226 Mr. G. C. Taylor on the 



never forget. In my subsequent notes I shall have occasion to 

 enlarge upon it. 



I passed the greater part of the following summer in the 

 camp, making occasional visits to Constantinople, but was 

 present to witness both the unsuccessful attack of the 18th of 

 June, and the capture of Sevastopol. I managed to enter the 

 city early on the morning after it was evacuated by the 

 Russians. I made my final departure from the Crimea on the 

 25th of September. 



The three gentlemen to whose notes I have alluded above 

 appear to have remained during the winter of 1855-56 and the 

 following spring, when there was comparatively little or no re- 

 striction on their movements up to and beyond the outposts. 

 They were consequently enabled to extend their observations into 

 localities which it was impossible to reach during the progress 

 of hostilities ; and therefore their notes, so far as the vicinity of 

 the camp is concerned, are much more valuable than mine ; for 

 during the siege it was impossible to pass the outposts, and 

 even at times very dangerous to approach them, as it generally 

 happened that independent ball-practice was going on between 

 them and the Russians. 



Before concluding my preliminary observations I wish to 

 make a few remarks on the " Sivash,^' or, as our maps call it, 

 the Putrid Sea. When I was in the Sea of Azov, I could 

 obtain no information concerning it ; and it seems that the 

 Russians themselves have but little to impart. The ' Stromboli ' 

 steamed, close in shore, along the whole length of the Spit of 

 Arabat; but the haze and mirage so common in this region 

 prevented our seeing to any distance from the ship. 



I know of no existing account of it, except the article by 

 Captain Sherard Osborn, R.N., " On the Geography of the 

 Sea of Azov, the Putrid Sea, and adjoining Coasts," in the 

 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society^ for 1857, from 

 which I shall give a few extracts. Captain Osborn commanded 

 the ' Vesuvius ' in the Sea of Azov, and only visited a portion 

 of the Sivash, that nearest to the Spit of Arabat. " Of the other 

 portion," he says, " we shall not presume to speak, no English 

 naval officers having visited it during the late operations, and 



