f: MH < 111 imi mm Im ilfil I UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 1 NOTES OF A HALF-PAY IN SEARCH OF HEALTH RUSSIA, CIRCASSIA, AND THE CRIMEA. IN 1839-40. CAPTAIN JESSE UNATTACHED. 'Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." — Othello. VOL. I. JAMES MADDEN AND CO. LEADENMrALL STREET. iy4i. WiLLI AM. TYLER,' *• PRINTEK, • ^ ^. Bo£t CobilT, LONDOIf. v^ PREFACE. ^ In the military oatli administered to an officer on court martial, it is said, " You shall, well and truly, try and determine, the evidence in the matter now before you:" this I have done according to \ my conscience and the best of my ability. An t unfavourable verdict has been the result. Many ^" of the facts which I have now brought forward to illustrate my views of the present state of Russia came under my own observation. It is possible that the reader may not agree with me in the con- clusions I have drawn from tliem, but I can at least claim his confidence in their accuracy. To assert that there are no Russians, (it is not ol 2C4S73 IV PREFACE. Courlandcis, Livonians, and Finlandcrs that J speak,) whose characters would not lead to a dif- ferent estimate of the national worth, would be absurd ; there arc of coiu'se, exceptions, but every disinterested observer must admit that the mass of each class are such as I have described them. In the despotism of Russia we may look in vain for the paternal character of the Austrian. She manifests no desire to ameliorate either the moral or physical condition of her serfs, or afford them protection by a just administration of the laws. The wisdom and policy of preparing them for that great change from slavery to freedom, which sooner or later must inevitably take place, appears never to have entered into the hearts of the nobility; they debase rather than improve the mental facul- ties of their dependants, and are frequently more ready to increase than diminish the burdens, which in a barbarous age, might not right enabled their fellow-men to impose upon them. PREFACE. V The influence possessed by Russia in the coun- cils of Europe is a perfect incongruity, for though lier extent of territory is enormous, her natural resources great, her court surrounded by all the insignia of civilization, and her capital replete with all the luxuries of life, she is the lowest in the scale of those nations that have any claim or pretension to be called civilized. Evidence in support of this opinion will be found by the tra- veller at every step he takes in the country ; and if he only remains there long enough, he will very probably leave it as I did, not much disposed to speak in favourable terms of a sovereign and no- bility, who, being themselves possessed to a certain extent of the benefits arising from civilization, persist in withholding, on principle, liberty and social improvement from forty-five millions of tlicir countrymen. The excursions in Greece and the Crimea ex- cepted, my wife was my travelling companion in A "ri VI PRF.FACE. this long but intcrestinpf tour ; and her being as- sociated with so many of its incidents and recol- lections, will account lor my having used, and in remembrance carefully retained, the })lural iiumber in vai'ious parts of these Notes. I am sensible that there must be in them mucli that is open to criticism, but I shall throw myself on the good- natuiv of the reader, to whom I " Present Arms," and close my preface, trusting that my first shot, though not in the "bull's eye," may not alto- gether miss the target of an author's hopes — the approbation of the Public. W. J. Junior United Servick Ci.ub, A'of.mi'T, 1841. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. Motives for travelling — Effects of Dyspepsia — Departure for Rotter- dam — The Batavier — Musical festival at Fi-ankfort — Intcrlaken — Pass the St. Gothard — Ancona ...... 1 CHAPTER II. Corfu — Ancient bronze — Patras — Greek scenery — Approach to Athens — Bavarian justice to the Palikari — Otho and his Court — Russian influence — Sunday evening promenade — Rome and Athens — Field of Marathon . .10 CHAPTER III. A trip to the Morca — Greek caique — A galo and its effects — Greek Uiilcttc — Coriulh — Tlio Acropolis — Road to Nemca — The valley — The dcroarch — Tlio maids of Karabat — Argos — Nauplia— Road to Epidaurui — An unpleasant predicament — English hospitality . 'J4 VIM CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. II. R. H. I'riace George of Cambridge — Constantinople — The city by moonlight — The Iluiuniums of Staniboul — A party at the Sweet Waters — Evening on the Bosphorus — Leave Constantinople — (Idessa steamers — A fewale diplomato — Serpents' island . 'A9 CHAPTER V. Arrival at Odessa — Deck paascngers— Russian decency — Spoglia — Qua- rantine — ^larshal Manuont — Exeunt omncs — Dr. Biilard — Plague — Lord Byron — Hogarth realized— A Russian hotel — Polish pru- dence — An arrival ........ .53 CHAPTER VI. Departure for the Crimea — A " chin " — A Russian passport — Peter the Great — Cape Chersonesus — Yalta — Valley of "Noisettes" — Theo- dosia — Navigation of the Sea of AzofF — Russian modesty — General Riefski — A tumulus of the ancient Bosphorians — A telega — Street of tumuli — English hospitality . . . . . .71 CHAPTER VII. The Museum at Kertch — Cedar sarcophagus— Gold ornaments — Tartar tradition — The Macroccphali, or long heads of the ancients . 88 CHAPTER VIII. Governor's museum — Ancient mole— Hill of Mithridatcs — Breast- plate of a crusader — Military undress — SuwaroflF — His jewels — Russians on the Indus — Khiva expedition — Cold soup — Yalta — Pallas — Crimean yineyards — Arrival at Choreis — A verandah 107 CONTEXTS. IX CHAPTER IX. l^eave for Sevastopol — A Tartar village — The Princess S. M. — A " tartine Anglaise " — Diplomatists in a diflBculty — Alupka — Count WoronzofTs hospitality — Crimean locusts .... 122 CHAPTER X. Leave Moukalatka — The view from the heights and forest of Baidar — Naked contentment — Method of taking quails — Convent of St. George — Colonel Upton — Docks at Sevastopol — English engineers — Rus- sian soldiers on fatigue — The valley of Inkerman — References to the plan of Sevastopol — The great harbour— Military works — An anti- quarian — St. Vladimir — The camp . . . .131 CHAPTER XL Leave Sevastopol — Ascend to the ruins of Mangoup Kale — Bagtche- serai — A Tartar wedding — The bath of the harem — Gypsies — Koro- lee and Tchoufout Kale — Karaite Jewesses — A night in a Tartar house — A peep — An Indian barber — Return to Choreis . .152 CHAPTER XII. Count W 'b "jour-dc-fetc" — The Greek ritual — Prayer for the Emperor — An extraordinary scene — Collection of vines at Nikita — Crimean wines — Moscow cliampagnc — Crimean delicacies — Return to Odessa 1 (jt' CHAPTER XIII. The site of Odessa — The Sabanski granary — Streets — A si-xtli element — The fifth element — The General aground — Tlio Boulevord — Tlio CONTENTS. "cscalicr monstrc" — Tlie Diikr do Richelieu — Count Woronzoff'g house — The bntliing house — A(Hi;Uic cyninastics — Mermaids in full dress— Jelly fish 1 76 CHAPTER XIV. The Exchange — Howard's candlestick — His last illness — Death of Howard — Itinerant musicians — Lighting the town — Flies — Scarcity of water — The vodovosks — The theatre — Private theatricals — The English club — Cafe del commercio — Import trade — A Russian free port — Tlie tariff — Good news . . . 1 90 CHAPTER XV. The promenade — The magic four — The rule of contrary — A Russian footman — The national vehicle — Odessa fashionables — A medley — The limpcror's birth-day — Russian shops — The bazaar — The market basket — Rabbis and their flocks ...... "205 CHAPTER XVI. The currency — Gold and silver mines — Money coined — Money changers — Hiring a servant— Boulevard on a Saturday — Jews and other foreigners — Insurance oflBces — A Greek broker — Merchants — A sensible financier — Foreign shopkeepers — Colonists and servants — Carte de-sojour — The height of impudence .... 220 CHAPTER XVII. Tiie Countess Woronzoff "at home" — Russianwhist — A soiree in Lent CONTENTS. XI — A fancy ball — A lady •with two husbands — Climate of Odessa — The interior of a post-house in a "mitell" — The cattle in a snow- storm on the steppe — Merinos ...... 23.5 CHAPTER XVIII. The war in Circassia — Geographical position — Ancient history and manners of the Circassians — Their fidelity and friendship — Never subjugated — Rights of the Porte — Treaty of Adrianople — Trade in slaves — Russian motives for making the war — Cossacks — Za- porogues — Their independence — Consequences — Degeneracy — A Vidette 246 CHAPTER XIX. Line of the Kuban — The Kabardinns — Clear-sighted policy — The Cid of the Caucasus — Ilis eyrie — Assault of Akulko — A Russian victory — General Emmanuel — Forts on the coast of Abasia — Mala- ria — Forage parties — Scarcity of provisions — Poles in the Caucasus — A Russian emissary — The Vixen — Forts of St. Nicholas and Abvn 264 CHAPTER XX. A Ruisian bulletin — Extraordinary philanthropy — The redoubt of Wiclminoff attacked — Micliailofsky redoubt taken — An agreeable proposal — A simple soldier — Assault of the fort of Navaginsky — Aitauit of Abinsky — Russian veracity — A year's pay — Probabili- Xll CONTENTS. tics — A slight difference in the killcil and wounded — Trebizonde smugglers — The kindjal — Circassinu bravery — Kill and cure — The war unpopular — Circassian liberty — Russian tyranny — Tho Circassian's lost hope — Hassan Bey's dispatch — Brevity, modesty, and truth 277 CHAPTER I. Motives for travelling — Effects of Dyspepsia — Departure for Rotter- dam — The Batavier — Musical festival at Frankfort — Interlaken — Pass the St. Gotbard — Ancona. The good old motive for travelling — to be " tried and tutored in the world " — is not now a prevailing one. How numerous and multifarious those that have arisen with the present facilities of locomotion ! Some travel to get out of debt, others to get in ; to avoid duns ; to get into the Travellers' Club ; to kill time ; to geolo- gize or botanize ; to sketch, or fish, sometimes in troubled waters, in search of the sublime or the ridiculous ; or any other " good male or female reason ;" and, lastly, as in my case, in search of health, which had been impaired under the following circumstances : — At sixteen, I found myself at the mess table VOL. I. li ii THE AUTHOR IN CANTONMENTS. of a regiment in India. IMy brother ofRcers soon initiated me into tlieir habits, and I lost no time in adopting hot tifhns, and imbibing Hodgson's pale ale, elaret cup, bishop, sangaree, and other beverages, whicli hot winds and no end of drill rendered almost excusable. If I add to this, snipe shooting, under a meridian sun, in paddy fields, up to the knees in water, — two fevers, the cholera morbus, and a residence of some months in a cantonment several feet below the level of an adjoining river, where the frogs in the barrack- square were constantly hopping through the jil- mills* into our bedrooms, I think few of my read- ers (if I have the luck to have any) will deny that I have enumerated causes more than suffi- cient to send me home, six years after, a confirmed dyspeptic. For six years more, spent chiefly in the monotony of country quarters, I suffered tor- ments in mind and body, of which an extract from my diary of symptoms will give but a faint idea. January loth, 1838. — Last night, horrible dreams, and violent starts. In the morning, mouth parched, tightness iii the head, singing in • Venetians. EFFECTS OF DYSPEPSIA. the ears, eyes yellow and filmy, pains in the back, pulse 50, no appetite ; took fifteen drops of the muriated tincture of steel to create one, without effect ; nerves and spirits gone ! ! ! Such a state of body and mind had, fortunately, many ludicrous as well as melancholy conse- quences. One night, on the barrack-guard at C , I had, from sheer exhaustion, laid down on the stretcher, and fallen into one of those lethargic slumbers so common to my class of dyspeptics, wlien I was roused by the corporal bawling close to my ear, " Grand rounds are waiting, Sir!" Her Majesty's dip, wasted in a socket which allowed it to lean very gracefully on one side, was on the eve of expiring : I sprung to the table, where I had laid my shako and sword, and placed the former on my head. Grasping something in my hand, which I supposed to be the latter, I rushed to the front of my guard, and by the light of a very lovely moon, most provokingly full, saluted the field officer with presented arms, brandishing, with all the increased zeal of one caught na])ping — my sword ? No such thing — my violin ! 'I'lie 4 DKrAUTURK FOU ROTTERDAM. Major, a good-natured person, was, liowever, moon-blind on tliis occasion. Dismissing the guard, I retired to my room, amidst a suppressed titter from tlie men, a circumstance I was on the point of noticing, when, for the first time, I found myself, to my horror and consternation, grasping a favourite Amati instead of my regimental spit ! To exist under a continuance of all my suffer- ings, much less recover from them, I thought fairly impossible, but I lived to be agreeably sur- prised. In this state, I occasionally fell into the hands of a country apothecarj', living, unlike poor PufT, not on his own, but his patients' dropsy. Had I settled in the neighbourhood of one of these gentlemen, I should verily have been a good annuity to him, pro^^ded he could have kept me alive. At last, I consulted a London physician, whose work on change of air and climate attracted my attention. My story, a long list of the various aches, pains, and ills, real or imaginary, " wliich flesh is heir to," was cut short in these words, " My good Sir, * throw physic to the dogs,' and amuse yourself by travelling." His certificate enabled me to retire ; so, after laying in a stock THE BATAVIER. 5 at Herries's, I went to Leadenhall-street, and, procuring a passport of May, called in the aid of Mercury, (not he of Apothecaries' Hall,) in June, and started in the Batavier, for Rotterdam. Of the many steamers, ships, and tubs I had rolled in, this vessel struck me as being decidedly the most uncomfortable. She was dirty, and redolent of stinks; schnappes, bad tobacco, and bilge-water, being the prevailing odours. The roundliouse, or upper cabin on the deck, appeared remarkably well constructed for preventing the free circulation of air below ; but amongst her numerous deficiencies, she had one good qualifica- tion, the principal one — she was safe. The cabins, quite full, presented the usual routine attending persons undergoing, for pleasure, all the horrors of sea-sickness, from the serio-qualmish face to the stomach in brisk action, or a state of syncope or lethargic sleep. After leaving the Nore, the noise in the ladies' cabin became terrific, twenty, at least, calling for the stewardess at once. Three French ladies' maids were vowing candles to tlie Virgin, and the door intended to admit air (every thing being hermetically closed above) was beset (J MUSICAL FESTIViVL AT FRAN'KIOUT. by solicitous husbands making tender inquiries for th(.ir wives, steamboat etiquette not permit- ting their entrance into this Elysium. My observ- ations, however, were soon brought to a close ; no sound, much less a dyspeptic stomach, covild have stood the increasing motion, and, finding myself sensibly affected by the good examples before me, I retired to five feet by two, in the main cabin, and awoke off the Brill. Our progress up the Rhine was retarded by drawing a halt at each of the principal towns on its banks; and at each I lost a dyspeptic symptom. From Manheim we visited Heidelburg; and at Frankfort, to which we turned from Mayence, had the good fortune to arrive just in time for a grand musical festival, in commemoration of Mozart. Six hundred voices, the elite of Germany, and forty wind instruments, with the organ of St. Catherine's, poured forth, in a paraphrased psalm of Spohr's, a stream of harmony so melodious and touching, that the eyes of many around us were moistened with tears. Our route continued ina Strasburg, Friburg, Basle, Soleure, and Berne to Thun, and taking INTERLAKEN. 