THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 101 



If this is the fate in store for the beautiful Crimea, the 

 blow will not fall unfelt ; for not only has the Empress of 

 Kussia a delightful residence there on the shores of the 

 Black Sea, but it has of late become a favourite resort of 

 the Eussian nobility.* " Wildness " is said to be the word 

 most purely characteristic of the Crimea ; "changeableness" 

 would be almost equally so. Towards the western part the 

 aspect of vegetation is described as not unlike many glens 

 in the Highlands; "it is a rocky country, covered with 

 scrub " (?) . At some distance from the coast lies the fertile 

 valley of Baidar, which stands so thick with corn that it 

 seems to laugh and sing. In the centre of the southern 

 part of the Crimea (just on the northern limit of this zone) 

 is the ancient capital of Grim Tartary, Baktche Serai (the 

 Seraglio of Gardens), which is a sequestered dell embowered 

 amidst the most luxuriant vegetation, overtopped by a forest 

 of mingled minarets and Poplars. Proceeding thence in a 

 south-easterly direction towards the sea-coast, the traveller 

 goes through a pass in which he is surrounded by magnificent 

 peaks and crags, below which, dark Pine-woods thickly clothe 

 the mountain-side. On the south side of these mountains 



* It is needless to say that this passage and the preceding one were written 

 before the Crimea became the seat of war. 



