The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-01-02
THE WORLDS GREATEST
MARKET.
MUM NovooRop RUSSIA FAIR IN
ITS OLD GLORY.


Remarkable Gathering of Mussulmans
Of Russian Emplre-Shrewdnes Of
the Tartars-How Scales Are Made
Fair Grounds In Mud Flat
Along the voiga-Pleturesque Dress
Of Attendants.
During the last two and a half years
neither the German comercial travel
ler nor his wares have had much
chance to get along the Siberian rail-
road. Now that the twin line OF
steel, running for six thousand miles
from Moscow to Valdivostok, is free
from the conveyance of troops, the
Siberian towns, which have been stary-
Ing 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
travellers In a region where the value
Of life is Increasingly regarded, nor
to forward goods for which there is
a very problematic prospect Of pay
Eent. Accordingly, ,Mahomet has had
to come to the mountain, and this
season writes Foster Fraser In the
Landau Standard, Mini Novgorod Is
basking in It's old glory.
The fair has provided opportunity
for a remarkable gatherings con-
gress representing twenty million Mus
sulmans in the Russian Empire-Mos-
| uhn hn pa
taken to the garb and customs Of the
West, and who, with their hair cropped
la Franchise and imperials, dark
gray lounge jackets and patent leather
boots, might easily be mistaken for
Parisians; Moslems from Mongolia and
Bokhara men slim and sallow and
sedate, with shaven heads and henna
dyed boards; men In long flowing and
embroidered sheepskin coats, boots of
red and turbans OF green, who, for
sitting, find the floor more comfortable
than chairs
The Tartars are the cleverest mer-
chants who come to Mini Novgorod.
Whether 1t be in the selling Of over
land" tea-believed by the Muscovite
to have been brought by caravan from
China but which has been sent around
by ship to Odessa and trained to Nj
jni-or in making fuss with precious
stones which he hints have been stolen
from the mines, and therefore are to
be obtained as a bargain, but which
are imitation, made in a Partisan fac
tory, the Tartar scores
He stands by his shed or stall, look
Ing cold and grimy, his fur cap down
over his ears and his hands hid in the
sleeves Of his skin coat, which Is badly
i. tanned and most unappetizing In odor.
He has wondrous stacks of skins, from
silver fox down to rat. You can walk
the better part Of a mile past shops
crowded with skins, most requiring to
be cured. For year Siberia is hunt
ed for skins to supply the Mini Nov
gorod mart. The tribes of the north
stalk in the winter; colonies Of polit
ical 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 ST.
berian railway can be touched or are
taken to some affluent of the Volga.
The Tartar merchant has his buyers
everywhere. In his slothful but still
methodical way he meets the skins at
certain points and arrives at Mini
Novgorod with perhaps 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 Tartar asks twice
as much as 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 intend
to increase the offer. So, much time
Is wasted by him regretfully lowering
his price and you grudgingly raising
your Offer until at the end you come
very near II not actually to the price
you both know to be about right.
There are splashes of the pictur-
esque about the people who attend the
fair. They have come from all points
of the compass, by the slow and dirty
Russian trains, by the huge, commodi-
Gus, shallow draughted, naptha driven
Volga boats-quite as big as the motor
lous floating towns on American
streams-and by caravan. Russians
from the towns are dressed in the
: European style, on the German model;
Russians from the country are in wide
trousers and top boots, Tapping red
4 shirts and thick belts; they are bearded
3 while the hair is cropped short and the
q back of the neck shaved; their women
+ are plain, stout, figurless, and have
I shawls tied about their heads.
There are the brown cloaked, sheep
a skin hated Persians from below the
}. Caucasus mountains; there are al
+ mond eyed Mongols, shrivel faced and
wisp whiskered; there are tawny Bu-
rats and gay robed men from Box
" hara. there are innumerahle Tartars