KAFFA— KERTCH. 451 



often commanding magnificent views of the sea, tlic liills, valle3^s, and surrounding 

 woodlands. Near Cape St. Theodore are the châteaux of Alapha, Orianda, 

 Nikitski Sad, and the imperial retreat of Liradia, all enclosed by parks in which 

 flourish the rarest plants, all rich in malachites, costly marbles, statues, and 

 other objects of art. The little town of Yalta, encircled by an amphitheatre of 

 wooded hills, overlooks the somewhat inconvenient roadstead, where men-of-war 

 and numerous private yachts often lie at anchor. 



Kafa, the old Milesian colony of Theodosia, still maintains its rank as a 

 city. It stands on a bay sheltered from the west and south winds by a headland 

 forming the eastern extremity of the Taurida highlands, and at the narrowest point 

 of the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Kertch with the Crimea. Purchased 

 m the thirteenth century by the Genoese, it became for a time the chief emporium 

 of the Black Sea, and the entrepôt of all the trade with the Eastern world. But 

 in 1477 it fell into the hands of the Osmanli, who converted it into a heap of ruins. 

 Later on it revived, chiefly through the slave trade, and became the great mart for 

 the disposal of the captives made by the Tatars in Little Eussia. As many as 

 30,000 male and female slaves were at times offered for sale in its bazaars, and, when 

 seized by the Eussians in 1783, it had a population of 85,000. The emigration of the 

 Turks and Tatars has reduced that number to little over 9,000, but Kaffa, to 

 which the Eussians have restored its original name of Theodosia, in the modified 

 form of Feodosiya, is now much frequented by bathers from all parts of the Crimea 

 and the mainland. Although the outport of the Kara-su agricultural district, its 

 trade is unimportant, its exports amounting to about £115,000, and its imports to 

 little over £10,000. 



Kertch, on a western inlet of the Strait of Yeni-Kuleh, the " Cimmerian 

 Bosphorus," is even an older, and historically a more important place than Kafla. It 

 is the Panticapaeum founded some twenty-fi.ve centuries ago by the Milesians, 

 which, after the defeat of Mithridates, became the capital of the kingdom of the 

 Bosphorus, and which was also known by the name of Bosphorus. Euined during 

 the migrations of the Eastern races, it gradually revived, and under the Genoese 

 became a great commercial centre. As the natural guardian of the straits, it was 

 converted by the Eussians into a fortress, which, after being burnt by the allies 

 during the Crimean war, was temporarily abandoned. It was soon, however, rebuilt, 

 with additional works and floating batteries stretching nearly across the bay, and 

 at the last census it was found to be the largest and most commercial city in 

 Taurida. On the slope of Mount Mithridates, and approached by a gigantic flight 

 of steps, stands a museum of antiquities, including numerous objects found in the 

 neighbouring tumuli and catacombs. One of the mounds, known as the " tomb of 

 Mithridates," occupies the site of the old acropolis of Panticapœum, on the summit 

 of the hill. 



The town of Yeui-Kalch (in Turkish, "Newcastle") forms administratively 

 a part of Kertch, although lying nearly 8 miles farther east, at a point command- 

 ing the narrowest part of the strait. It consists of little more than a number of 

 Government buildings, marking the site of the old Greek colony of Parthenion. 



