400 



RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



kingdom, on the Volga, below its junction with the Kama. Here the Arabs, Persians, 

 Armenians, and even Indians traded in the ninth century with the Western nations. 

 The destruction of the Bulgarian Empire caused the site to be shifted to Kazan, 

 residence of the Tatar Khans, and the Kazan Tatar hawkers are still known by 

 the name of Bukhartzi, or " Bokhariots." The fall of this dynasty caused a third 

 change, and early in the seventeenth century the tide of traffic began to follow the 

 countless pilgrims yearly visiting the miraculous shrine of St. Macarius, on the 

 left bank of the Volga, about 50 miles below Nijni-Novgorod. Until the time 

 of Peter the Great all the charges for booths and the octroi dues belonged to the 

 convent and its archimandrite. Still the site of the great fair, far removed from 

 the large towns, and situated on a sandy soil where the waggons sank into the 

 ground, was so inconvenient that advantage was taken of the destructive fire of 

 1816 to remove ittoNijni, conveniently situated at the Volga and Oka confluence, 



Fig. 210.— COMMEKCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE XlJXI-NoVGOUOD FaIR FROM 1817 TO 1870. 



ITpi)er Curve, Gross Imports. 



Lower Curve, Total Sales. 



and at the junction of the eastern trading routes. Here is now the advanced post 

 of the Western world towards the Asiatic peoples. 



The name of Nij ni- Novgorod, or "Lower Newtown," is attributed to the 

 previous existence of two separate quarters, the lower of which ultimately gave 

 its name to the whole. Its culminating point is 320 feet above the level of the 

 Volga, and the Kremlin walls enclose an eminence from which are visible on the 

 west the junction of the two rivers, and on the left bank of the Oka the actual 

 site of the fair, with its regular buildings and thoroughfares ascending through 

 ravines towards the slopes of the plateau. A portion of the Kremlin is laid out 

 in gardens, while farther east the avenues of a park extend along the high cliffs 

 of the Volga. The main stream is still unprovided with a bridge, and the Oka is 

 crossed only by a bridge of boats 1,503 yards long, which is removed every 

 winter. 