7 up our quarters at the village inn of Oberhofen, about a league from the latter place, we made from there our excursions to the Oberland. I selected this beautiful and retired spot for our temporary residence in preference to Interlaken, which is considered unhealthy by the Swiss medical men ; the air there is hot and damp, and struck me as being more favourable to the rearing of Orchidei, than the cure of my complaint. We were also glad to avoid the Smiths, Simpkinses, Jen- kinses, foreign ladies' maids, and English grooms, and gentlemen in brown holland blouses with long poles and green goggles, who crowded every street and lodging-house in the place. Some of them evidently of the Pickwickian school, having laid aside their specs and substituted a butterfly net for their ice poles, were occasionally to be seen careering over the green turf in eager pursuit of an insect, from which they had frequently turned in their own gardens with the greatest indiller- ence and contempt ; but which was now to be added to a collection to be shown to their friends on their return, as the result of their persevering labours in entomological rescarcli. 1 .soon found f^ PASS THE ST. GOTIIAUD. that the clinuitc of Switzerland was a great deal too variable for me ; we therefore hurried over the picturesque, and leaving our hostess of the Black Bear with many regrets, took tlie road to Lucerne, scaled the St. Gothard, and slipping down on the other side without a drag, entered the more genial clime of Italy by the valley of Ticino. The classical associations, the numerous splendid gal- leries, churches, and monuments of ancient and modern art at Milan, Bologna, Florence, and Rome, and the novelty of scenery, manners, and language diverted my thoughts from my old miseries, and in the following spring, " Richard was himself again." Up to this point of my jour- ney I make no remarks, so much has been well said and well written on such well-beaten ground. Being in possession of health and spirits, we now meditated lengthening our tour, and meeting some Russians at Rome who described the south of their country as a paradise, and the whole as well worth visiting, we resolved on continuing our journey through the Levant and the Crimea, and returning to England by the northern capitals. Leaving Naples for a future opportunity, we ANCONA. 9 took our road to Ancona, by the far-famed shrine of Loretto, wliich still has its devotees and pil- grims. The inn at Ancona, the " Pace," is ex- cellent, and finding ourselves in such good quar- ters, we remained a month to rest ourselves from the fatigues of lionizing the eternal city. Our stay was rendered more agreeable by the kind attentions of G. Moore, Esq., the English vice- consul. Trajan's arch excepted, the only objects that attracted our observation, were the immense frogs, and the profusion of violets which covered the banks of every lane in the environs of the town. In May we embarked for Corfu by the Austrian steamer. The passage was much en- livened by the sociable and friendly disposition of two of the garrison returning from leave ; and their kindness and attention to us during the fort- night we remained in the island conduced greatly to our pleasure. B .'i CHAPTER 11. Corfu — Ancient bronze — Patra? — Greek scenery — Appioach to Athens — Bavarian justice to the Palikaii — Otho and liis Court — Russian influence — Sunday evening promenade — Rome and Alliens — Field of Marathon. In the hospitable invitations given to us by the " Lord High," we had an opportunity of seeing a relic of antiquity, which very justly formed a con- spicuous ornament on one of the tables in the dramng-room at the palace. It had been fished up about two years before by the Ionian steamer, which was in the habit of trawhng over and near the spot where the battle of Actium was fought. This valuable antique, the bronze beak of a galley, is two feet in length ; the point, about eight inches long, represents the half-length figure of a soldier in his cuirass ; the features are youth- ful, and admirably moulded, and though it has been immersed for ages in the briny deep, this CORFU. \ [ interesting specimen of Roman art is in a high state of preservation. The holes for the admission of the rivets that fastened it to the prow of the galley are plainly to be seen at the lower end; it is slightly encrusted with marine formations. The beak, and a few vases, are the only objects that have been brought up by the trawl. The bells of Corfu reminded me of "la ville sonnante," and the cocks crowed as incessantly as they rang. This beautiful island, and the gay, courteous, and hospitable inmates of the citadel, amongst whom I found some old friends, were left with many regrets. The day of our departure was a lovely one, the sea breeze moderated the mid-day heat, and enabled us to enjoy the splen- did scenery of the Albanian coast, of which Parga was one of the brightest ornaments. The cliffs of the little island of Paxo brouglit those of Dover to our minds. Cape Leucadia was in sight during the early part of the night ; its dark outline clearly defined against the sky. I was too tired to dream of the lady, and awoke next morning in Patras roads. The town, like most of very recent date, is laid out with too much regularity to be picturesque; ]0 PATH AS AND CASTLE. the principal streets are wide and at right angles, but in wretched order ; the houses are of a humble character. Trade appeared to be brisk, but the manufactured articles exposed in the shops were of a very ordinary description. As the steamer was to remain here some hours, we landed, and in spite of the oppressive heat, commenced our as- cent to the castle, which crowns the hill above the town ; the ground, for several hundred yards in front of it, was covered with a bright yellow flower like the marigold. The interior of the fort is fast going to decay, the walls in many places have fallen in, and are covered with rank vege- tation. Not a creature was to be seen about the place, when on turning an angle of the rampart, on our way to the higliest bastion, to perpetrate a sketch, we came full upon a blue Ajax, at the charge, who signified in modern Greek, and by suiting the action to the word, that our walk must terminate at the point of his bayonet. My alpha and omega, and all between, were, with French and Italian, useless, and Romaic was beyond my ken. In despair I pulled out a visiting card, which to my great surprise he took, and disap- GREEK SCENERY. |3 pearing for a moment, returned and led us into a dark and dirty bomb-proof guard-house, where he presented us to the "Commandant" of the fort, in i-ank a corporal ; he was sitting cross-legged on his great coat with all the dignity of a pacha. King Otho's deputy granted our request, and ac- companied us on our stroll. The view from the Cavalier repaid us for a very fatiguing walk ; the castles on either side which marked the entrance to the Gulf of Lepanto, w ere backed by a noble range of hills, with Parnassus in the distance, and the islands of Ithaca and Cephalonia to the left, with Missolonghi and its soul-stirring reminiscences to the front, formed with the town and shipping in the roads, a splendid introduction to Greek sce- nery. It blew ** a favouring gale " as we left the bay, and steam in addition, soon carried us round Cape Cologria. I stole out very early from my berth to get a glimpse of Navarino, and returned to it musing on that " untoward event." The fare on board this Austrian steamer was excellent, and our Kagusan skipper, a merry fellow, con- tributed much to our amusement. Nothing could exceed tiie loveliness of tin-- evening, the air ] j ArrnoAiii to atiiens. though soft, was clastic, and as we passed under the bold headland of St. Angelo, which threw its dark shadow far over the water, the sun sunk " in one unclouded blaze of living light " behind the hills of Sparta. With Athens so near, our slumbers were light, and rising before day-break, we were amply repaid for such an unusual pro- ceeding by the glorious scene that opened upon us as we approached the Piraeus. That luminary which had gone down with so much majesty on the preceding evening, gradually re-appeared above Hymettus, gilding first the Parthenon, as if in homage of its beauty ; his rays rapidly dis- persed the wreaths of mist which hung around it, and left the chaste and noble ruin " looking tran- quillity." Our fellow passengers, a motley as- semblage, soon made their appearance on the deck, and overwhelmed us with their historical quotations and allusions. The heroes of ancient Greece, and the scenes of their triumphs, were named with a volubility truly surprising ; it was a kind of classical file-firing ; but not a word was said in praise of the gallant Miaulis, whose resting-place lay full iji view, unhonoured ATHENIAN "JARVIES." |5 by a tomb, and tlic very spot itself only saved from oblivion by the bounty of a noble female, a foreigner. These reflections were interrupted by the Health officer, who went through the usual forms, and the luggage having been well searched, we were soon making our way through clouds of dust to Athens. Our coachman, like a tailor, sat cross- legged on the box, with the slack of his enormous blue breeches gathered well to the front. About half-way, we found the road stopped up by a number of carts and hack carriages, and on in- quiring the reason, I found that the hut by the road-side was the house of call and Tom and Jerry shop of the Athenian "jarvies," for even in Attica they must whet their whistles, not with porter, but a composition of sour grapes, rosin, and water. Having, with some difficulty, made them clear the way, we arrived at our hotel, the Reine d'Angleterre, kept by a Madame Casali, one of the " vivandiere " tribe ; her husband, not her better half, for they arc both equally bud and consummate rogues, is landlord of the Royal. This rascal, on one occasion, happened to have an ](; n.WARlAN JUSTICE English nobleman staying in his house, and it was not until after his departure that lie was made acquainted with his rank: "Ah," observed the Signer, " si j'aurai su que e'etait lui Milord, je lui aurai fait payer cent drachmes ; mais comme je ne le savais pas, je lui ai fait payer seulement cin- quante ! " Finding every thing dirty in this vil- lanous hotel, I got into private lodgings. During my six weeks' residence in Athens, 1 soon found that the gallant survivors of that con- test which again made Greece a nation, were not only neglected, but treated with contumely and injustice. To be a Greek, appeared the worst recommend- ation for advancement; and few Greek officers held any important command. Almost all the best appointments were held by Bavarians, to the exclusion even of those who served through the war ; and of others who, though not person- ally engaged, freely sacrificed their property in supplying the necessities of the troops. On the arrival of Otho in Greece, to take possession of a throne which these men had w'on for him, their various claims were submitted to a military com- TO THE PALIKARI. 17 mission, the members of which had been eye-wit- nesses of their services. Many of the claimants were, in consequence, admitted into the Grecian Phalanx, the absolute qualification for this honour being, services performed in the field during the war ; and yet, in defiance of this regulation, two hundred Bavarians, who had never seen a shot fired, were drafted into the corps, which has extra pay, and other privileges attached to it. In nu- merous instances, the recommendations made by tlie commission have met with no attention ; and several of the most distinguished officers are living in the greatest poverty and obscurity. Their arrears of pay have never been liquidated, and tliey drag on a miserable existence at Athens, under the surveillance of the police, in fruitless endeavours to obtain their rights. A few acres of the national lands, called " crown lands," by the Bavarian party, have been occasionally offered to them in lieu of a half-pay, which they never re- ceive ; but these acres are of no use to men with- out capital. A Bavarian corporal, however, who has only served two years in Greece, called by them a campaign, is presented with all the "materiel" IJ^ KING OTIIO AND HIS COURT. (jf a farm. Greece is, in fact, little more than a Bavarian colony. The higher functionaries hoard up their salaries, with a view of returning to Munich as soon as possible. There is no society : the king has dinner parties about half-a-dozen times in the year, to which the ladies of the am- bassadors are rarely, if ever, invited ; and the minister of war lives in one room ! If, by some extraordinary accident, a ball is given at the palace, there are no refreshments ; and the pretty, but inconsiderate queen enlarges the circle of the waltzers, of whom she is always one, by treading, sans ceremonie, on the toes of her guests ; many of them, more accustomed to the camp than the ball-room, having, in their eagerness to see the fun, crowded too much upon the dancers. Otho, with an income of £20,000 a year, is building a palace which will cost more than £ 100,000, and his original intention was to build it of Pentelic marble ! at a time when there were only two roads in his dominions. I was at Athens on his birthday, and accompanied the band, which on that night played up and down the principal street ; it was in utter darkness. His capital- THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 19 displayed two transparencies on this occasion, one being at the Munich hotel ! Otho, educated for the cloister, and the scarlet hat, is, indeed, what ^Ir. GifFard happily describes a King of Greece to be, a " political false quantity." He is, in truth, Kttle -else but a crowned stipendiary of the Russian system of intrigue in the Levant. One of their engines here is the church attached to their embassy : the choristers are Russians, and numerous. The service is performed with a splen- dour far exceeding that of any church at Athens ; and no expense is spared in other ways to bring the Greeks into the interest of Russia by means of the religion common to both countries. But the Palikari, though poor, are not disposed to barter their hard-earned freedom for Russian gold ; and should that constitution, so long promised them, be still withheld, there can be but little doubt that they will demand it, and in such a manner as to ensure compliance. The best time to see the population of the capital is on a Sunday evening, when they assemble near the Foreign Oflice to hear the band, which has, with justice, tlie reputation d, and on entering the apartment, found, to my great sur- prise, not only the Doctor, but the Director of the establishment, his clerk, and several soldiers. I ventured to object to this public display of my person, but was informed tliat such was the regu- lation, and the Director, (the only person who could speak any language but Russian,) being a Greek, and of the Lower Empire, I knew there was no hope. I therefore submitted, and having delivered over my watch, money, pencil-case, and every other article about me, had the satisfac- tion of seeing them (with the exception of the former) placed in a solution of chloride of lime. I then ^JceZef/, and awaited the son of Galen's decision. His order first to elevate one arm, and then the other, led me to suppose the good man was going to put me through the " extension motions ;" but I found it was only to observe whether I had that infallible indication of plague, swellings under the arms : during the whole of this time, my feet were kept cool and comfortable in a pool of the solution, which had fallen from the SPOGLIA. 