Note 11 — Chapter XLVII · NIKOLAEFSK.

There came to it, in 1878, 12 merchant vessels, bringing manufactured goods to the value of £52,781; alcohol, £4,705; and wines, beer, and porter, £1,604. I was told by one of the merchants that Hamburg is the cheapest market for goods for a new country, there being more imitations made there than elsewhere, which perhaps accounts for the complaint made to the Russian Government that the imported manufactures are of the lowest quality. The same merchant told me, however, that when he imported good articles, the Russians merely admired them; but that when he imported cheap ones, they bought them.