AT NIJNI NOVGOROD. 271 



extremely limited stock of Russian words at com- 

 mand, hope to withstand the torrent of convincing 

 consonants that rolled from the tongues, and acquired 

 new force from the pantomime of these two practical 

 knights of an honorable profession ? 



The contest was most unequal ; and then, when it 

 occurred to me that these two trusted servants of a 

 steamboat company, who should naturally take pride 

 in promoting the interests of their employers, would 

 be most unlikely to attempt to reduce the record of 

 speed one fourth, I succumbed. It is true that if I 

 had slept for two days without eating anything, there 

 still remained the inconsistency of charging for eight 

 dinners when I had ordered only six. I was, however, 

 so delighted at having gone through so remarkable a 

 performance, that I not only paid the bill without fur- 

 ther dispute, but gave the swallow-tails a ruble douceur 

 apiece as a slight recompense for having at first sus- 

 pected them of duplicity. Unfortunately I was never 

 able to recall any extraordinary visions or dreams in 

 connection with my forty-eight hours' sleep ; nor was 

 I able to discover, by comparing it with an almanac, 

 any two days' jump in my diary. 



Fast or slow, however, I felt grateful to the steamer 

 for having landed me in Nijni Novgorod at the full 

 tide of the great annual fair. This feature of Nijni 

 Novgorod, to which the city is indebted for its world- 

 renown, was in full swing. The hum and bustle of the 

 fair were suggestive of a hive of very busy bees, in 

 which the workers, however, were not bees, but men 

 and women, and the queen bee a woman with scales, 

 like Justice, only not blind, and weighing, instead of 