57 table. Having passed muster, the few articles of clothing I had received from the town were hurried on, and as it rained in torrents, I remained in the adjoining room. My meditations on the ceremony I had just passed through were interrupted by the entrance of a naked Tartar, of hideous aspect ; his deformed person was covered with burns and scars, and his whole appearance more like Quasimodo's, than any being, real or imaginary, I ever heard or read of. I immediately recognized him as one of the passengers I had observed hunting on the deck ; and this circumstance, coupled with the certainty of his being accompanied by forty Tartars, Jews, and Russians, all, more or less, as hideous, and dirty as himself, gave me the wings of Mercury, and in spite of the storm which raged without, and my tliin slippers, I met it as unconcerned as Lear. Before doing so, I had time to observe that even this uncinlized being had a greater sense of mo- desty than the official persons who conducted the spoglia ; for, finding some one in the room when he entered, he rushed into a corner, and huddled iiimself up ill it, evidently distressed at his situ- ation. The rooms first assigned to us were simi- D .3 58 QUARANTIXE. lar to those 1 had Icl't, and the Director informed me that the other passengers being Russian sub- jects, and employes of the Government, they must of course have tlie first clioicc. Seeing, there- fore, there was no hope of accommodation from him, and learning that a lady who had six rooms, only occupied four, I made a fight for the other two, and obtained them at the rate of fifty-four roubles for the fortnight. The quarters we were now in formed a part oi the house which Lord Durham occupied when on his way to St. Petersburg!! ; they looked on a dead wall six feet from the windows, which were covered by a strong iron wire net work, and the outer walls had doors at intervals which corres- ponded with those of each apartment. Through the gratings of these doors we gave our orders for dinner to the traiteur, or conversed with those persons who came to see us. We were completely imprisoned in our rooms on this side, as we could not even cross the space between our windows and the walls. In the front of the house was a small court enclosed on each side by another high wall, having a double row of open palisades in front, so QUARANTINE. 59 that we were equally close prisoners here. The court was ornamented by a few acacias, under which we used to sit of an evening, watching the vessels, many of them English, either entering or leaving the harbour, and thus beguile a few hours of these weary days. From here, we also saw the new arrivals enter tliis purgatory. Our annoyances were not a few ; the first being a delay in receiving our luggage. By the regula- tions of the establishment, our trunks should have been returned in twenty-hours, but sixty-three elapsed before we received a single article. This was explained by their having fumigated all the other baggage before ours. Even the servants had received theirs, and I referred to Marshal Mar- mont's work, and admired with him, the good, just, and equal manner in which the executive of this estabhslunent was carried on. Remonstrance was impossible, for we saw no one but our guards, two good-natured stupid fellows covered ^sith orders, who only understood Russ, and who did nothing but bring in our dinners, li^ht the somovar, drink as much votka as they could get, and keep us locked up. But mir principal misery (50 MAHSIIAL MAUMONT. was the impossibility of getting rest, for bugs in- fested the furniture. I went from the bedstead to each article — sofa, tables, and chairs in succes- sion, until I reached the floor, but they swarmed everywhere, and each night " did murder sleep." I caught one hundred and eighty during my stay, all of them evidently in good case, and I had again to refer to Marshal Marmont's work, and admire with him the extreme cleanliness of the establishment. The house for fumigating the luggage was a short distance from us. The room in which this takes place is large enough to contain a portion of each person's, but the system was bad, the num- ber of men employed insufficient, and a want of activity was evinced in the late hours that were kept, for no one was stirring before 10 o'clock ; when the director was seen, a rare occurrence, he appeared to flit by us like a jack o' lantern. The men employed in the fumigation department were dressed in suits of coarse leather, and gloves of the same. Their dexterity in opening trunks and finding out secret drawers was quite amus- ing. The Bramah locks opened as if by magic ; and Mr. Chubb would here have lost his premium. EXEUNT OMNES. g| Such was the severity of the searcli, and the ex- tent to which it was carried, that hair in rings, brooches, and lockets, was taken out, and the lin- ings of dressing cases, as well as the carriage cushions ripped open. Every article of metal as well as silk that was submitted to the action of the chloride was injured, and several of my antique lamps in terra cotta were broken. The traiteur, an old Italian, was the only decent fellow about the place, and supplied us with linen and bedding, for the rooms were entirely w-ithout either : his wines were very fair and charges moderate. The revenues of the establishment must be great, for even the situation of restaurateur is farmed, and besides the charge for the rooms, there was one rouble a day to pay for \\\e guardiani. Six months' rent at the rate we paid for our two rooms would have built the house. The day of our release, the fourteenth of our imprisonment, at length arrived ; and after cutting a few capers, and striking ourselves under tlie arms to assure tlie doctor we were " sound wind and limb," he touk his leave. A JiUtheran priest tlieii made iiis appearance, aiul iii;ide us take an QO DU. HI' LARD. oath that we had concealed nothing; the Bible nd cross were placed within a grille of iron wire, and this at the moment we had been declared fit to be let loose upon society I never saw a door open with such satisfaction as ours. Quarantine, a disagreeable thing at all times, was rendered perfectly disgusting by the manner in which the spoglia was conducted, the vermin, and the disobliging conduct of the director, who was a regular " vaurien." Count Woronzoff was absent, and the disorder which reigned every- where was in some measure accounted for.* * On his return, I went over the establishment \\-ith Lord F. The head of the department, Prince G., accompanied us, and every thing having been thoroughly i)ut in order for the Count's inspection, it had quite a different aspect. Before I left Odessa, there was some talk about changing the system of quarantine, and Dr. Bulard, famous for his experiments on plague, was engaged by the Russian government to direct the proposed measures. The disinfecting agent employed by this gentleman is heat. His long experience in the hospitals of Cairo, Alexandria, Smyrna, and Constantinople, gives great weight to his opinions ; and should the result of the inquiries and investigations he is about to establish be equal to his ex- pectations, commerce ^vill be greatly benefited by it. His great object, however, is to induce the Russian government to call the attention of every country in Europe to the subject ; DR. BULARD. Q^ An acquaintance cleared our things at the Custom-house ; his rank of General acted like magic. The only articles retained, for we had nothing but our personal baggage with us, were some books. These were returned a few days after, with the exception of Byron's Works, and a " History of the miraculous arrival of the Santa Casa at Loretto," which were forwarded to St. Petersburgh. The Byron was sent to me after I left the country ; the latter I never recovered. This author's Works are prohibited in Russia, not from any disinclination to read the amours of Don Juan, for books of the most licentious cha- and by forming a comniittee of medical men from each, and giving them every means of arriving at some definite conclu- sion on the point, by instituting a series of experiments in some places where the plague is prevalent, to render a lasting benefit to the human race. The indefatigable zeal displayed by Dr. Bulard, and the devoted manner in which he perilled his life to attain a knowledge of his subject, by inoculating himself with the plague virus, and actually living with and nursing the sufferers in the hospitals, entitle him to the high- est rank amongst the philanthropists of this or any other age. But in Russia, intrigue is so rife amongst those who have the power to further his noble purpose, that it is much to be feared he will not be able to overconu' the obstructions which have already been thrown in his way. (J4 J.oiu) j;vH()\. ractcr arc allowed to pass by the censor without difficulty ; but because of the noble poet's censure of the empress in the lines commencing, " And Catlicriiic, who loved all things save her lord." Canto JX., Don Juan. The entrance to the town was exceedingly busy, the road to the port being crowded with bullock carts, filled with grain, on their way to the shipping; when trade is brisk and the exports considerable, a line of them four deep frequently extends from Catherine Street to the quay, a distance of two vcrsts. Each ti'ain of carts was headed by a broker, and the row that cnsiacd at the bottom of the hill, near the custom-house, when a stoppage took place, was tremendous. Every curse, in nearly every language under the sun, was put in request, and with the roars of the bullocks, the creaking, nay almost screeching of the wheels, and concussion of the carts, formed a strange species of harmony ; Hogarth, had he heard them, would have had a fine addition to the catalogue of yWe sounds with which he treated his enraged musician. Droskies were hurrying to and fro at a racing pace, and every one appeared HOGARTH REALIZED. g5 to be taking time by the forelock, the commercial business of tlie quarantine terminating at an early hour. The road to the great square was abomi- nably bad, fit only for persons with torpid livers ; when the pavement was laid down, it might have been good, but now it was no better than that of Pera or Stamboul. Rooms had been taken for us at the Hotel de la Nouvolle Russie, and the person to whose hospitality and kindness we had been recommended by our Russian acquaint- ance at Rome, thinking perhaps to pay us a compliment and keep up his own importance, ordered them for a *' Milord Anglais," an honour for which wc paid dearly the next morning. AVhen shown to our beds, we found they had no sheets on them, and it was with the greatest dif- ficulty that we obtained one for each bed, the " fille de charabre," a man, insisting that one was a pair ; but this discomfort was of little con- sequence, for we found that tlie enemy had already taken possession. Tlie rooms were about six feet across, and devoid of" all appliances to cleanliness and comfort, and the attendance, as well as the " cuisine," was infamous. Disgusted (j(J A RUSSIAN HOTEL. with the liousi', and every one, and every thing in it, 1 sallied forth in the morning to forage for myself, and found better apartments, more cleanly and reasonable, at the Hotel of St. Petersburg, which had also the advantage of being on the Boulevai'd, facing the sea. Here we settled our- selves for three months, and one or two squabbles excepted, got on pretty well with our landlord ; he was a Greek, but fortunately spoke both French and Italian. Our great difficulty was to make him keep our beds free from intruders on our rest : this he angrily and contemptuously called " ca- prizj Inglesi." Here, as at the Nouvelle Russie, we found thei'c was no regular attendance, every one being expected to bring his own servants and linen. Though imposing on the outside, these caravanserais are generally wretched and dirty xWthin ; they are merely large lodging houses, divided into sets of apartments, to many of which a small kitchen is attached. Not an atom of carpet or matting is to be seen, and the only furniture, bedsteads, chairs, and tables, are of a very inferior description. We did not become in any degree comfortable, until we had purchased linen, and A RUSSIAN" HOTEL. g7 hired a German servant who spoke Russian. The galleries which run at the Lack of the apart- ments of each lloor, and from which they are entered, were generally crowded with dirty un- shared domestics in their shirts or sheep skins, according to the season, occasionally employed in lighting that useful article a somovar, but more often seated on the floor playing with cards as dirty as themselves : as they usually sleep on the floor of the anti-room with the door closed, the odours in the morning are not very agreeable.* The traiteur of the hotel is totally unconnected with the landlord, and those persons who are provided with their own cook and kitchen utensils seldom have recourse to him. We re- gretted that we had not ours, as the cookery was a villanous compound of that of every Euro- • As the somovar is alluded to more tlian once, it may be as well to explain, that it is a very useful and convenient tea urn, heated by a small charcoal fire at the bottom of a cy- linder, in which, in an English one, the heater would be placed. The only care required in using it, is to have the charcoal burnt thoroughly clear before it is brought into the rwjm, and of course never to allow the fire to remain burning after the water is consumed. Pj^ roi.isii I'lunr.NTK. peaii nation. It will be seen IVoni this, that Russian hotels, of which those in Odessa are fair specimens, are on a wry diflercnt footing from those of other countries ; and in fact arc suited only to the iidiahitants, or those conversant with Russian customs and manners : to the civilized world, they must be an abomination. Our hotel wjis full of Poles, come to sell their corn; many of them gamble away the money they receive, and though they enter the town in a carriage and eight, return to their estates in Podolia in a telega and pair.