_The Fair._—And now we arrive at the fair itself. Round the public offices in the centre are ranged the European wares, the French millinery, and English broadcloth. Next follow the Armenians, a numerous and distinguished class in every commercial assemblage throughout the East. Near these the Bokharians usually range themselves, and they are easily distinguishable from other Asiatics by their squat corpulent figures and dark complexions. Nearly a whole side of the bazaar is occupied by the Chinese market, in which the shops are all laid out in Chinese fashion. Tea is the chief article of the Chinese trade; and on this portion of the fair I shall speak later. Beyond the stone buildings of the bazaar commence the rows of wooden booths in which the motley Siberian and Tartar tribes establish themselves with their furs and peltry; the most remarkable to a European eye, though not the least common of their wares, being the dark mouse-coloured hide of the wild horse, with black mane and streak along the back, much prized by the Bashkirs and other tribes for its warmth as well as beauty. The wine trade has never constituted a great feature of the fair, although wine skins from the Caucasus may be seen; and many of the brands of southern Russia may be found on application. Most of the streets of the fair have elegant light arcades on each side, supported in front by cast-iron columns, where purchasers can walk about, well sheltered in all kinds of weather. The stalls are generally very handsome, and in some instances extend from street to street, so as to leave two fronts. They present nothing of the confusion of an ordinary fair; the goods of every kind are as neatly ranged as in the shops of a city. To facilitate business there is a separate quarter set apart for each different and important class of goods. One quarter contains groceries, of which the value sold is very great. In another, dried fish and caviar are exposed in most fragrant variety, of which great quantities are sold, amounting to about £60,000 in value. I may here remark that the annual value of the sturgeon alone taken in the Volga is estimated at two and half millions of roubles; and above 30,000 barrels of caviar have been dispatched from Astrakhan in a single year. A third quarter contains leather articles of every kind, which may be bought exceedingly cheap; boots and shoes are disposed of in very large quantities. Morocco leather is also sold wholesale to a very large amount. A great deal of it comes from Astrakhan, where, as in other parts of European Russia, goats are kept for the use of their hides to make this leather, more than for their milk or flesh. The pleasant soap of Kasan is sold in large quantities. One is glad to find that it is in such demand.