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NIJNI-NOVGOROD, Lower Novgorod, situate at the junction of the Volga
and the Oka, is the chief town in the district of the same name.
It was here that Michael Strogoff was obliged to leave the railway,
which at the time did not go beyond that town. Thus, as he advanced,
his traveling would become first less speedy and then less safe.
Nijni-Novgorod, the fixed population of which is only from thirty
to thirty-five thousand inhabitants, contained at that time
more than three hundred thousand; that is to say, the population
was increased tenfold. This addition was in consequence of the
celebrated fair, which was held within the walls for three weeks.
Formerly Makariew had the benefit of this concourse of traders,
but since 1817 the fair had been removed to Nijni-Novgorod.
Even at the late hour at which Michael Strogoff left the platform,
there was still a large number of people in the two towns,
separated by the stream of the Volga, which compose
Nijni-Novgorod. The highest of these is built on a steep rock.
and defended by a fort called in Russia "kreml."
Michael Strogoff expected some trouble in finding a hotel,
or even an inn, to suit him. As he had not to start immediately,
for he was going to take a steamer, he was compelled to look
out for some lodging; but, before doing so, he wished to know
exactly the hour at which the steamboat would start.
He went to the office of the company whose boats plied between
Nijni-Novgorod and Perm. There, to his great annoyance,
he found that no boat started for Perm till the following
day at twelve o'clock. Seventeen hours to wait!
It was very vexatious to a man so pressed for time.
However, he never senselessly murmured. Besides, the fact was
that no other conveyance could take him so quickly either to Perm
or Kasan. It would be better, then, to wait for the steamer,
which would enable him to regain lost time.
Here, then, was Michael Strogoff, strolling through the town
and quietly looking out for some inn in which to pass the night.
However, he troubled himself little on this score, and, but that
hunger pressed him, he would probably have wandered on till
morning in the streets of Nijni-Novgorod. He was looking
for supper rather than a bed. But he found both at the sign
of the City of Constantinople. There, the landlord offered him
a fairly comfortable room, with little furniture, it is true,
but not without an image of the Virgin, and a few saints framed
in yellow gauze.
A goose filled with sour stuffing swimming in thick cream,
barley bread, some curds, powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon,
and a jug of kwass, the ordinary Russian beer, were placed
before him, and sufficed to satisfy his hunger. He did justice
to the meal, which was more than could be said of his neighbor
at table, who, having, in his character of "old believer"
of the sect of Raskalniks, made the vow of abstinence,
rejected the potatoes in front of him, and carefully refrained
from putting sugar in his tea.
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