* Ladies, also proprietors, come here to sell their corn, and return to their chateaus, laden with millinery of the last Parisian fashion, from the shops of Madame Guerin and an Italian Signora her rival. In order to secure their purchases from seizure by the custom house officers, (at the barrier,) they display them for a few^ evenings on the Boulevard. A great number of Russians come here for sea bathing, and a fresh arrival at our hotel always afforded us plenty of amuse- ment. The porter's bell was the signal for a • A cotnnion Post-cart. AX AURIVAL. (39 general rush to the gallery that overlooked the court. The ponderous vehicle of the new comers had scarcely entered the " porte cochere," before it was surrounded by the landlord and his sa- tellites ; the Jew commissionaire in his long black caftan, hessian boots, and skull cup, being the most conspicuous figure of the party. Judging by the number of ropes on tlie springs, wheels, and pole, the carriage had broken down at least a dozen times on the road. It was generally crowded inside and out, the box being occu- pied by a serf, doing duty as a John, who though more often in a blue cotton caftan and low hat, was frequently in a striped shirt without one, and his face so covered witli dust, perspiration, and long hair, that it was diliicult to distinguish any of liis features. On the footboard sat the gold- en-haired Phaeton with four in hand and all abreast, his seat being rendered somewhat more secure by the legs of his companion, which were spread out behind him on each side like an inverted V. The leaders ridden by an urchin on the oR' side, had traces so admirably contrived in point oi length that they gave them every opportunity of turning 70 AX AlUUVAl.. round to talk to the wheelers, not an unfre- quent occurrence. But the tum-out of the in- terior was infinitely more amusing; sometimes tlie gentleman made his appearance in a sky blue surtout, with fur trimmings, cossack trowsers, yellow or red morocco slippers, a travelling cap embroidered with gold or silver, and his breast covered with orders. He was often followed by two or three ladies in dressing gowns, children in night caps, the nurse and a pin-sticker, dogs, par- rots, bon-bons, pillows, bandboxes, bundles, a half-finished bottle of wine and a black loaf, cocked hat and sword, and last, though not least, a * * * * * but no wash-hand basin ; the unmentionable article not concealed, or any attempt made to smuggle it into the house unperceived, l)ut tout honjiement taken out au naturel by the mujiky* wlio had descended from the box, and set down by the steps, while he handed out the ladies. The kibitka f which followed in the rear, brought up the bedding, a few trunks, stew-pans, and frying pans, a basket of prog, the somovar, and a bag of charcoal I ! • A serf. \ A light wagon. CHAPTER VI. Departure for the Crimea — A " chin " — A Russian passport — Peter the Great — Cape Chcrsonesus — Yalta — Valley of "Noisettes" — Tbeo- dosia — Navigation of the Sea of AzoflF — Russian modesty — General Riefski — A tumulus of the ancient Bosphorians — A telega — Street of tumuli — English hospitality. It took us scarcely a fortnight to discover that we had been completely deceived by the description our Russian acquaintances at Rome had given us of Odessa, and I found that the only object or rea- son any one could possibly have in coming to it, would be either on business, in his road to Moscow, or as a point from wliicli to make an excursion to the Crimea; I prepared, therefore, for this journey, and commenced my experience in the vexatious proceedings of a Russian public office, in the difficulty of procuring a jjassport. The formalities were so great, that about a score of signatures were necessary. The circumstance of being a liritish officer, which my Russian friends liad led me to suppose would smooth every obstacle, rendered me an object of sus- picion, and not unfrcqucntly of aversion to the Jacks in office ; it took me three days to ob- tain this document, though I paid pretty well for it. I saw enough on this occasion to warn me never to expect civility, attention, or good- nature from the officials of government, unless I was under the immediate protection of some person of high rank or influence, or could pay enormously. Being wliolly unconnected with Russians, officially, commercially, or in any other way, I found that mere letters of intro- duction were of little use, and my jDrofession carried no influence with it, excepting with the poor mujiks. The English gentleman, "a chin"* unknown in tliis country, except to a few per- sons educated in England, or by Englishmen, had no value, and elicited none of that considera- tion which it generally meets with in other parts of the Continent. This would not have sur- • Rank. PASSPORT. Y3 prised me, had I not been made to believe by Russians, that an Englishman would always be treated with peculiar attention in Russia ; but I never found the same reciprocity of feeling that exists between us, our Gallic neighbours, and other foreigners. To return to my passport : on my arrival at the barrier, on the quay of the Pratique Port, the morning of my departure, I had the pleasure of finding that the twenty sig- natures I had procured with so much pains, were insufficient, and I was obliged to return to the chancellerie of the Military Governor for more. This rather surprised me, having shown it to a noble acquaintance who assured me it was all right ; but nobles in Russia require no passport — thence the eri'or. Frenchmen are particularly obnoxious, especially if they have no commercial object in view, or cannot give very good reasons for visiting Russia, I knew one who arrived at Odessa during my stay, that was obliged to get a merchant to give security before he was allowed to proceed into the interior, because the object of his travelling in Russia, as stated in Ills pass- port, was, that he was journeying for Ills " agre- VOL. I. E ^4 PETER TllK GltF.AT. mcnt." Relurnin^f to tlic Port, the " Imperial iisliiiiL;-ro(l," as Mr. Murray calls it in the Hand Book, was raised, and jumping on board Peter the Great, we left our moorings under a shower of oaths from the captain, an Englishman, whose patience was sufficiently put to the test by just then discovering that one of the governor's em- ployes who was going, was not yet on board, and that lie would consequently have to lay-to. The gentleman, however, soon made his appear- ance on a drosky, driving at a most furious pace, his grey military cloak blown out behind him, like a balloon, and he arrived in clouds of dust. This packet leaves for the Crimea once a fortnight, and though small, is an excellent sea-boat; her engines are fully equal to her size. She was brought from England by her present captain a few years ago : he was a thorough-bred seaman, and evidently a general favourite. Amongst my fellow-passengers were a Frenchman of the Rus- sian engineers, a talking " landed proprietor," (as he termed himself,) going to visit a brace of acres of Nineyard in the Crimea, a leash of Poles, the great Potemkin of tlie Quarantine, and a CAPE CHERSONESUS. Prince and Princess G. : the latter laid upon mattresses on the deck, apparently in the last stage of consumption. Poor creature ! yoimg and lovely she had left five children at Odessa, and was vainly seeking in change of air a re- covery, to others evidently hopeless. A friend in attendance watched over her with all the solicitude of a sister ; the Prince, her husband, a huge piece of humanity, looked little calculated to play the nurse. The passage was fine, and my companions, with the exception of Potemkin, agreeable : he soon, however, retired to his proper place in the waist, and beguiled himself in the intellectual occupa- tion of whistling up a wind, happily for us with- out success, for we had a calm the whole way. Our first view of the coast was near Cape Cher- sonesus, which has a lighthouse on it, and shortly after, with the assistance of a glass, I made out the Convent of St. George, and the promontory on which the Temple, of which Iphigeniu was priestess, and where strangers wrecked on the coast are said to have been sacrificed, was sit- uated. The classical recollections to which this e2 Y6 YALTA gave rise, formed an interesting topic of conver- sation, and one of the young Poles, fresh from the university, gave us cjuotations from Ovid, not by the foot, but the yard. 'J'he ranges of liills wliich commence here, con- tinue all along the coast, as far as Theodosia, but whether they are primary, secondary, or tertiary, I cannot pretend to say ; they are very picturesque. The Peter now ran close in shore, and when within about twenty miles of Yalta, the slope formed by these mountains towards the sea was covered with Tartar villages, vineyards, and country seats. The mountains, though crowned with forests, are in some places so pre- cipitous that they are devoid of trees, or any vegetation ; their grey and broken masses con- trast powerfully with the cultivation at their base, and appear ready to overwhelm the villages be- neath. The splendid chateau of Count WoronzofT, the Governor General of New Russia, was the last object of attraction before we entered the bay of Yalta ; its oriental to\vers were in good keeping with the adjacent mosque. Yalta is VALLEY OF NOISETTES. 77 open to every wind but the north, and no vessels come here, excepting now and then a solitary- coaster, bringing a few sacks of flour for con- sumption on the spot. The wharf built here some time before I visited the place, was so badly constructed, that a north-east gale des- troyed it in one night : we landed on the " debris " by a plank. Six years ago, this village, mis- named a town, did not exist; the situation is pretty ; the inn, kept by a German, though small and dear, is better than those of Odessa, and the beds are actually provided with blankets and sheets. There is also a German apothecary and one shop ! Accompanied by the French colonel, I was soon en route up the valley, called that of " Noisettes," which, as well as walnuts, grow in great luxuriance ; for about seven shillings I obtained fifteen okes (nearly thirty-seven pounds English) of the filberts. A clear stream flows tlirough this beautiful valley from the moun- tains in the back-ground, whicli here recede from the shore, and on our return we added a fine trout to our purchase ; he was in good condition, uiul weighed at least two pounds ; wo 78 THEOnoSIA. paid our devoirs to liim on board, and found him an excellent fish, though not saumonnee. I was sorry to lind a fishing-rod useless, but the stream was overgrown with trees, and the water low ; this fish was taken by tickling. The great charm of Yalta is its retirement, and the almost total absence of employes and chin- ovniks, who infest every corner of Odessa. The next day, at twelve, wc continued our voyage to Kertch, keeping in sight of, and near the coast, the whole way. The scenery was of the same character as on the preceding day, with rather more wood. The country-seats, with large vineyards running to the water's edge, rendered the landscape rich as well as picturesque. The headlands, particularly that of the Bear, crowned with the remains of a Geno- ese fortress, and Cape Matapan, were finer than any thing on the North coast of Ireland ; no coast scenery that I ever saw came near to this in point of beauty. It was dark as we entered the port of Thcodosia ; there was, however, light enough to discern the old Genoese towers on the left of the harbour, which is considered by Admi- SEA OF AZOFF. -^-Q ral Lazareflf, the best in the Crimea, after that of Sevastopol. Here we landed Potemkin, with his sugar and other creature comforts, brought from Odessa to escape the duty. This piece of smugghng gave rise to an amicable row between him and the custom-house officer, who at first made a great show of opposition ; but his disinterested regard for the revenue soon gave way, though gradually — for the acting was good on both sides — to the soft persua- sion of his friend, and at the recollection that as Potemkin was captain of the port of Odessa, he might give him a turn some other time. Having taken in a few passengers, we proceeded on our way, and I soon after turned in for the night. Kertch was in sight early the next morning. Tht entrance to it is extremely uninteresting. The hill of Mithridates is the only elevation besides the tumuli that break the dreary waste of steppe, on which there is no tree or symptom of cultiva- tion. The roads to the right were full of ship- ping; for those vessels that intend to enter the sea of Azoff are obliged to perform quarantiiir here before they are allowed to j)rocecd; but a great number never do so, as they would lose a ^0 RUSSIAN MODESTY. srrcat deal of lime. The navijijation of that sea is ])ad, and it is impossible to approach close to the shore, to take in a cargo, in consequence of the shallowness of the water. The merchants at Ta- ganrog, therefore, ship tlic corn, tlie sta])lc export, in small coasters. On tiieir arrival at Kertch these vessels discharge it into the quarantine lighters, and they put it on board the shipping. This coast- ing trade is so profitable that these craft pay them- selves in two years ; they are principally manned by Jews, Greeks, and nondescripts. The Russian sailors are wretchedly ignorant of their business, so much so, that they sometimes make the Turk- ish coast instead of that on which Odessa is situ- ated. Before I quitted the vessel, I learnt that in a few days an expedition was to leave Kertch for Circassia, with the view of erecting forts on those parts of the coast of Abasia remaining unoccupied. My informant was an artist, who had already been engaged to paint the anticipated triumphs of the descent ! ! Delighted witli tlic opportunity thus, as I thought, thrown in my way, of accompanying the expedition, and getting a sight of Circassia, I GENERAL RIEFSKI. 81 made the best of my way to the Governor, Prince KerkhoulidzefF, to whom I had a letter of mtro- duction, in the hope of obtaining his sanction to my wishes. But here again, I found that British officers were in mauvaise odeur. Though the letter was from his countryman. General , (a person with whom he was very intimate,) his manner, kind at first, became suspicious when he heard the request I had to make. I never saw a man pull such a long face : he hemmed and hawed ; spoke of Mr. Bell, and the ever- lasting Vixeri, as if I had been a party con- cerned in that transaction ; muttered something about English opposition to the views of Rus- sia ; my being a military man ; and finally, threw the difficulty off his own shoulders, by proposing to give me an introduction to the Com- mander in Chief of the fortresses on the coast of Abasia. General Riefski received me with politeness, and offered to facilitate the accomplishment of any object I might have in view, in my visit to Kertch, but absolutely refused me permission to accompany him, assigning as the reason for his k 3 go A TliMl'LUS. non-compliance with my request, the positive orders of his Government that no foreigner, par- ticularly a military man, and an Englishman, should hi' allowed, on any account, to visit the fortresses on the Circassian coast. For my con- solation, I was desired to helieve that an American, having special letters from the Emperor, granting him permission to go where he pleased, had also been refused ! Disappointed, I went off to see the French Colonel's asphalte works, near Yeni Kale, the ancient Myrmecium, at the other end of the straits. On our way there, which lay across the steppe, we turned aside to examine one of the most remarkable of the tumuli that cover the plain. As near as I could judge by pacing, the diameter of it was about 350 feet : this immense mound was composed of layers of different kinds of earth, but I did not observe any of the sea-weed or bark of trees, spoken of by Clarke. It for- merly concealed a mausoleum, the entrance to which is by a gallery thirty-six paces long, lined with solid masonry of hewn stone, admirably fitted ; the surface is rough, like that of the arch of Drusus. The chamber is scjuaie, and about seven A TIMVLUS. §3 feet from the ground, a superstructure rises from the thickness of the walls, which is gradually- worked into a cone of peculiar form, each stone in every layer being made to project a certain proportion of its length beyond the one beneath it. The holes in the stonework at the end of the gallery, which originally received the hinges of the door, still remain. This tumulus had been opened previously to the occupation of the Crimea by the Russians, probably by the Genoese, as a Latin cross was found painted on the wall ; but this is nearly obliterated. Their entrance had been effected at the top, but from birds having built in the opening for many years, rubbish had accu- mulated, and the circumstance had, therefore, most fortunately remained unobserved by their successors. Had they known this at the time they made their excavations, they would not, in all probability, have taken the trouble, or gone to the expense of working at the side of the tumulus ; more particularly as everytliing of value had been removed by their predecessors, who left nothing but a patera, and a few other pieces of pottery, and the gallery would most likely have remained gj, VOLCANOES OF MUD. undiscovered. Both the chamber and the gallery have been much defaced by the peasants, who have knocked away great portions of the stone- work ; tliey are now tenanted by great numbers of frogs, and occasionally by the sheep and cattle that graze around. Our curiosity satisfied, we resumed the road to Yeni Kale. There is a fort here, and in it a sar- cophagus, spoken of by Clarke. The inhabitants of the village are of Greek descent ; persons going to the Kuban and baths at Petigorsky, take boat here, the distance across being about eleven English miles. This part of the country, as well as the island of Taman, opposite, is very rich in bitumen, which runs freely in a cutting of three feet. The volcanoes of mud, about a mile from the fort, are curious : they were in eruption when I visited them, the mud flowing in all directions, and leaving in some places a large deposit of sul- phur. From hence we had a good view of the sea of Azoff, which looked turbid and still ; having inspected the works, which appear likely to be pro- fitable, if encouraged by the Government, I re- turned to Kcrtch. A TELEGA. 