TO NICHOLAEF. 
315 
certain diminution, which may be proved by 
observations upon all the north-western shores: 
it is therefore natural to conclude that the 
shallows upon either side of the Isthmus have 
increased in their extent since the time when 
Strut o wrote. The following passage of Plimj 
seems also to prove that the Peninsula was once 
an island 8 : “From Carcinites begins Taurica, 
once surrounded by the sea, tvhick covered all the 
campaign part of it." The constant draining of 
the great Eastern flood at length left bare the 
vast calcareous deposit which had been accu- 
mulated beneath the waters : and this deposit 
is now visible over all those extensive plains, 
in the South of Russia, which by the Isthmus of 
Perecop are connected with the steppes of the 
Crimea. If the waters of the Black Sea were to 
be once more restored only to the level of those 
strata of marine shells which may be observed 
in all the district from the Mouths of the Dnieper 
to the Don, the Crimea would become again an 
island ; visible only, amidst an expanse of ocean,, 
by the loftier masses of calcareous rocks upon 
its southern coast. 
CHAP. 
VIII. 
Throughout the summer, Perecop s is a scene Sait Har- 
(2) Win. Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. 12. 
'•’*) Perecop is a Russian word, signifying An Entrenchment of the 
Isthmus. The Talitar name of this place is Or-Kapy, denoting The 
Gate 
