C A F 



204 



C A F 



CiaflU. ted by the Russians, upon the public buildings of lutions prior to their going to the mosques. 

 v ' this city, is so peculiarly interesting and characteris- were nearly all demolished when we arrived. 

 tic, that we are tempted to present it to our readers 

 in Dr Clarke's own words : 



" The melancholy devastation committed by the 

 Russians, while it draws tears down the cheeks of the 

 Tartars, and extorts many a sigh from the Anatolian 

 Turks who resort to Caffa for commercial purposes, 

 cannot fail to excite the indignation of every enlight/ 

 ened people. At Caffa, during the time we remained, 

 the soldiers were allowed to overthrow the beautiful 

 mosques, or to convert them into magazines, to pull 

 down the minarets, tear up the public fountains, and 

 to destroy all the public aqueducts, for the sake of a 

 small quantity of lead which they were thereby ena- 

 bled to obtain. While these works of destruction were 

 going on, the officers were amusing themselves in be- 

 holding the mischief. Tall and stately minarets, 

 whose lofty spires added much grace and dignity to 

 the town, were daily levelled with the ground ; which 

 were of no other value to their destroyers than to 

 supply a few soldiers with bullets, f or their officers 

 with a dram. I was in a Turkish coffee-house at 

 Caffa, when the principal minaret, one of the ancient 

 and characteristic monuments of the country, to 

 which the* Russians had been some days employed in 

 fixing blocks and ropes, came down with such violence 

 that its fall shook every house in the place. The 

 Turks seated on divans, were all smoking, and when 

 that is the case, an earthquake will scarcely rouse 

 them ; nevertheless, at this flagrant act of impiety 

 and dishonour, they rose, breathing out deep and 

 bitter curses against the enemies of their prophet. 

 Even the Greeks, who were present, testified their 

 anger by similar imprecations. One of them turning 

 to me, arid shrugging his shoulders, said, with a 

 countenance of contempt and indignation, 'Ztcvfxi \ 

 SCYTHIANS ! which I found afterward sjjto be a com- 

 mon term of reproach ; for, though the Greeks 

 profess the same religion as the Russians, they detest 

 the latter as cordially as do the Turks or Tartars. 

 The most lamentable part of the injury thus sustain- 

 ed, has been in the destruction of the conduits and 

 public fountains, which conveyed, together with the 

 purest water, from distant mountains, a source of 

 health and comfort to the people. They first carry 

 off the leaden pipes in order to make bullets ; then 

 they take down all the marble slabs and large stones 

 for building materials, which they employ in the 

 construction of barracks ; lastly, they blow up the 

 channels which convey water, because they say the 

 water porters cannot earn a livelihood when there are 

 public fountains. Some of these fountains were of 

 great antiquity, and beautifully decorated with marble 

 reservoirs, as well as with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. 

 In all Mahometan countries, it is considered an act 

 of piety to preserve and to adorn the public aqueducts. 

 Works of that nature once appeared in almost every 

 street of Caffa ; some were public washing places ; 

 others poured out streams of water as clear as crystal 

 for allaying the thirst of the inhabitants, and for ab- 



They 



Caffa, 

 Caffrariai 



The sculptured marbles of its ancient Grecian in- 

 habitants had not shared a better fate. All that 

 even Mahometans had spared of bas-reliefs, of inscrip- 

 tions, or architectural pillars, were broken by the 

 Russians, and sold as materials to construct their 

 miserable barracks. We found the identical marbles, 

 described by Oderico, broken and exposed for sale 

 in the ruins of the old Genoese fortress. These were 

 of peculiar interest, because they related to the 

 history of the town. It was in vain that we solicited 

 to become purchasers ; the request was immediately 

 denied by the general officers. Strangers, he said, 

 are not permitted to take any thing out of the 

 country." 



The roadstead of Caffa is protected by a promon 

 tory from almost every wind, except those from the 

 north and south west. Ships can anchor very near 

 the shore in a slimy bottom. Its commerce is so in- 

 considerable, that a small number of merchant ships 

 can scarcely find cargoes in it. Fishing is carried 

 on to some extent in the bay of Caffa, and the sea of 

 Azof affords a great quantity of sturgeons, the spawn 

 of which, when salted, is called caviar, and forms a 

 considerable article of trade. 



The city of Caffa was so flourishing under the Ge- 

 noese, that it obtained the name of Crim-Stambul, or 

 the Constantinople of Crimea. It first came into 

 their hands in A. D. 1226, and continued in their 

 possession till the year 1475, when it was taken from 

 them by Mahomet the Great. A considerable trade, 

 however, was still carried on between Genoa and 

 Caffa ; and in 1672, when the city was visited by Sir 

 John Chardin, 400 vessels arrived and cleared out in 

 the space of forty days. After this the commerce of 

 Caffa was entirely lost, and the Thracian Bosphorus 

 shut against foreign vessels. When Caffa, along with 

 the rest of the Crimea, was ceded to Russia by the 

 convention of 1783, Catherine restored the ancient 

 name of Theodosia, and seemed desirous to promote 

 its commercial interests. A quarantine was conse- 

 quently established, and encouragement held out for 

 merchants to settle in the town ; but these attempts 

 seem to have failed, as the town contained only about 

 Jifty families in 1800, when visited by Dr Clarke, 

 and in some instances a house contained more than 

 one family. In 1803, when this town was visited by 

 Reuilly, the number of houses did not exceed 100, J 

 which were chiefly inhabited by Greeks. In former 

 times, Caffa contained 36,000 houses within its walls, 

 and including the suburbs, not less than 44,000 

 houses. See Chardin's Travels ; Reuilly's Travels 

 in the Crimea in 1803, chap. vi. ; but particularly 

 Clarke's Travels in various Countries of Europe^ 

 Asia, and Africa, vol. i. chap. xix. p. 445. See also 

 CRIMEA, (o) 



CAFFRARIA, a country of Africa, extending 

 across the southern part of the continent ; and con- 

 tained on the west between the 20th and 25th degree 

 of S. Lat. and between the 24th and 32d degree of 



} The Russian troops are obliged to provide themselves with lead. 



-$ In e the recent accounts of this town, it is said to contain four or five thousand house* ' 