85 This was my first jaunt in a telega, and I suf- fered accordingly. To describe one in a few words, it will only be necessary to say that the body of the vehicle resembles a large pig trough placed on four wheels, without springs, each wheel travel- ling in a different plane from the rest, on wooden axles roughly made. The horses, however, had plenty of go in them. The yemtschik's shouts of " No, no, no, no, poshol, scorri !" mingled with the loud ringing of the bell attached to the pole, were accompanied by a liberal application of his short whip, and we tore over the steppe, regard- less of any inequalities in the ground, or gripps in the track, which we sometimes left altogether : had a tumulus been in the way, I firmly believe Jehu (a real one) would have put his horses at it. The straw that had been put into the telega, to break the shocks, was useless, and I was obliged to hold on with both hands to keep my seat. General Perofski, the hero of the Khiva expedi- tion, made the journey from Orenburg to Moscow in one of these vehicles, in an incredibly short space of time ; bearing, as quickly as possible, the news of liis own failure. " Mashallah," said his g(5 STnr.F.T OF Tl MULI. friends, "what a loat!" and tlius terminated the expedition. The moon had risen hcfore we reached the town, and about three versts from it we entered a street of tumuli. Perhaps these mausoleums formed, as in the ancient Roman cities,* the prin- cipal approach to that of Panticapa3um, ** once in verdure clad," hut now laid open and gutted by tliose, who frequently make a merit of laughing at history and its associations ; and who collect antiquities, and have museums, not from any in- terest they really take in them, as elucidating the habits and customs of a people who once possessed them, but as one of the drop scenes intended to give effect to their miserable, be- • Most of the roads leading out of ancient towns are li!ied with tombs ; and if such a spectacle can ever be said to form a pleasing view, we have an instance of it at Pom- peii, where the Street of the Tombs is one of the most inter- esting objects in tliat extraordinary place. Near to Pozzuoli (P*uteoli,) on the Via Campana, wc have an instance of the frequency of tombs on the roads near to cities. Going from Rome, also, through any of the gates at the east end of the town, we find ruins of similar edifices. Burton s Antiquities, p. 272. vol. i. The Via Appia, Aurelia, and Flaminia, were lined with tombs on each side. ENGLISH HOSPITALITY. g7 cause insincere, attempts at improvement and civilization. The hospitality of Mr. Wigfall, our vice-consul, enabled me with great pleasure to cut the inn, a villainous cabaret, yclept " tlic club ;" the invi- tation, therefore, so kindly offered by him, was gratefully accepted, and I drove up to his door. CHAPTER yil. The Museum at Kcrtch — Cedar sarcophagus — Gold ornaments — Tartar tradition — Tlic Macrocephali, or long heads of the ancients. The following morning after breakfast I made the acquaintance of an under secretary of the governor. He had been brought up in Circassia, and, as he spoke the language fluently, was fre- quently employed on the coast of Abasia as an interpreter. In his company I paid a visit to the Museum, which', (with the exception of the speci- mens that have been removed to the imperial cabinet at the Hermitage,) contains all the an- tiquities found in the different tumuli that have been opened. I must also except a few which have found their way into the pockets of those persons who superintended the excavations, and into those of the workmen. Of this fact I had THE MUSEUM. 89 ocular demonstration, for two gold articles, of considerable value, were offered to me for sale. The Musevim, which formerly served as a corps- de-garde, was surrounded by fragments of co- lunms, and other "debris" of ancient architecture ; amongst this collection, and apparently totally neg- lected, was a marble sarcophagus of great beauty. The lock was so rusty that we had some difficulty in opening the door, which was at last effected by the curator's deputy, a non-commissioned officer of the regiment in the town. The state of the lock, and the general confusion prevailing in the rooms, were pretty good proofs that the place was seldom visited : the medals were not even arranged. Some of the Greek vases were of elegant shape, and in good preservation ; the principal designs represented Europa and the Ihdl, and the still more favourite subject, the battles of the Ama- zons, particularly interesting in this country, so near the scene of their fabulous achievements; but there was nothing in them different from those of other collections. A sarcophagus of cedar wood particularly attracted my attention ; many parts of it were beautifully turned, and the 90 THE MUSEITM. cornice at the top was carved in the egg and thunderbolt pattern ; a considerable portion of it wliicli had been gilt, remained almost uninjured. Thin plates of gold, beaten into reliefs represent- ing subjects of the Greek mythology, or circum- stances relating either to the life or death of the deceased, had been suspended on each panel of the interior ; but having fallen from their places, they were injudiciously taken out and placed in another part of the room. There were other sarcophagi of the same materials, that had appa- rently been charred by fire, but of coarser exe- cution. Amongst the gems were a few good intaglios in gold rings of simple form ; gold ear- rings, bracelets, and bangles, all of the most beau- tiful workmanship ; there w^ere also several crowns of laurel and oak in gold, which had encircled the heads of the noble dead. One of the bangles, admirably wrought, had the two ends carved into lions' heads, and the neck enamelled in a lozenge pattern of two colours. These splendid ornaments are strong evidence of the wealth and refinement of the inhabitants of the ancient and once power- ful city of Panticapaeum. The gold of which they THE MUSEIM. 9| are made is without alloy ; it bent with very little pressure. The Tartars have a tradition, that upwards of forty pouds, nearly one thousand four hun- dred and forty pounds English, of this metal, in ornaments and coin, were, several hundred years ago, taken from one of the tumuli in the neigh- bourhood ; and they call it in consequence the Golden Hill. This is, no doubt, fabulous, but I think there is every reason to believe that not above one third of the treasures found by the Russians, in making their excavations, is in the possession of the government. The principal work of art that remains to be spoken of is an alto- relievo in bronze, about nine inches in diameter, much oxydized, but showing wonderful execution. The rest of the collection consists chiefly of glass bottles of curious shapes, one of them with a neck at least a foot and a half long ; bronze and terra- cotta vases, bronze instruments, and arrow heads ; lamps, a brass mirror, and scarabijei, ampliora;, la- chrymatories, and patera, in terra-cotta, very small gold masks, human liair, Sec. Of course there are Roman as well as Greek remains in this 92 MACROCEl'HALI. museuni, but the latter prevail ; the former nation not having had possession of the country till after the defeat of Pharnaces by Caesar, the occasion on ^vllich he dictated his famous letter to the Roman senate, " Veni, vidi, vici." But perhaps the great- est curiosity in the collection is the skull of a Macroccphalus, said to have been found in the neighbourhood of the Don. It is not a little remarkable that the Greeks, being ignorant of the natures and languages of the people to the eastward of the Euxine, were very much in the habit of describing different tribes by names formed from their physical charac- ters; just as we say that some tribes on the north- west coast of America are *' Flat-heads," so they called the Macrocephali *' Long-heads." Their historians seem to have peopled the countries beyond the stormy Pontus with inhabit- ants, to whom they have attributed the most extraordinary physical peculiarities, so fabulous and marvellous, that it is quite inconceivable how they could have believed in the existence of such monsters. It has been observed that the natives of this unknown land were Sauromatae, which may MACROCEPIIALI. 93 mean, with a slight deviation of orthography, " Lizard-eyed." Herodotus refers to the Ari- raaspi, one-eyed people ; the Argippa)i, bald from their birth, having large chins and nostrils like the ape species, and others. There were, like- wise, the Gymni, naked people ; the Kehryphi, the concealed, hidden people ; Aonopes, sheep-faced people ; the Bathychaetones, the thickly haired people. Strabo speaks of a tribe called the Phthiro- phagi, or louse-eaters ; they came to Dioscures for commercial purposes, and from their filthiness received this appellation. It is true ancient au- thors have left but meagre information regarding the history of the Macrocephali. Their existence, however, has been amply authenticated, even if the testimony afforded by the preservation of their skulls were wanting. It is rather singular that Pliny, who, as a naturalist, might be ex- pected to have made some inquiries on so in- teresting a subject, merely mentions the site of their principal town, while, in many instances, he gives his attention to the greatest absurdities, and exhibits a credulity exceeding even that of })1 MACROCKI'IIALI. Herodotus, who lived upwards of four hundred years before him. Amongst other wonders, he as- serts that he was an eye-witness of a woman being transformed into a man on the marriage day, and that tlie gentleman was alive when he wrote his book. lUit he is not alone, for Livy also alludes to a similar circumstance having taken place in his day. According to the opinions of Hippocrates, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Valerius Flaccus, and others, the Macrocephali appear to have inhabited that part of the shores of the Euxine between the Phasis and Trapesus, the modern Trebizonde. Xenophon places them near the Scythini ; Strabo and Eustathius affirm that the Macrones or Ma- crocephali, (for they appear to have considered them the same,) were anciently called the Sanni. Strabo speaks of another nation called the Sigynni, who also used artificial means to alter the natural shape of the head ; they lived nearer to the Cau- casus, and some among them were in the habit of making the heads of their children very long ; so that the forehead, by being compressed, was forced out beyond the chin. This people adopted many MACROCEPHALI. 95 of the customs of the Persians, and had a race of small horses with very thick hair, which were too weak to be ridden. They were generally harnessed four together in a carriage ; the women were prac- tised from their infancy in drinng these light teams, and those who made the best whips had the privilege of choosing their own husbands. Pliny, however, takes no notice of the Sigynni ; Herodotus alludes to them, but places them in European Scythia, beyond the Danube ; and Hip- pocrates and Apollonius of Rhodes, confirm Strabo's opinion of their living near the Caucasus. PUny, however, diflfers from Strabo, and thinks that the Macrones and Macrocephali were two distinct tribes of people, for he says, " Moreover, in Pontus you have also the nation of the ^lacro- cephali, with the town Cerasus and tlie port Con- dulse, beyond which are the Bechires, and so for- ward to the quarter of the Macrones." But be this as it may, the majority of the ancient writers concur in fixing upon Cerasus, now Keresoun, as the principal town of the Macrocepliali, or long- heads, of their day. Pomponius Mela calls it one of the most notable towns of Pontus. The citv ;](j MACROCEPHALI. was not celebrated in this respect only, for from it the cherry was introduced into Europe by Lu- cullus. Pliny speaks of this in his fifteenth book, and Holland,* who translated that author, gives the passage in a manner so quaint and pleasing, that, though not immediately bearing on tiie sub- ject, I have been tempted to extract it: — " Before the time that L. Lucullus defeated K. Mithridates, there were no cherrie trees in Italic, but after that victoric, (which was about the G80th yeare from the foundation of the City of Rome,) he was the man that first brought them out of Pontus, and furnished Italic so well with them, that within six-and-twenty yeares, other lands had part thereof, even as far as Britaine, beyond the ocean. Howbeit, as we have before said, they could never be brought to grow in Egypt, for all the care and Industrie emploied about them. Of cherries, the reddest sort is called Apronia, the blackest Actia. The Caecilian be round withal ; the Julian cherries have a pleasant taste, but they must be taken new from the tree • Philemon Holland, born at Chelmsford, Essex, in 1550, and died in his eighty-sixth year. THE CIIERRV. 