TO CAFFA. 
117 
°f beholding, in such abundance, an animal c HA p . 
against whom all mankind seem to entertain a < 
natural antipathy*. 
There is, perhaps, no part of the Crimea Antiquities 
where a traveller will find so many antiquities 
as in Kertcliy \ The peasants gladly exchange, 
(2) Milton makes it tlie abode of the infernal spirit 
“ Him there they found 
Squat like a toad.” Par. Lost, 15. iv. 
(3) “ On the 22(1 of April we found we had exhausted all the 
curiosities of Taman, and determined to proceed directly to Kertch, 
und wait for our carriage at Kaffa. We were induced to take this 
step by understanding that Yenikal4 offered nothing remarkable either 
antiquities or situation, and by our desire to give as much time as 
possible to Kaffa. The regular ferry-boat was then at Yenikald, and 
the wind directly contrary. For this boat our carriage was obliged 
to wait: we ourselves obtained a fish ing-boat from the point nearest 
Kertch. From Phauagoria to this point is reckoned twelve versts : 
*t is a loug narrow spit of sand, evidently of recent formation, and 
Marked in Guthrie’s map as an island. Even where this terminates, 
is a range of sand reaching like a bar across almost half the Bosporus, 
and hardly covered with water, which bids fair in time completely to 
block up the navigatiou. An immense quantity of sea-fowl are seen 
°U every part of the Straits. The prospect is perfectly naked and 
desert ; on one side the bare downs and long sand Kossas of Taman, 
®nd on the other a bleak and rocky coast, without verdure or inhabi- 
ta uts ; and the miserable fishermen, who rowed us over, were a very 
bt group for such a scene. From the Ko&sa, where we embarked, to 
Kertcb, is reckoned twelve versts. Immediately opposite is a round 
shallow hay, where was a hut in which the fishermen occasionally 
s i®pt. Behind the northern point of this bay opens a much larger ; 
*here a few miserable houses, a small church, and a jetty of piles, 
point out Kertch. The most conspicuous object is a conical green 
1 * Clt her entirely or in part artificial, on the top of which is a seat 
11 od a flag-staff. The Russian officer, who took us there, fancied it 
1 2 
was 
