TO THE CIMMERIAN BOSPORUS. 
language, a valuable dissertation upon the 
subject 3 4 5 . It would be therefore superfluous to 
say more at present of this valuable relic, 
than that it commemorates a mensuration made 
upon the ice, by Prince Gleb, son of Vladimir, 
in the year 1065, of the distance across the 
Bosporus from Tmutaracan to Kertchy ; that is 
to say, from Phanagoria to Panticapceum .• this 
is found to correspond with the actual distance 
from Taman to Kertchy. The words of the 
inscription are to the following effect : “ In the 
year 6576 (lO() 5 ), Indict. 6 . Prince Gleb measured 
the sea on the ice; and the distance from Tmutaracan 
to Kertchy teas 30,054 fathoms. Pallas relates, 
that the freezing of the Bosporus, so that it 
may be measured upon the ice, is no uncommon 
occurrence'*; a circumstance which confirms the 
observations made by antient historians, and 
also proves that degrees of temperature do not 
vary according to those of latitude ; both Taman 
and Kertchy 3 being nearer to the equator than 
(3) Alehsye Mus'ine Puchkine, one of the members of the Privy 
Council in Russia, published an elucidation of the inscription, and of 
the principality of Tmutaracan, accompanied by a map explanatory of 
the geography of 'antient Russia. Petrop. 1794, quarto. See also 
Pallas’s Travels in the South of Russia, Hfc, vol. II. p. 300. 
(4) Ibid. vol. II. p. 5289, 300. 
(5) These towns are situate in latitude 45. Venice is about half a 
degree nearer to the North Pole. Naples and Constantinople arc, with 
respect to each other, nearly on the same line of latitude ; yet snow 
" s frequently, during winter, in the latter city, but is seldom seen 
>n tlie former. 
G 2 