97 and presently eaten, for so tender be they other- wise, that they will not abide the carriage. Of all other, the Duracine cherries be the sovereign, which in Campaine, are called Pliniania. But in Picardie, and those low countries of Belgica, they make most account of the Portugal cherries, as they do likewise who inhabit upon the river Rhene. They have a hew with them composed of three colours, between red, black, and green, and alwaies looke as if they were in ripening still. It is not yet full five years since the cherries called Laurea were known, so called they be, be- cause they were graffed upon a bay tree stocke, and thereof they take a kind of bitternesse, but yet not unpleasant to the taste. There be, more- over, Macedonian cherries, growing upon a small tree, seldom above three cubits high, and yet there be certain dwarfe cherries, not full so tall, called Ekamaecerasti, (that is, ground cherry shrubs.) The cherry tree is one of the first that yieldcth fruit unto his master, in token of thank- fulnesse and recognizance of his paines all the \cari' long. It delighteth to grow in cold places and exposed to the north. Tlie clicrrie will dric VOL. I. t 98 MACROCEPHALI. in the sunnc, and may be kept in barrels like olives." — But to return to the Macrocephali. It was a subject of great regret to me, that in consequence of the Curator's absence at Odessa, I was unable to obtain a drawing of the skull I saw in the Museum at Kertch. It presented all the pe- culiarities of a head compressed by artificial means, and may possibly have been that of a Macrocepha- lus, who left Pontus, and settled near one of the Greek colonies on the Tanais. Hippocrates, the only author besides Strabo who gives any definite account of the process by which the Macrocephali accomplished the distortion of the head, says, that this nation had heads different from all the world. As soon as a child was born, they formed its soft and tender skull, by compressing it with their hands, assisted by the use of bandages and proper arts. In this way the spherical figure of the head was perverted, and being forced out of its natural shape, they eifected their object of lengthening it by sacrificing the width. He does not say whe- ther the forehead projected or receded, but it has been shown that Strabo, in describing the mode in which the Sigynni practised tliis custom, as- A LOGICIAX. 99 serts that their foreheads projected forward, and in the words of the translator, " au point d'om- brager le menton," whereas the skulls of the Caribs and Chinouks recede. Hippocrates ac- counts for this custom amongst the ancients by an opinion prevalent amongst them that a long head was evidence of a noble nature; other authors, that it was an indication of courage, which, in those days, it may be inferred, meant the same thing. The old man of Cos observes, that though at first a law or custom, nature subsequently con- formed to that custom, and in process of time it became so far natural as to make the practice use- less ; a conclusion grounded upon his opinions on the generative system, which savour strongly of the logic which proves a horse chestnut to be a chestnut horse ! He says, " Generally speaking, a man with a bald head has bald-headed children ; squint-eyed, squint-eyed ; blue-eyed, blue-eyed ; distorted, distorted. Why, therefore," says the good doctor, " should not a Macrocephalus beget a Macrocephalus ?" But this opinion is surpassed by the learned of our own times. " Listen," said an ardent disciple of the Phrenologists to me one F 2 100 MARCH OF PHRENOLOGY. day, " let me only have a choice amongst five thousand persons of two heads, bearing the neces- sary characteristics for my purpose, and I will en- gage, on their marriage, to produce cither a New- ton, a Liston, a Napoleon, a Sir Robert Peel, or a Lord John Russell." This appears to be carrying out the science of Phrenology with a vengeance ! It is not a little remarkable that even in the earliest ages we find the very same customs pre- vailing in the new and old world ; the Scythians on the Euxine were in the liabit of scalping, and hanging up their scalps, as trophies, like the savage warriors of the Indian tribes of North America ; and the Macrocephalus of Titiaca may have been co-existent, if not antecedent, with those of Pontus. Garcilasso do la Vega, a native Peruvian author, descended from the Incas, (and probably from the Spanish poet, to distinguish him from whom he is commonly called El Inca,) assures us that this custom was practised before the arri- val of the Spaniards in that country. In 1585 the synod of the diocese of Lima issued a decree against the Indian practice of disfiguring the shape of the head by artificial pressure, " Cu- AMERICAN FLAT HEADS. 101 pientes penitus extirpare abusiim et supcrstitio- nem, quibus Indi passim infantum capiter fonnis impriment, quas ipsi vocant caito, oma, opalta; statuimus et pra?cipimus," and the punishment for any woman found guilty is thus mentioned : " frequentet doctrinam per eontinuos decem dies mane et vesperi, pro prima culpa ; pro secunda, vero per ^aginti," &c., &c. Civilization, however, progressed but slowly, and the custom continued to be followed by several nations in that country. The Omaquas practised it, as did also the Maroons and free negroes, after they had established them- selves amongst the Caribs. It prevailed, likewise, in Carolina, and between that province and New Mexico. Blumenbach, in his work on the " Unity of the Human Race, and its Varieties," adduces nu- merous instances, and quotes a variety of authori- ties to prove that the practice of applying pressure to the heads of infants existed up to his time in many parts of Europe. In the able and inde- fatigable ** Researches" of Dr. Pritchard, which he has happily rendered so interesting to every reader, we have the custom brought under our notice as it exists in the present day, amongst the tribes on the north-west coast of America. The 10.) AMERICAN FLAT HEADS. practice prevails along its whole extent, from the Sahnon river, in lat. 53 deg. 30 min., to the Ump- qua river, in lat. 4<). It has been observed, that the Macrocephali of Pontus considered a head thus artificially shaped as evidence of a noble nature. The nations of America, however, have assigned various reasons for practising this custom. It is difficult to sup- pose that this flattening process could have origi- nated with any view to its usefulness ; the object, however, as stated by some travellers is, that it tended to enlarge the interval between the eyes, so that the visual rays, turning to the right or left, the sight might embrace a much larger por- tion of the horizon, and thus give them facilities of discovering game in their hunting expeditions. The Omaquas did it to give their heads a greater resemblance to the moon. The Maroons and free negroes, to distinguish those children born free or in slavery. Tlie tribes on the Columbia, in com- pliance with their ideas of beauty, and also to dis- tinguish them from their slaves. Cox, in his tra- vels on that river, says, that " the most devoted adherent of our first Charles never entertained a stronger aversion to a Roundhead, than these INDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA. IQ3 savages." The process by which this distortion of the head is effected, amongst these tribes and nations varies considerably. The ancient Macrocephali used bandages and proper arts, but what those arts were we are left to conjecture. The Oniaquas pressed the heads of their children between two planks. The Indians between the province of Carolina and New Mexico gave their children a slanting position in the cradle, so that the crown of the head, resting on a small sack of sand, supported all the weight of the body. But the most detailed account of it, as practised by the Indians of the Columbia river, is given by Dr. Morton, in his splendid work of tlie " Crania Americana." The most cruel mode is that of the Wallamuts. They place the infant, soon after its birth, upon a board, to the edges of wliich small loops are attached, and cords are passed across the back in a zigzag manner through these loops, enclosing the child, and bind- ing it firmly down. To tlie upper cud and edge of this board, in wliich is a cavity to receive the back part of the head, another sniull one is at- tached by hinges, and made to lie obliquely on the forehead. The force of the pressure is regu- jyj, THF, rRADI.E. lated by several strings attached to the edge, passed through holes in the board upon which the infant is lying, and secured there. But the Chi- nouks and upper Indians proceed with less cruelty : " A sort of cradle," as shown by the subjoined drawinfj taken from Dr. Morton's work, " is formed by excavating a pine log, about three feet long, to the depth of eight or ten inches. Mid- way between the top and bottom, inside, are little slats of light wood, aaa, in a transverse direc- tion ; the head of the cradle B, is an excavated chamber, terminating, towards the end, in an in- clined plane, d, the rounded margin of which supports the child's neck, while the head itself is received into the ca^'ity at b : attached to the side of the cradle is the pad c, made of tightly plaited and woven grass, with a loop at the end. A bed of little grass mats is placed at the bottom of the cradle, on these the infant is placed ; THE CRADLE. J05 the head and neck rest also on a pillow of the same material. The pad c is then drawn dow-n over its forehead, and keeps it in its place : the body of the child is of course confined, as in the former case, and the lateral loops ddd, are for the purpose of attaching cords in order to keep it fixed in this position; the pad, however, causes the flatness of the forehead. The projecting end E is rounded ; when poised and a rotary motion applied to the opposite end, it answers for rocking the cradle. The child remains in this cradle from eight to twelve months, or until the sutures of the skull have in some measure united and become sohd and firm. The appearance of the infant, while in this state of compression, is described by Cox as both ludicrous and frightful ; and he says, that " the little black eyes being forced out by the bandages, resemble those of a mouse choked in a trap." Strange as it may appear, we have the concur- rent testimony of all travellers that the intellectual faculties of the modern Macrocephalus are not impaired by this cruel and unnatural custom. The first woodcut represents the compressed skull of a F 3 106 NATURE AND ART. Clatsap from the " Crania Americana." The se- cond is that of a Greek in its natural state, taken from Dr. Pritchard's " Researches " — Nature and Art ! I must throw myself on the mercy of the reader for this digression, which has grown out of a sub- ject by which I have been extremely interested. CHAPTER VIII. Goveraor'e museum — Ancient mole — Hill of Mithridates — Breast- plate of a crusader — Military undress — Suwaroff — His jewels — Russians on the Indus — Khiva expedition — Cold soup — Yalta — Pallas — Crimean vineyards — Arrival at Choreis — A verandah. The governor's private museum contains two very interesting, thougli not intrinsically valuable relics. One, a ^vicker basket, probably tbe most favourite article of tbe young girl in whose tomb it was found, and for that reason buried with her; the other, a part of a fishing net. Neither of them was very perfect ; the former, as might be ex- pected, being in the best preservation of the two. From the museum we went to the market-place, the site of an old Genoese fort, in which there was a most abundant supply of water melons : the lower orders live on them in the summer. The church near this square, is of great antiquity, but IQg ANCIENT MOLE. it has no other recommendation. We now as- cended the staircase of Mithridates, called so, as the hill to which it leads bears his name. This staircase is one of the governor's hobbies, and though only built five years ago, and having cost an immense sum in its construction, is now in ruins. "Ainsi de memo " of the quay, a wretched piece of engineering; the stones of which it is built are so small, and so easily moved by the south-east winds, that it has been found necessary to secure them by iron bars and cramps. This is a miserable contrast to the ancient mole mentioned by Strabo : the remains of that work are still visible when the water is clear and still. Though Kertch is the head quarters of the army acting on the coast of Abasia, and the nearest point to the seat of war, there is no military hospital either in the town or neighbourhood, and the barracks are very small ; the wounded are therefore sent to Theodosia and Sevastopol. The money wasted on this staircase would have built a hospital. Half- way up the hill of ]\Iithridates, is a Boulevard planted with trees, as di-y as walking-sticks, perish- ing for want of moisture. A temple, meant to be HILL OF MITHRIDATES. 109 a fac-simile of that of Theseus at Athens, has been erected on this walk, and is intended for a museum ; four pillars, however, are wanting, the resemblance, therefore, is not striking ; moreover, it has been, as usual in Russia, duly whitewashed. WTiat a contrast to the original, on which, for ages past, a ray of each succeeding sunset seems to have rested, and created the rich and golden tints that so much enliance its beauty '. A great part of the hill of Mithridates, like the ^^ons Testae eus at Rome, is composed of broken pottery. We scrambled to the summit, — the view from it is extensive, but monotonous. Tumuli, tumuli, tumuli. They put me in mind of the Lincolnshire grace over the rabbits. The lively imaginations in tlie neighbourhood assert that Mithridates was buried here ; Appian says, in the cemetery of his ancestors at Sinope; they also aflinn that he sat in the stone chair cut out of the rock, on the top of tlxis hill, when he reviewed his troops, previously to his last expedition against the Romans. Clarke assigns a tumulus more to the west as his place of sepulture, and says Suwa- roffwas so taken in when he visited it, that tho \ 10 BnEASTPLATE OF A CRUSADER. veteran soldier knelt upon the ground and wept i humbug ! Almost the first speech I heard from a Russian general who came to see us in the Qua- rantine, was, " Capitaine, nous sommes sur la terre classique, nous avons les cendres de Mithridate ;" but his interest was mere affectation; he knew little, and cared nothing, about the heroes of antiquity. I wound up the day by dining at General Rief- ski's, and was fortunate enough to make the ac- quaintance of Madame R., a very elegant and amiable person. He received me kindly and with frankness. The party consisted principally of his own staff, and a few officers from the forts on the coast. The walls of the room in which we dined were decorated with every kind of ancient wea- pon offensive or defensive. They were the pro- ceeds of many a foray in Circassia, and arranged in trophies between the windows, had a very good though singular effect. The most curious relic in the collection was the breastplate of a crusader, whether left in Circassia by a Christian knight with his own bones, or brought from Asia Minor, I leave for the consideration of antiquarians ; at MIUTARY UNDRESS. 