418 On Mud Volcanoes and Salt Lakes in the Crimea. 



Liman or delta of the river Kuban, the principal stream drain- 

 ing the northern flanks of the great Caucasian chain. On all 

 the fingers thus jutting out there are lines of elevated land, 

 consisting almost without exception of mud volcanoes, either 

 now active, or having very recently erupted. One of these, 

 about 250 feet in height, is known to have erupted with much 

 flame to a height of fifty yards above the ground. This lasted 

 for half an hour, and was accompanied with thick black smoke ; 

 noises like thunder were heard during the eruption. Very 

 large quantities of mud were then thrown out, but though the 

 expression ' ' boiling" is used with reference to the eruption, the 

 temperature is not mentioned, and the bubbling of gas through 

 cold mud may have been meant. The mud thus thrown out 

 is said to have spread over the plain. The rapid eruption of 

 mud was soon over, but subterranean noises were heard for 

 some months. The phenomenon occurred on 27th February, 

 1794, and is described by the well-known naturalist Pallas. 

 Twenty years afterwards the appearance is described by Engel- 

 hardt, who speaks of two craters, each about fifty feet in 

 •diameter, from which issued gases neither combustible nor in- 

 flammable. These gases bubbled through saltish water at a 

 temperatirre of nearly 100° F. At the present time, after a 

 further interval of rather more than half a century, this vent 

 has almost closed up, and no knowledge or recollection of it 

 exists among the few inhabitants of Taman, the small town on 

 the peninsula. I had some difficulty in getting to it, although 

 it remains a volcanic cone of great beauty, at least 250 feet 

 above the flat plain of the delta, and possessing a crater of. 

 very distinct form. It is perfectly visible from Kertch and the 

 Straits, and is a highly picturesque object. It is, however, not 

 very accessible, and although close to the water, a long detour 

 of nearly sixty miles is necessary to reach it. It has lost its 

 characteristic names, and instead, of being called " Prelcla," or 

 hell, by the Eussians, as described by Pallas, it is now only 

 known as " Gorela," or the hill. Another name, " Kakuoba" 

 given in Colonel Jervis's and other good maps of the Crimea, 

 was not recognized by any one. 



Gorela at present offers at a little distance the appearance of 

 a perfect cone, about two miles in diameter at the base and 

 250 feet high. There is one opening at the south side looking 

 towards Taman, resembling a large broken crater, and a small 

 crater at the top with a pool of water. At the time of my 

 visit there were marks of two or three recent coulees of mud, 

 one of large size, probably within a twelvemonth, as there was 

 no growth upon them. There were others older and now 

 covered with vegetation. The sides of the cone consist chiefly 

 of mud, but are covered with innumerable fragments of hard red 



