152 
FROM CAFFA, 
C ^ R this building into a place of worship, found it 
■ - v necessary to conceal its Pagan ornaments. In 
the centre of the old pavement of this building, 
a very curious bas-relief was discovered, a few 
days before our arrival. It was sculptured 
upon a kind of Cippus, in a very rude manner; 
the subject being divided into two parts, the 
one above and the other below. In the upper 
part appeared two crowned heads ; and in the 
lower, a staircase was represented, conducting to 
the mouth of a stone sepulchre. We endeavoured 
to prevail with the guides to follow the clue 
thus suggested, and to search for the staircase, 
so represented, below the spot where the stone 
itself was found ; but this they refused to do. 
The remaining buildings of Cajfa are within 
the Tahtar city. They consist of very magni- 
ficent public baths and mosques, in a ruined 
state; a few minarets, which perhaps are now 
prostrate ; some shops ; the Turkish coffee- 
house ; an unfinished palace of the late Khan of 
the Crimea; and a large stone edifice, before 
noticed, which was once a mint. In closing 
the account of this place, it is proper to notice 
a prevailing error, into which Pallas has himself 
fallen, in his account of the Crimea '; namely. 
(I) See Trav. vol. II, p. £)7. 
