6a 
and T%nd)Cr4rade of tlw mterior of Rtissia. 
in Britain or other countries abroad. All these important ar- 
ticles, therefore, must pass through this long and intricate course, 
in which the various individuals concerned have their profit, to 
afford them the means of life, and some even amass fortunes. 
At home, the merchants, retailers, or shop-keepers, must like- 
wise have a share, before the articles reach the consumers. 
The Russians, of all ranks, act with great prudence and cir- 
cumspection in their mercantile transactions. They know well, 
and daily experience tends to confirm it, that foreigners must 
have their produce at all events ; and, on that account, they ne- 
ver enter into a bargain, or deliver the goods, unless the whole 
of the price be paid in advance ; and even one-half of it some 
months before they are delivered ; consequently they are protect- 
ed against every risk of loss. A Russian, in his transactions 
with a foreigner, makes no bad debts, whatever may happen when 
matters are reversed. The native merchants, who are bearded 
and whiskered men, form a considerable, and, I may add, opu- 
lent body of individuals, some of them being possessed of large 
fortunes, and, of course, from their low origin, made entirely in 
trade. 
This class of men are remarkably jealous of the English or 
foreign merchants, who, of late years, have been in the habit of 
sending their sons or relations, at an early age, to board in the 
villages of the interior, with a view to learn the language, which 
is very difficult, and become acquainted with the trade. These 
young men, in after life, becoming merchants, may go to the 
interior, purchase the goods, and transact their own business 
with the noblemen, to the exclusion of the native merchants, and 
with the saving of his large profits. It is surprising to see what 
wealth these bearded gentlemen display in Moscow and Peters- 
burgh, on particular holidays, in their equipages, horses, in the 
livery of their servants, and in the dresses, ear-rings, and neck- 
laces of their wives and daughters. 
My friend was a gentleman under the peculiar circumstances 
now alluded to, he and his partner having resided a great num- 
ber of years in Russia ; both they and their predecessors having 
had extensive contracts to supply the British Government with 
timber for the Navy during the wars. From an early period of 
life, one of them had been in the habit of transacting their 
