TO THE HERACLEOTIC CHERSONESUS. 205 
Mithradates. From the appearance of staircases ^hap. 
leading also to the very caverns before men- 1 — « — 1 
tioned, it is evident that a fortress must have 
stood there ever since the excavations were 
first made, whatsoever be the date of their 
origin. Several chapels, together with the 
remains of stone sepulchres, apparently con- 
structed for the bodies of distinguished persons, 
are among these chambers, which are now 
tenanted by the Tahtars and their goats. The 
stone coffins serve as drinking-troughs for the 
cattle : the altars, once smoking with incense, 
are now filthy receptacles for dung and mud. 
Pallas, who had paid considerable attention to 
the subject, believed that all these remains, 
whether of buildings or excavated chambers, 
originated in a settlement of Ariuns ; who, when 
Christianity met with general persecution, fled 
to these rocks, and fortified themselves against 
the barbarous inhabitants ot the Peninsula. 
Similar works are found in other parts of the 
Crimea, particularly at Schulu and Mankoup ; also 
in Italy, and in other parts of Europe : and they 
have generally been attributed to the labours 
of those early Christians who fled from persecu- 
tion. The air of Inkerman is unwholesome Mephitic 
during the months of summer and autumn; and 
this may be said, in some degree, of the whole 
Peninsula. Even the natives are afflicted with 
