FROM THE CIRCASSIAN FRONTIER, 
Venice, where the freezing of the sea would 
be considered as a prodigy. The cavalry of 
Mitliradates fought upon the ice, in the same 
part of the Bosporus where a naval engagement 
had taken place the preceding summer 1 2 * * . 
Among the other antiquities of Taman, one 
of the most remarkable is a Naumachia 8 , or 
amphitheatre for exhibitions of naval combats. 
This is not less than a thousand paces in 
diameter, and the whole of its area is paved. 
Its circular form is everywhere surrounded by 
ruins and by the foundations of buildings, 
sloping towards the vast reservoir in the centre. 
A wide opening upon one side seems to have 
afforded the principal entrance. The pavement 
of the area, consisting of broad flat stones, is 
covered by earth and weeds. The subterra- 
neous conduits, for conveying water, still 
remain ; but they are now appropriated to 
other uses. One of these, beneath the church, 
is kept in order, for the use of the priests. 
When the Cossacks of the Black Sea first arrived 
in their new settlement, they caused water to 
flow into this immense reservoir, for their 
(1) Strab. lib.vii. p.444. cil. Oxon. 
(2) Naumachia was a name frequently used by the Antients to 
signify this kind of theatre. “ Semel triremi usque ad proximo* 
Maumachiie hortos subvcetus est.” Suetonius in i'itd Tib. 
