sent by the purchasers to 



