_The Tea Quarter._—One of the most singular sights of the fair is the tea quarter, which occupies the greater portion of an immense division standing by itself, and distinguishable by its Chinese architecture. The Chinese superintend this business themselves, or rather formerly did so. Along the wharves enormous pyramids of chests of tea are heaped upon the ground, covered only with matting made from the inner bark of the birch tree. These chests of tea, called “tsibiki,” are so packed as to be impervious to rain or damp. Outside the ordinary wooden chest is a covering of wickerwork of cane or bamboo, round which, at Kiakhta, raw bull-hides are tightly stretched, with the hair inwards. These chests arrive at Nijni from China, having been received in barter, at Kiakhta or Maimatchin, on the Chinese border of Russia. The Russians, who are great tea drinkers, are accustomed to the higher qualities of tea grown in North China; but these are now quite as easily obtained from Canton as from _Kiakhta_ (which see), and it is said (contrary to former belief) that the sea carriage has no deteriorating effect whatever. Here may be seen some kinds of tea which scarcely ever enter into the English trade, viz. yellow and brick, the former of a delicious fragrance and very pale, but injurious to the nerves if taken very frequently; it is handed round after dinner, in lieu of coffee, in Russia. The brick tea is consumed by the Kalmucks and Kirghizes of the Steppe. The best yellow tea sells for about 35_s._ per pound. The tea trade of the fair has shown a tendency to decrease. _Outskirts of the Fair._—To the casual visitor the outskirts of the fair are almost more interesting than its centre, for observation and study. The constant succession of carts in long strings; the crowds of labourers; the knots of earnest-looking traders with long beards; the itinerant vendors of liquid refreshments and white rabbit-skins; the greasy slovenly monk collecting kopecks of those who fear to withhold their charity lest their transactions be influenced by the Evil One; the frequent beggars, pleading for the most part that they have been burned out, and showing the most dreadful-looking sores as evidence of their veracity; all these go to make up the great assemblage, the unique _tout ensemble_ of the great fair of Nijni-Novgorod as it has been, and is to-day. How long will it remain?