C II I M E A. 



Crimea. Jy level, with a few small eminences, being covered with 

 **""V"~' rich pasture. Near an elevated sandy promontory pro- 

 jecting- into tlie sea, called Kameseh-bourne, great num- 

 bers of petrified shells are found, as also a singular 

 mineral, said to be native prussiate of iron, or Prussian 

 blue. Salt springs are found in the hills near Yenikale, 

 as also a spring of petroleum or rock oil. Also, on the 

 summit of a hill in this peninsula, there is a marsh 

 containing bitter salt water, emitting a disagreeable 

 smell, and resting upon a black sulphureous slimy bot- 

 tom ; and on the leaves and stems of the vegetables 

 growing around this marsh, liver of sulphur, sulphuret 

 perhaps of soda, is found deposited. 

 :le of Ta. The island of Taman, though not actually a part of 

 >>"]. the Crimea, is included in the same government. It is 



separated from the peninsula of Kertsch by the straits 

 of Yenikale or Taman, anciently the Cimmerian Bos- 

 phorus, which bounds it on the west. The north side 

 of this island is washed by the sea of Azof, and the 

 , south side by the Black sea, while the eastern end is 

 separated by an irregular congeries of small saline lakes, 

 with naiTow interposed isthmuses, from Kuban Tartary. 

 The breadth of the straits of Yenikale is from seven to 

 twelve miles. The length of this island from west to 

 east is about forty miles, and its breadth from north to 

 south twenty-six.. Its surface is considerably elevated 

 above the surrounding waves, the shores being general- 

 ly upwards of seventy feet high, and very steep ; while 

 at its western extremity there are several hills, two of 

 which are said to be volcanic. The soil is in general a 

 sandy loam, but is of clay in some places ; the sloping 

 sides of the hills and intermediate vallies being fertile, 

 and well cultivated in some places. Though this island 

 does not naturally produce either trees or shrubs, yet, 

 in the vicinity of Taman, at its western extremity, there 

 are many large orchards, in which fruit trees have long 

 flourished in great luxuriance and productiveness. It 

 has many springs of fresh water, but no running streams. 

 In some places there are saline pools and salt springs, 

 containing petroleum ; and the interior of the island is 

 said to abound in a resinous combustible substance, sup- 

 posed to be composed of, or impregnated with, mineral 

 oil or petroleum, that has been distilled or sublimed by 

 means of subterraneous fire. Before the town of Ta- 

 man there is a spacious bay of the same name, the pka- 

 nagoria of the ancients, but too shallow to allow of be- 

 ing navigated by large vessels. The interior of the 

 island is the most elevated and fertile ; but some dis- 

 tricts are represented as unhealthy, owing to thick fogs, 

 the humidity of the soil, and the bad quality of the water! 

 There is a volcano in the island of Taman, about 27 

 Icano. m j] es east from the f ortress of t j lat namej ca ]j Gd Coocoo- 



obo by the Tartars, and Prekla, signifying hell, by the 

 Tchernomorski, the present inhabitants of the country. 

 Its eruptions, though accompanied by fire and smoke, 

 have not hitherto been followed by any appearance of 

 lava, its disjeetitions consisting of vast quantities of vis- 

 cous mud. 

 eology. The following short account of the geology of the 



Crimea, from the pen of the celebrated Pallas, is all that 

 our limits can afford. " In a country, containing moun- 

 tains of such elevation, that snow and ice remain in 

 some spots throughout the whole year, and which also 

 is almost insulated, one would expect, conformable with 

 the general laws of nature, to find the three different 

 orders of mountains : The primitive or granitic moun- 

 tains, as the center of elevation ; the secondary or schis- 

 tose; and the tertiary, composed of horizontal or flat 



VOL. VII. PAUT I. 



337 



strata, mixed with petrifactions ; or at least, as in Sicily, Crimea, 

 a volcanic central nucleus, having secondary and tertiary ""*"" "Y~"" 

 stratifications around its skirts ; but in Taurida neither 

 of these arrangements are to be found, which are ob- 

 served in all other mountainous countries. Throughout 

 the entire maritime range of the Alpine chain of Tauri- 

 da, nothing is to be seen but secondary strata of the 

 latest order or formation, all inclined to the horizon at 

 an angle more or less approaching to 45°, and all les9 

 or more parallel to each other, and in a direction be- 

 tween the south-east and north-west. All the strata, 

 therefore, are cut off or laid open in the direction of the 

 coast, and are all distinctly seen upon the maritime 

 steep slopes of the mountains, like the leaves in a book, 

 or the volumes in a library." The exterior or upper 

 strata, consist of calcareous matter of very recent for- 

 mation. The highest of the mountains afford no trace 

 either of primitive granite, or of any regular schistose 

 deposite, but are entirely calcareous. Beneath those 

 enormous calcareous masses, pillars of marble, trap, 

 clay, common limestone, and schistus, appear in parallel 

 and almost vertical veins or strata, alternating with each 

 other, and leaning from north-west to south-east, and 

 their precipitous elevation in some places from the sea, 

 bespeaks a corresponding depth below the surface of 

 the water. Among the extraneous fossils' of the Crimea, 

 the /apis nummularius may be mentioned, which is there 

 very common, though rare every where else. 



The population of the Crimea is said to have former- Popula- 

 ly amounted to a million and a half, but it was much "on. 

 diminished by the wars between the Turks and Rus- 

 sians; and in 1793, was only estimated at 157,125. 

 Besides great numbers of Tartars of different descrip- 

 tions, it was formerly inhabited by Turks, Greeks, and 

 Armenians, especially in the towns along the coast; 

 but since the Russian conquest, the Turks of course 

 have all quitted the country. Many of the Tartars also 

 have removed with their families and flocks to the steppes 

 or deserts of the continent ; and even the Armenians 

 are said to have mostly abandoned the country, or ra- 

 ther to have been constrained by the Russians to emi- 

 grate. 



According to the celebrated Pallas, the Tartars of 

 the Crimea may be divided into three classes. The 

 first are the Nogays, the least mixed of the Mongolian 

 race or Moguls, who devote their attention to agricul- 

 ture and the rearing of cattle. A second race of Tar- 

 tars occupied the steppes or plain, from the edge of the 

 hilly country to the isthmus of Perecop, who also resem- 

 bled tlie Moguls. The third class, inhabiting the 

 southern vallies of the mountains, is described as a 

 mixed race, having a distinct physiognomy, with stronger 

 beards and lighter hair than the other two, and were 

 entirely stationary, devoting their attention to agricul- 

 ture, and especially to the cultivation of hemp and to- 

 bacco. 



The young Tartars of the plain, particularly those be- 

 longing to noble and rich families, chess nearly like the 

 Circassians and the Cossacks, tlie sleeves of their coats 

 being short and open ; while the old Tartar nobles, and 

 the common people, wear close sleeves. The old men 

 allow their beards to grow, while young people wear 

 only whiskers. On their heads they wear high caps, 

 and their legs are covered with half "boots. Tlie Tar- 

 tar women are generally small sized, wearing drawers, 

 or long^ wide trowsers, shirts open before, an open 

 gown of silk, with long narrow ornamented sleeves, 

 and above all a great coat with short sleeves, and a 

 3u 



