>2G FROM THE CAPITAL OF THE CRIMEA, 
chap, of the globe rise from the east, and fall towards 
/ the west. The declivities of the Crimea, and the 
precipitous sides of its mountains, are all 
opposed to the south. Perhaps a more familiar 
exposition of these geological phenomena may- 
be afforded, by saying, that the perceptible 
elevations of the Peninsula, visible even in its 
plains, resemble, by their alternate order, the 
teeth of a saw. 
Towards the south, its highest mountains are 
all broken abruptly, as if by the sinking of the 
main bed in the depths of the Black Sea. To- 
wards the north, a tertiary deposit of calcareous 
matter, filled with the remains of shells, extends 
beyond the Isthmus of Perecop, even to the 
Dnieper. Hence the exterior, or upper strata, 
of the Peninsula are proved to consist of calca- 
reous matter, of very recent formation ; and in 
this there is nothing otherwise remarkable, than 
the evidence afforded, by the remains of marine 
bodies, of the draining of a vast body of water 
from the great Plain of Tahtary ; a subject we 
shall not now further discuss. But the wonder 
is, that where mountains have attained an eleva- 
tion of above twelve hundred feet, no trace, 
either of primitive granite, or, as a leader to it, 
Gneiss, or any regular schistose deposit, should 
appear. Beneath these enormous calcareous 
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