OF THE SEA OF AZOF. 
441 
bility, something of value was removed from the 
sepulchre; as will appear by the description 
hereafter given of a similar tomb, opened upon 
the Asiatic side of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Such 
vaulted sepulchres seem to render trivial the 
notions recently entertained and published re- 
specting the antiquity of arches. The tumuli in 
which such appearances have been discovered 
cannot be considered as of later date than the 
age of Alexander ; and perhaps they are much 
more antient. 
News arrived before we left Taganrog, that 
the Cossacks of the Black Sea, or, as they are 
called, Tchernomorski, inhabiting Kuban Tah- 
lary, had crossed the river Kuban with a consi- 
derable reinforcement under General Draskovitz , 
a Sclavonian officer in the Russian service, and 
had made war upon the Circassians, in order to 
be revenged for fhe injuries they had sustained 
in consequence of the continual incursions of 
that people in their territory. We had long 
been desirous to traverse the Deserts of the 
Kuban, with a view to reach the districts at the 
foot of Caucasus, and, if possible, to gratify 
our curiosity by a sight of the Circassians in 
their own country. A favourable opportunity 
seemed now to present itself; but even the 
Bon Cossacks had cautioned us against their 
CHAP. 
xv, 
1 — * — ' 
