3-011-783 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A group at the Great Annual Fair at Nijni Novgorod, Central Russia, 1864. In the centre '...is a Tartar trader of importance, weary of half an hour's beating about the bush, endeavouring to bring his bargaining to a conclusion; but he is foiled in his praiseworthy attempt by a cunning, bearded, tea-drinking Russian merchant...an Armenian, aristocratic and thin, stalks off, his honest conscience forbidding him to be a party to such cheating. Chinamen, too, are seen sprinkled amongst the motley crowd at Nijni...The stout fellow about to hoist a package is one of the common Tartars, who do most of the porterage work at Nijni...In the figure with a stick, to the right, may be recognised the beggar of the country, his head bare save a thatching of matted hair, which hangs down in wild confusion over his repulsive face; his decrepit body protected from the rays of a burning sun by a sheepskin coat, redolent of grease in many forms. In the background are represented two Cossacks going their rounds...On the left is a Tartar woman, her head enveloped in a thin handkerchief, her body clothed with the jacket peculiar to these people - very short in the waist and lined with fur; thickly padded'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.