1 \ \ any rate, the room illustrated the song in one re- spect, for it was, -"hung about with gims, and pikes, and bows, And swords, and good old bucklers, that had stood some good old blows." But here, the general's hospitality excepted, com- parison must cease, for instead of sitting in " dou- blet and trunk hose " like his worship, his hand- some but portly figure was cased in the Russian uniform, a toilette which, I understand, he ex- changes for his dressing-gown as often as he can ; and being his own commanding ofiicer, this is pretty frequently. The deshabille of General YermolofF was far more extraordinary. This offi- cer was constantly in the habit of appearing in a striped pink shirt hke the soldiers, and lived upon borsch and quass, the national dish and bever- age. These extravaganzas made Yermoloff very popular witli his men ; possibly, his reason for affecting customs so singular in a person of his rank. I heard an anecdote this evening, which if true, is strongly illustrative of SuwarofT's readi- ness at finding an expedient when put to a difli- ]]0 SUWAROFF. culty. In the retreat from Switzerland, in 1799, the Russian army severely pressed by the French, and having suffered dreadfully from the inclemency of the weather and a scarcity of food for many days, knocked up under privations which even their hardy natures were unable to contend against. Jomini says, that on this occasion the sick, wounded, and a great part of the baggage, were abandoned, and many hundred men, with all the sumpter horses and mules fell down the precipices and perished ; and he adds, that no language can express " cc que cette retraite eut d'horrible." The Russian army, in this harassed condition, on arriving one evening very late at their ground, re- ceived to tlieir great surprise, an order to renew their march at midnight : but being completely worn-out and dispirited, the men began to mur- mur and refused to comply. Suwaroff hearing this, and knowing that every hour was of tlie utmost consequence, sent some of his staff to expostulate, and explain to them the necessity of their mak- ing further exertions. Their efforts proved un- availing; he therefore went out himself, and ad- dressing the troops, succeeded with great difficulty HIS JEWELS. ] 13 in obtaining their promise to march at cock-crow. The soldiers, fancying they had secured a few hours' more repose, were soon asleep. At midnight, however, the ^Marshal rose, and going to a short distance from the bivouac, played chanticleer to such perfection, that in five minutes every man was under arms, and the whole division on the march. One of Suwaroff's many peculiarities was the great fancy he had of playing, and amusing him- self with his jewels, which he always carried with him in his campaigns. They were very splendid; particularly the diamonds. The greater part had been presented to him by croAvued heads ; but the gem he most cherished, was a brilliant of extraor- dinary size and fine water, given him by the Em- press Catherine. When sufiering under illness or defeat, he always ordered his jewels to be brought to him, and taking them out one by one, generally keeping the empress for a hon ceil, not a bonne houche, he coquetted and played with them much in the same way that Dragonetti, the prince of double basses, is said to be in the habit of doing with the dolls, which he invariably takes with him in his musical campaigns. ] ] I RUSSIANS ON THE INDUS. The drawing-room to which we retired after dinner, presented some curious contrasts. It is true, every thing was extremely elegant; but wliile some of the staff were occupied in singing at the piano with the ladies, the general in a wrapper and unbuttoned shirt reposed in a '* causeuse," puf- fing his "cigarito," in defiance of all regard for his rich damask furniture, or Madame Riefski's nerves, who appeared to be in a state to require them all. The general having heard that I had been several years in India, requested me to fill the vacant seat beside him in the causeuse, and entered into a dis- cussion on the subject of a Russian invasion of that country. The difficulties in his proposed line of route were quite smoothed away as far as Bokhara, and there, like Alexander on the Hydaspes, he in- tended to build boats, and float his army of 50,000 men down a certain river, called the Moura, that flowed into the Indus. I leave his geography to Arrowsmith, Burnes, or Wood. Once at the In- dus, he thought there could be no doubt as to the result, assuring me that it would be impossible to concentrate more than 10,000 British troops upon THE KHIVA EXPEDITION. H5 this point, and winding up his argument by laying the flattering unction to his soul, that the Sepoys, like the Persians, were men of straw. I need scarcely add that his ignorance of India was ex- treme, and my gravity was severely put to the test. But the General is not singular in his opi- nions, for this invasion is a question that Russians have not only the vanity and assurance to speak of openly; they consider themselves certain of success whenever they choose to make the attempt. One of the emperor's present aides-de-camp brought himself into notice from his chateau in the depths of Podolia, by the intelligent plans which he drew up and forwarded to his imperial majesty on the sub- ject. The result however of the Khiva expedi- tion should teach them, if it has not already done so, the necessity of modifying their views upon this subject. They would have acted with more wisdom, (only that theirs is of the cabinet rather than the field,) had they not attempted an invasion which terminated in so much disaster and disgrace. Their military reputation, the point on which their influence in Central Asia entirely depends, has been completely lowered by this failure ; while 116 roi.D soi'P. ours, rising above no ordinary diflicultics, has been elevated to a high degree by the gallant con- duct of our troops, and a combination of events which have finally led to success. To return from so long a digression. This and another evening passed off agreeably ; and on the following morning 1 visited the lazaretto. The confusion of tongues at the parlatoire beat that of Odessa, which I thought it would have been im- possible to equal. Before leaving Kertch, I had very nearly fallen a sacrifice to my curiosity, having been rash enough to take some of the cold soup, called Batvinia, at the governor's table. This atrocious mess is made of salt fish and onions, pickled cucumbers, ice, and quass, and — a Russian alone knows what besides. As there was nothing but a steppe to traverse between this place and Theodosia, I preferred re- turning to Yalta by the steamer. We sailed out of the harbour at the same time with the Tagan- rog boat, and in the short trial we had with her found that Peter the Great, though the smallest, was much the fastest vessel. The communication between Odessa and the Sea of AzofF is kept up YALTA. Jjiy by the former. She was built at Odessa by a *' conseiller d'etat actuel," which in Russia, means a man who never advises the state in any thing. This " pyroscaphe " had four feet water in the hold ten days after she went to sea, and her cap- tain White, looks very blue at times. But " it is an ill wind that blows nobody good," and she is said to be largely insured by the Baron R. of Odessa, who speculates deeply upon bad ship- builders, and the chances of the elements. The breeze freshened towards evening, and the sea get- ting up, harmonized with the bold and rocky coast. The next day we were landed at Yalta. Having hired horses at the inn, I proceeded to the Prince G at Choreis, who had kindly given me an invitation to visit him. The road wound along the precipitous sides of the hills which form the valley ; though longer than the one nearer the coast, it is much better and more picturesque, and the scene yielded nothing in beauty to the small valleys of Switzerland. Pallas certainly has painted nature here in very glowing colours, hut his description of the luxuriant vegetation in this 118 PALLAS. part of the Crimea is scarcely overdrawn in the following passage : " Dans ces vallees le laurier toujours vcrdoyant s'associe a I'olivier, ou grena- dier, au ccltis ou Ic frene maminifiere, Ic terebin- thier, le sumach, le baguenandier, le ciste a feuille de sauge, I'emerus et le fraisier arbousier de I'Asic Mincurc, croissant partout en plein vent * * * ou le noyer et tous les arbres frutiers sont les plus communs de la foret, qui pour mieux dire n'est qu'un jardin frutier abandonne a lui meme * * * ou, enfin, les vignes domestiques et sauvages s'elevent a I'envie sur les plus hauts arbres, retombent se relevent encore, et forment avec la viornc fleime, les guirlandes et les ber- ceaux sans aucun emploi de I'art." I realized nearly the whole of this description on my way to Choreis ; the country seats and Tartar \illages gave animation to the landscape. This remark, however, applies only to the coast, for the conquest of the Crimea has been followed by a general emigration of the Tartars, and the country is, comparatively speaking, depopulated. It is also little cultivated, and the communication with Odessa is so imperfect, that great distress CRIMEAN VINEYARDS. Ug prevailed in the Crimea during the \vinters of 1839-40; rye flower was selling at 25 per cent, dearer than at the former place. About two miles from Yalta the road passes the house of a gentleman who farms the brandy distilleries of Odessa. A most exquisite specimen of animated nature resides in it in the person of his daughter Catherine Eslenieff. Had Pallas seen her he would most assuredly have made her the Eve of his Crimean paradise. The situation is beautiful, and the house is surrounded by verandahs covered with every variety of creeping plants. The gates, rails, and finger-posts near the road side, which gave a great finish to the landscape, induced me to think that an Englishman had directed the taste of the proprietors. I was prepared to criticise, but found nothing upon which I could fairly exercise such a disposition. Continuing to ascend, we ar- rived at Massandra, a seat of Count Woronzoflfs ; liis vineyards commence here, and continue with very little intermission down to the very beach, a distance of three versts. The irrigation is carried on by means of small canals, which are supplied with water by the numerous rills from the inouii- I;i0 AUHIVAI, AT niORlCIS. tains ; the slope towards these vineyards is covered with wood, and interspersed with cottages in an excellent style of architecture : they are inhabited chiefly by persons having charge of the vines, many of them French and Germans. The view towards the sea was equally beautiful, the broad expanse of which, from this height, seemed to raise the horizon far into the heavens. Descend- ing, I saw my host's house nearly buried in the trees and vineyards below me, and on entering it I received a hearty welcome. We were joined at dinner by Mons. M , the Governor of the Tauride, Count A , the prince's nephew, and a French gentleman, his tutor, a most amiable and excellent man. The repast went off agreeably, and we then retired to a very large verandah, or rather open room, which joined the one we had dined in. It commanded magnificent views of the coast and of the vine- yards, which, for a distance of nearly two versts, stretched down the slope towards the sea in front. The roof of this delightful retreat was supported by small wooden pillars at the angles, and the two sides, formed of trellis, were covered with A VERANDAH. |i>l scarlet geraniums, fuschias, Mexican creepers, and other plants. The interior, which, from the situ- ation of tlie house, would have been exposed to the setting sun, was shaded at each end by tlie branches of a splendid oak, and by the graceful festoons of vine which grew and waved amongst them. Nothing could be in better taste than tlie furni- ture of tliis verandah ; the floor was covered with Indian matting, divans occupied three sides, and douros, ottomans, and all- kinds of fashionable accessaries to comfort, were placed about it in con- venient confusion. Coffee and cliibouques, the latter used by every one in this part of Russia, whether gentle or simple, were brought in, and it was late before we separated for the night. VOL. I. CHAPTER IX. Leave for Sevastopol — A Tartar village — The Princess S M — A " tartine Anglaisc" — Diplomatists in a difficulty — Alupka — Count WoronzofFs hospitality — Crimean locusts. The next morning I took my departure for Alupka, on my way to Sevastopol. The governor having furnished me with a Tartar padaroshna and an English saddle, and given orders that a corporal of the Balaclava Arnaouts should accom- pany me, I began my excursion under the bright- est auspices. TravelUng in the Crimea without the above-named document is very disagreeable, for the ordinary padaroshna, or order for post horses, is of no use, except on the high roads ; that is, between Sevastopol and Simpheropol, and t from thence to Yalta or Kertch. The Tartar ponies are most useful animals, and perform long LEAVE FOR SEVASTOPOL. jOg journeys with comparatively very little fatigue. They are remarkably sure-footed, as much so as a mule, but their only paces are a walk and canter. Having promised to spend a week with my kind host on my return, we filed out of the court-yard immediately after breakfast ; my Arnaout, in uni- form, led the way, and a glance at his saddle, a hard leather cushion fastened on with a strap, showed me the inconvenience I had escaped by !Mr. M 's kindness ; I came next ; and the Tartar, to whom the tliree horses belonged, brought up the rear with my two carpet bags. These I have always found on such excur- sions the very best things to pack in and the most easily carried, as the handles of both being fastened together by a strap they can be thrown across the back of a horse in a second. The Tar- tar and the "impedimenta" were soon left behind, for the Arnaout and I got over the ground at a quicker pace, and I found my English hunt- ing spurs good auxiliaries. Passing through Yalta, we carae to Livadia, the scat of Count Potocky, (j)ronounced Pototsky,) formerly am- ]04 A TARTAR VILLAGE. bassador in Sweden. He has laid out large sums of money on this estate with great taste and judg- ment ; the grouping of the trees was particularly good, and superior to any I saw on the coast. The park and land below his house are imperial property, and an architect from Berlin has been commissioned to build a villa here for the em- press. The situation is beautiful, but should her majesty reside here, this part of the Crimea will, in all probability, become a place of general re- sort, and change its present quiet and retired character, so much in unison with the feelings of many of its inhabitants. The next estate was that of Count de Witt, Go- vernor General of the military colonies, since dead. The house is in Dutch taste, and wholly out of character with the scenery; a ball and cross, splendidly gilt, and perched on the summit of the mountain at the back, looked odd enough in such a situation. Near here I had the first oj^portunity of seeing a Tartar village, "de pres ;" the houses are very low, the roofs flat and covered with clay, and frequently so curiously placed against the mountain, that a person coming down from above THE PRINCESS S- 125 might easily ride or walk on to the top of one without being the least aware of it. Soon after I arrived at the house of my friend, the Princess S M , and was fortunate enough to find her at home ; our acquaintance commenced in Odessa, and I was truly happy to have this oppor- tunity of renewing it. This lady is it strong ex- ample of the superiority of the Russian women over their lords and masters ; enthusiastic in her admiration of the south coast, she has retired here surrounded by her books, to seek in them that mental pleasure and refinement of feeling which she can rarely meet with in society. Her knowledge of the English language and literature surprised me, and her application of it to the most important object of our lives, gave me a very high opinion of her heart and judgment. I walked on with her in the evening to Mrs. M 's, where I remained to tea. This lady, during the repast, desired me to cut her some bread and butter, a task that I endeavoured to accomplish with all the delicacy, though not dexterity, of a Vauxhall waiter; Imt my trouble was thrown away, for looking at the slice witli contempt, she took one 125 A "TARTINE ANGLAISE." bite, put down the remainder, and said in a tone which nearly disabled me from any further at- tempts at handling the knife, " Cut a thicker one, Sir, and put plenty of butter on it ;" I did as I was desired ; " More, Sir," reiterated the lady, ** no tartine Anglaise for me." This house might have been in the country of the Amazons as far as the absence of men went ; I found upon inquiry that they were scarce animals in this part of the world, and this remark applied with peculiar force to the husbands of the eight ladies present, for