LIFE OF DR. ROLLESTON. Xxiii 



at one from the north side. Sebastopol in the distance looks 

 very beautiful, it has a grand Grecian building in it, like the 

 Madeleine in Paris, which strikes the eye, as well as large 

 barracks, hospitals, forts, etc. The south side is built on ground 

 sloping up inclined-plane fashion from the harbour up to the 

 south sea-board which is cliff like the south coast England, 

 north coast France cliffs. When you enter it you are struck 

 by the utter destruction of what seemed so fine, shots lodging in 

 walls or great holes knocked through them, no floors, no roofs, 

 and finally a horrid smell telling of those brave men who 

 slumber there below. The town has not walls, and is not fenced 

 up to heaven, but has round knolls, mamelons, lying off at a 

 little distance, made up into earth-works, great banks of earth 

 with embrasures for myriads of cannon. The Russians were 

 brave men to cross the valley of Inkerman, a great deep valley 

 with a mile of level ground between on our side of it. Down the 

 -same hillside did they descend to the bridge of Praktin, from 

 the same hillside did they yesterday fling their shot over Philip 

 Rolleston's and my head as we rode over the hillside collecting 

 relics. Oh! how thick the bullets lay in particular spots. I 

 saw some oak-leaves gathered on that ground : you know it 

 was all covered with brushwood where the battle was fought ; 

 all has been grubbed up since and burnt. All the battles which 

 have been fought would, if their result had been different, have 

 decided the fate of our army. The battle of the Tchernaya was 

 meant to cut us from Balaclava, and how the shipping would 

 have blazed in that narrow winding valley, so at Balaclava 

 and at Inkerman. Near indeed was the whole army to utter 

 destruction. 5 In December Rolleston was back again in Smyrna, 

 taking one day a week at the hospital, reading medicine, riding 

 across a country well provided with ditches and stone walls to 

 the vineyards, attending a single lady patient, and wishing for 

 more work. Some work was found for him, as appears from 

 some further notes by Sir H. Lefroy : ' There were 200 vacant 

 beds in the hospital, and the object of my mission was to 

 arrange, in conjunction with Col. Storks, for closing it entirely. 



