The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-12
SEEN IN WORLDS
GREATEST MARKET
The Mini Novgorod Fair in Its
Old Glory
"A REMARKABLE GATHERING
Shrewdness of the Tartars In Trade.
How the Sales Are Made-Pictur-
esque Dress Worn BY
the Attendants.
"A REMARKABLE GATHERING

nor his wares have had much chance to
get along the Siberian railroad. Now
that the twin line of steel, running for
six thousand miles from Moscow to Vlad-
| ivostok, is free from the conveyance of
troops, the Siberian towns, which have
been starving for goods, are demanding
large supplies and speedy deliveries. In
the disturbed condition of the country,
however, German firms have shown no
eagerness to risk the lives of their tray
elers in region where the value of life
is Increasingly regarded, nor to forward
goods for which there is a very profile
matte prospect of payment Accordingly
Mahomet has had to come to the noun
| tain. and this year, writes Foster Fraser
in the London Standard, Mini Novgorod
is basking in it's old glory.
The fair has provided opportunity for
a remarkable gatherings congress repre-
sentng twenty million Mussumans in the
Russian Empire-Moslems from south
Russia. men who have taken to the garb
and customs of the west, and who. with
their hair cropped a la Franchise and
imperials dark gray lounge jackets and
patent leather boots. might easily be mis-
taken for Parislans: Moslems from Mon
gola and Bokhara, men slim and sallow
and sedate, with shaver heads and henna
dyed boards; men in long flowing and en-
broidered sheepskin coats, boots of red
and turbans of green, who, for sitting.
find the floor more comfortable than
chairs.
The Tatars are the cleverest merchants
who come TO Mini Novgorod. Whether it
be in the selling Of overland tea-be-
leved by the Muscovite to have been
brought by caravan from China, but
which has been sent around by ship to
Odessa and trained to Nijni-or in making
a fuss with precious stones which he
hints have been stolen from the mines.
and therefore are to be obtained bar
gain. but which are imitation made in a
Partisan factory, the Tatar scores.
Has Wondrous Skins.
He stands by his shed stall, looking
cold and grim, his fur cap down over
his ears and his hands hid in the sleeves
of his skin coat. which is badly tanned
and most unappetizlng in odor. He has
wondrous stacks of skins, from silver fox
down to rat You can walk the better
part of mile past shops crowded with
skins, most requiring to be cured. For
year Siberia is hunted for skins to
supply the Mini Novgorod mart. The
tribes of the north stalk in the winter;
colonies of political exiles have sometimes
| little other means of winning livelihood
than by getting skins
Over hundreds of miles of trackless
snow the skins are hauled till river is
reached. Then by boat they are brought
| to some place where the Siberian railway
can be touched or are taken to some af
| fluent of the Volga The Tatar mer-
chant has his buyers everywhere. In
his slothful but still methodical way he
| meets the skins at certain points and ar
rlves at Mini Novgorod with perhaps a
couple of thousand pounds worth of
| goods
The market is conducted on strictly
eastern principles. There Is no fixed price.
| Everything Is worth what it will fetch.
| The Tatar asks twice as much as a thing
| Is worth, aware all the time that you
| know he is asking double what he will
accept. You offer half what the thing is
worth, aware that he knows that you in
| tend to increase the offer. So, much time
/ Is wasted by him regretfully lowering
| mis- price and you grudgingly raising your
offer, until at the end you come very near
| If not actually to the price you both know
| to be about right.
| There are splashes of the picturesque
about the people who attend the fair.
| They have come from all points of the
| compass. the huge, eommodious, shallow
| draughted naptha driven Volga boats
quite as big the notorious floating
towns on Americans streams-and by
caravan. Russians from the towns are
| dressed in European style, on the Ger
man model; Russians from the country
are in wide trousers and top boots. flap
ping red shirts and thick belts they
are bearded. while the hair is cropped
short and the back of the neck shaved;
| their women are plain. stout. fgureless,
| ana have shawls tied about their heads.
There are the brown cloaked sheepslsln
| hated Persans from below the Caucasus
| mountains; there are almond eyed Mon
| gols shrlvel faced and wisp whskered:
| there are tawny Buriats and gray robed
men from Bokhara; there are innumer-
able Tatars, some accompanied by their
women folk; fat. swaddled. wearing col
| lar box hats of velvet decorated with
pearls.
Fair Ground Is Mud Flat.
! The fair ground is a mud fat lying
across the Volga from Mini Novgorod
| proper. There are rows upon rows of
cheap brick sheds, one story high, yell
low ochred, with pavement of sorts.
The roadway, once cobbled Is a mass
of disgusting mire. Peasant carriers, in
charge of inconsequent teams hauling
miscellaneous merchandise. yell and bawi.
A joltng drosky attempting to dash by,
splashes the uniform of Russian Off
Ger with filth and as the Russian Ian
guage Is well stored with expletives
there is violent cursing. Russian soldiers.
unwashed and in unkempt clothing, trudge
suiIenly In the gutter, carrying big leaves
OF black bread under their oxters.
A cadaverous, long-haired. black gowned
priest goes hurrying by. Old women cross
themselves and young men spit on the
ground A bunch of porcine Chinese in
blue Jackets and with swinging pigtails,
come over the bridge from Chinatown,
where all the buildings have caves that
leer and on the doors are painted ram
pant dragons of fearful design. intended
to brighten away thieves-which they
ward heave and buinb electric tramcar
comes sizzling along
some Moslems are facing the east.
fancyins they look toward Mecca. which
they do not, and are performing their
deyotions I'm the street. Moscow ner-
chants are In an adjoining cafe, and a
grarnophone blares Il wouldn't leave my
little wooden hut for you"
There is the constant click Of the aba
cus--beads on wires on which NE learned
to count as children, and without which
the Russian. inheriting It's use from Tar
tar ancestors, cannot reckon how many
two and three total A playful on the
side of a rekety kiosk announces a per-
formance-n Russian. of course-of THE
Geisl1a" Nowhere have seen such d
iostling of East and West.
Is Not Dazzling.
One likes to think Mini Novgorod fair
is Oriental 1t Is customary to associate
the Orient with the dazzling. But there