33S € IU M E A. 



belt round the waist. The}' plait their hair, which 

 is <*enerally covered by a small cap, or by a piece of 



linen crossed under the chin. They paint the nails 

 of their hands and feet red, and stain their eye-brows 

 black. A long narrow piece of cloth hangs down be- 

 hind from the top of their heads, while tresses of hair, 

 -jtainod of a brown red colour, hang down on their 

 cheeks. When out of their tents, they usually cover 

 their faces with a fine veil of white linen. Their food 

 consists of mutton and lamb, boiled or roasted, together 

 with eggs, milk, butter, fruits, and vegetables, and the 

 Nogays eat horse flesh. Their ordinary drink is water, 

 and a kind of beer called Busa. They have few manu- 

 factures, the most noted being of leather, dressed and 

 stained like what is usually called Morocco. The prin- 

 cipal exports of the Crimea are w r heat, salt, leather, 

 soda, butter, fish, cordage, honey, and wax ; and the 

 chief imports are stuffs of silk and of cotton* 

 Towns. There are a few indifferently built towns in the Cri- 



mea, and many villages. Perecop, or Or-capi, anciently 

 Taphras, situated on the middle of the isthmus of that 

 name, is chiefly remarkable for its military lines for the 

 defence of the isthmus against the roaming tribes of 

 Scythia, consisting of a rampart and ditch, now fallen 

 to ruin. It had been originally fortified by a Spartan 

 general, in the fourth century before our Saviour ; and 

 the defences were restored by the Emperor Justinian, 

 in the sixth century of the Christian era. This fortifi- 

 cation was called Neon Teichos, or the new wall, by 

 the Greeks. At Perecop there are only a very few 

 houses, inhabited by the post-master and custom-house 

 officers, and a small barrack. The famous wall is of 

 earth, and very high, with an immense ditch, stretch- 

 ing in a straight line from sea to sea, without any re- 

 mains of flanking towers ; and the golden, or royal gate, 

 as it is called, is narrow, and too low for the passage of 

 an English waggon. Perecop, the Russian name of 

 this place, means the trench or fortification ; and Or- 

 Capi, the Tartar appellation, signifies the gate. 



For an account of Batcheserai, formerly the Tar- 

 tar capital, see that article. — Before the Russian con- 

 quest, almost all the merchants and shopkeepers of 

 the Crimea were Armenians, 75,000 of whom emi- 

 grated, or rather were driven out by the Russians, 

 and all except about 7000 perished, from cold and 

 hunger, in the steppes on the west side of the Sea 

 of Azof. Of the present inhabitants of Batcheserai, 

 above 1100 are Jews, of the sect of Karaites, who 

 reject the traditions of the Talmud and Targum. 

 About three miles from this Tartar capital is Dschou- 

 fout-Kale, or the fortress of the Jews, containing 200 

 houses, and about 1 -'00 inhabitants. This sect of the 

 Jews have the most unexceptionable character, and 

 their honesty in the Crimea is even proverbial, their 

 promises being considered as equivalent to a bond. 



After the Russian conquest, the seat of government 

 was removed to Akmetshet, or Sympheropol, the for- 

 mer being the Tartar, and the latter the modern Greek 

 name ; and it is, reported, that, oh this occasion, Prince 

 Potemkin tossed up with his generals for the choice of 

 the new capital. This is a small town about 20 miles 

 from Batcheserai, situated upon an elevated plain, al- 

 most surrounded at irregular distances by calcareous 

 hills, and having the principal stream of the Salgir to 

 the east The old Tartar town consists of a few nar- 

 row unpaved streets ; and the new town, built by the 

 Russians, is composed only of a few howses^ already 

 £flin$ to nn 



Aktiar, or Sevastopol., in the south west angle of the 

 peninsul;), or what was anciently called the Heracleo- " 

 tic, or Minor Chersonesus, is built in the form of an 

 amphitheatre, at the bottom of an excellent harbour, 

 upon a neck of land, interposed between two bays. 

 This town is composed of parallel streets on a declivity, 

 divided into quarters by transverse streets, and is ex- 

 cellently situated for trade, which is rapidly on the in- 

 crease. The harbour, which was named Ctcnus by the 

 ancients, and is now the anchorage of the Russian fleet, 

 extends nearly four miles inland, is only two hundred 

 yards wide at the entrance, which is defended by two 

 forts and several batteries, and is nine or ten fathoms 

 deep. In the neighbourhood of Atkiar, are the ruins 

 of the ancient city of Chersonesus, on a bay now used 

 as a station for vessels performing quarantine. This- 

 place was called in the middle ages Sherson and Schur- 

 schi, being the Cherson Trachea of the ancients, and 

 was founded by the inhabitants of Heraclea, six hun- 

 dred years before the Christian era. It is also termed 

 in ancient writers Cheroneu9 or Chersonesus. In the 

 older annals of the Russians it is named Korsun, and 

 was called Karaje-burn by the Turks. This place must 

 be carefully distinguished from modern Cherson on the 

 Dnieper. 



To the south-east of this Heracleotic Chersonesus, 

 is the town and bay of Balaclava, the Portus Symbolo* 

 rum of the ancients ; and to the westward is a rugged 

 cape, named Aya-Burun, or the Sacred Promontory, 

 on which are the ruins of an ancient temple of Diana. 

 Mankup, a fortress of the Genoese, now in ruins, is 

 situated on the top of a steep rock, about eight miles 

 inland, and E.N.E. from Balaclava. 



The country included within the harbour of Aktiar, 

 or Inkerman, called anciently Ctenus by Strabo, and 

 the harbour of Balaclava, the Symbulorum Partus of 

 the ancients, forms the Mnor, or Heracleotic Cherso- 

 nesus, which is accurately described by Strabo as a 

 portion of the Peninsula Major, or Taurica Chersone- 

 sus. In this small district stood the three cities of Nen> 

 and Old Chersonesus, and Eupatorium, the temples of 

 Diana, the promontory of Parthenium, celebrated as 

 the scene of the story of Iphigenia, the famous mole 

 of Chersonesus, with numerous ramparts, tombs, ca- 

 nals,, and other works mentioned by historians, but 

 which are all now in ruins, and their remains hastening 

 to be annihilated by the Russians. The most remark- 

 able curiosity in this neighbourhood consists of the 

 ruins and caverns of Inkerman, or city of caverns, con- 

 sisting of numerous chapels, monasteries, cells, sepul- 

 chres, &c. hewn out of the solid rock. 



Karasu-bazar, or the market-town on the Karasu, is 

 a mean irregular town of about 900 houses, yet has 23 

 coffee-houses, and 310 shops. The inhabitants of this 

 town still amount to 3700 individuals, young and old of 

 both sexes, including a curious mixture of Tartars, 

 Russians, Greeks, Italians, Armenians, and Jews. Us- 

 kut, a populous village among vineyards, not far from 

 the south coast of the peninsula, was anciently named 

 Athenian; and a few miles to the eastward, on a steep 

 narrow ridge, are the ruins of an ancient fortress called 

 Tshoban-kalle, or the shepherd's hut, by the Tartars. 



Sudak, or Sudagh, formerly Soldadia, Sogdaia, and 

 Sudagra, the Sidegrius of the ancients, situated on a 

 gulf near Cara-kaia, is chiefly remarkable for its beau- 

 tiful vale, abounding in vineyards, and has the ruins of 

 ■a. Genoese fortress on a rock near the sea. This city 

 rose to sweh celebrity for its extensive commerce, that. 



Rrimaa 