they were all absent. In the little that I had seen of Russian so- ciety, I generally observed that if the wife was living at Odessa or Tiflis, the husband was, in all probability, either at Petersburg!! or Vienna, or any where else at an equally convenient dis- tance. The Baroness de B lives near here; she was a great friend of Madame Krudner, the sorceress, or enthusiast, who had so much influ- ence over the late emperor. It was night before I reached Alupka, where I was made welcome at the supper table of !Mr. Hunt, the count's archi- tect, who kindly offered his services in showing DIPLOMATISTS IN A DIFFICULTY. Joy me the house and grounds in the morning; and being thoroughly tired with my day's journey, I proceeded to the inn near his house. The bed, however, on which I purposed to rest my weary bones, proved, as usual, any thing but a place of repose, for I found it already occupied by a squad- ron of that interesting insect, called by naturalists the cimex. The Rev. Mr. Radcliffe, in his trans- lation of a work, published by the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh in the last century, entitled The Natural History of East Tartary, says, " that bugs are never seen in the houses in the Crimea." This gives all the credit of their introduction to the Russians, who had not, at the time the work was written, settled themselves in their new conquest. "A propos" of an anecdote that was told me of the late Lord Durham : when that nobleman was sent as Ambassador Extraordinary to the court of St, Petersburgh, he passed two or three days, on his way from Odessa, at the house of the Countess , a lady of high family and large property. Having been half-eaten by ver- jniii ill iiouses equally grand, he and his suite wisely determined to sleep on the tables. I fol- jog CHATEAU OF ALUl'KA. lowed his lordship's example, and rose early the next morning to lionize the place. The chateau, though not finished, was suffi- ciently advanced to show that it will be a noble pile of building : in the architecture, Mr. Blore has mixed the oriental with the Elizabethan. The material used in its construction is a stone of a greenish colour, and is very difficult to work ; it is taken from the crater of an extinct volcano in the grounds. The turrets, tracery, mullions, coins, and other ornamental parts of the building, are all worked in the same. The dining-room is of splen- did dimensions, and lighted by two immense windows overlooking the sea; the groined ceil- ing is of oak, and the wall opposite to the win- dows is ornamented with two fountains of elegant form, in a dove-coloured marble veined with dark red, peculiar to the Crimea. The terrace in front is ornamented with orange trees and other choice plants ; the gardens are well laid out, but of small extent ; the plateau of ground on which the house stands being very much circumscribed by the sud- den rise of the mountains at the back, and the precipitous fall towards the sea in front. Advan- COUNT WOROXZOFFS HOSPITALITY. J 29 tage, however, has been taken of all the inequal- ities in the ground, and the rocks ejected from the crater have fallen into such picturesque posi- tions, that little art has been required to convert them into the most secluded grottos ; these have been greatly embellished by a profusion and variety of creepers and rock plants, and by the clear and pellucid streams, which, running from the mountains, have been dexterously turned through them ; the ponds are full of trout. The noble owner's arrival at his princely man- sion is the signal for a general pilgrimage to Alupka, and visitors flock in from all parts of the Crimea to partake of his unbounded hospitahty. The following anecdote, which was related to me at Odessa, will show to what extent this is en- croached upon. One day, when the house was quite full, and a large party assembled at the breakfast table, the aide-de-camp in waiting re- ported that there was no tea. The house-steward was immediately summoned. *' How is this ? " demanded his Excellency, "no tea!" The man, however, unabashed, pointed witli imperturbable coolness to the crowded table, and replied, ** Mon- G 3 J 30 CRIMKAN LOCUSTS. sieur Ic comtc, comment voulcz vous du the, avec un tas de sauterellcs comme cela?" So goes the story, and likely enough to be true. The rocks at Yamcn, about thirty versts from Alupka, arc picturesque, but the country is much more arid and stony, and the vegetation less abun- dant. I finished my ride at Moukalatka, a small estate of the French colonel's ; he gave me a hearty welcome to his Tartar cottage, where simplicity, comfort, and contentment, evidently reigned. CHAPTER X. Leave Moukalatka — The view from the heights and forests of Baidar — Naked contentment — Method of taking quails — Convent of St. George — Colonel Upton — Docks at Sevastopol — English engineers — Russian soldiers on fatigue — The valley of Inkerman — The great harbour — References to the plan of Sevastopol — Military works — An American — St. Vladimir — The camp. The next morning, having taken leave of my kind friend and his amiable wife, I continued my jour- ney. The rocky mountain at the back of his residence, which he pointed out to me as laying in my line of route, was so perpendicular, that until I was close to it I had no conception how we were to ascend, and I thought the name of it, the Devil's Staircase, well and appropriately bestowed. Trusting to my nag, I continued on his back ; the corporal, perhaps the wiser of the two, led his; but I reached the summit without accident, and dismounted to enjoy tlie view more at my leisure; it was grand — I may say sublime. A feeling of solitude, which I always experience at a great TIIF, llEKMITS OF ItAIDAn. height, even when the hindscape below is ani- mated, was unbroken here : the sea hiy " still and stirlcss," without a sail or bird to enliven its glassy surface. A\ ith the exception of the cot- tage I had left, there was no habitation within sight, and the only human being was my Tartar toihng up the steep and craggy path below. The forest, which commenced here, continued very nearly all the way to Baidar, a distance of six or eight versts, and the branches of the trees on each side of the road meeting overhead, formed an agreeable shade from the rays of the mid-day sun, which at this season of the year are rather oppres- sive. The timber is very small ; the foi'est is said to be full of chevreuil ; there are also red deer, and a few bears. We were detained two hours at Baidar for horses. On arriving at a station, the Bashi, or head man, was not always in the way ; when found, he immediately ascended the wooden minaret in the centre of the village, and commenced calling a roster of those whose horses were next for duty, a reply was soon elicited from one corner or an- other, and the man generally made his appearance KAKED COXTENTMENT. J 33 with them in lialf-an-liour. The Arnaout was of great service to me on these occasions. This time, however, finding that the horses were all in the fields, I laid down on a sheep-skin under the shed of a house, and watched a whole family of Tar- tars employed in bruising crab apples, from which they distil a coarse kind of brandy. While they were thus occupied, I observed a Kttle boy, about two years old, with beautiful flaxen hair, leave the group ; he was naked as he was born, his little stomach stuck out like an alderman's, and his only ornament was a cock's feather, which hung by his side for a sword ; when about half- way across the court he espied a heap of mud in the centre, about the consistence of cream, in the middle of which, without further ado, he set himself down, and I thought I never in my Ufa had seen such a specimen of naked contentment. His brothers and sisters appeared to think so too, for they never attempted to move tlie young urchin, and he remained there till I left, evi- dently enjoying his cool seat. The valley of Baidar is i)retty, but it requires a great deal of entusymusy to see in it cither a 134 CATCHING QUaITS. " Tauric Arcadica," or a " Crimean Tempo." Clarke's matter-of-fact criticism on the lady who called it so, is rather amusing. On approaching Balaclava " I observed a man at a short distance from the road, catching quails ; the process w^as simple enough — he was provided with a kind of landing net, made of light materials, and walking the birds up, caught them with it as they rose ; about this time of the year they do so very hea- vily, from their extreme fatness, and great numbers are taken in this manner. This mode is by far the best, as shot would knock them to pieces. Balaclava is the head-quarters of the regiment of Arnaouts colonized here, and the corporal pressed his steed to his best pace as we entered, receiving various signs of recognition from many of his comrades loitering in the street. The houses are mean, and the bay, from being closed in by the rocks at the entrance, is muddy, and still as a mill-dam : the place smelt dreadfully of fish, which is the principal food of the inhabitants, and mine also, for a few pickled sprats were the only ** mangiare" I could procure. Excepting the Genoese towers on the hill at the entrance THE COXVEXT OF ST. GEORGE. J 35 of the harbour, the only curiosity I saw here was a billiard-table, six feet by four, in a room of suit- able dimensions, crowded with officers smoking, &:c. The picturesque ceased at Balaclava ; the coun- try beyond it, though undulating, was devoid of trees, and the vegetation was quite parched up ; not a blade of grass was to be seen. At the Convent of St. George, our next station, I met several officers of the garrison of Sevastopol come out here on a pic-nic. I addressed one of them, who fortunately spoke French, and after a little conversation he was kind enough to offer me some refreshment, which, after a long and dusty ride upon pickled sprats, I was truly glad to ac- cept. The convent is curiously built against a cliff overhanging the sea, and has nothing but the singularity of its position to recommend it. I join- ed the party on their return to Sevastopol, where we arrived about ten o'clock. The entrance to the town was most offensive and disgusting, a disgrace to those in command, and quite enough to counter- act all the benefit of a quarantine establishment. My friend 15 had given the corporal di- rections to conduct me to the best pot-house, for ]36 COLONEL UPTON. there is no iini in tlie town. This wretched cabaret was kept by a German; we found " mein Herr" dead (hunk, and tlie only bed-room occu- pied. After tlireading the streets up and down, with the pleasant prospect of bivouacking in one of them, we turned in at a billiard-room, the owner of which accommodated me with a ricketty couch. The noise of the balls, as large as nine-pound shot, together with my usual bed-fellows, kept me awake all night. A kind and pressing invi- tation from my countryman, Colonel Upton, on the following morning, prevented the necessity of my returning to this kennel, which was fre- quented by all the riiT-raflf of the town. I ex- perienced no little pleasure in sitting down to a breakfast wliich his good lady, with all her Eng- lish habits and feelings unimpaired by a long residence in Russia, placed before me. Imme- diately after, accompanied by one of her sons, I sallied forth to see the dry docks erecting here under the Colonel's superintendence, and from his own plans ; they are unique of their kind, and wortliy of a detailed description. The docks, five in number, arc placed on two DOCKS AT SEVASTOPOL. ]37 sides of a quadrangular basin, as shown in the plan ; the centre one in the rear is capable of receiving a first-rate of the largest size ; two are for seventy-four gun ships, and the remaining two for frigates. As there is no tide, the lock prin- ciple has been adopted in the construction of these docks. The bottom of each is three feet above the level of the sea, and the ships are to be raised into the dock-basin by a series of three locks, each having a rise of ten feet ; the surface of the water, therefore, in the dock basin is thirty feet above the level of the sea. Each dock can be laid dry by means of a subterranean drain, the sluice-valve of which being opened, carries off the water into the sea ; by this means each dock may be used separately, and a ship taken in or out without interfering with the others. The dock- basin is supplied with water by means of a canal from the Tcherney-Ruilka, (the Black River,) which commences at the village of Tchergana, at which point it has an elevation of about sixty-two feet above the level of the sea. This canal is alKjut ten feet wide, and eighteen vorsts (twelve miles) long, with a fall of a foot and a half in |;>J^ DOCKS yVT SKVASTOPOL. each verst ; it leads into a reservoir about eight versts from its commencement. Should the rivu- let fail in the dry season, this reservoir contains a sufficient body of water to supply the dock-basin ; but there is a much larger one constructing between the hills above the head of the canal. The line of the canal from the river to the docks runs over very difficult ground, chiefly by the sides of steep hills, and crosses many deep ra- vines. To remove these obstacles, and preserve a regular fall, it became necessary to construct an embankment, three aqueducts, and two tunnels. The tunnel at Inkerman, which I visited, is about three hundred yards long, and cut through a mass of freestone. But the great difficulty was to obtain a foundation for the first, or sea-lock. When the coffer-dam was made, and the water pumped out, which was not much more than seven feet deep, an excavation of twenty feet was neces- sary, as the foundation of the lock is nearly thirty feet below the level of the water in the bay : this ground of black mud and sand, when cleared out to about half the depth, was forced upwards by the pressure of the earth at the sides, so that DOCKS AT SEVASTOPOL. 139 what was dug out in the day was filled up again in the night. To overcome this difficulty, it was necessary to drive the piles intended for the foun- dation over the whole surface of the lock, and the earth was taken out to the required depth across its whole breadth. This could only be done in narrow portions of about eight or ten feet wide ; the piles were then cut to the proper depth, the framework put on, and the masonry commenced; this was repeated by degrees, till the whole was finished. It would appear almost impossible to have accomplished this difficult point any other way. The materials employed in the construc- tion of the docks are freestone and granite ; the latter is used at the gates, for the blocks on which the ships will rest in the docks, tlic whole of the upper course of the locks, docks, and dock- basin, in short, wherever there is great pressure, or liability to receive heavy concussions. The masonry is beautifully fitted, and the whole of the capstans and macliinery of the locks arc of English manufacture. The filter for watering the shipping is supplied by the same canal which feeds the dock-basin, ajul tiie water passes through I JO ENGLISH ENGINEERS. charcoal and sand ; tlu; building is neatly con- structed, but is not yet in use. This, as well as the principal staircase, was built from Colonel Upton's designs ; the latter is in strong contrast to that of Mithridates, or the " escalier monstre" at Odessa. Colonel Upton is a pupil of the great Telford, and these docks will redound as much to his cre- dit as an engineer, as the Menai bridge or canal of Gotha to his master's. The design and execution of this great work could not have fallen into better hands. The emperor appears to think so, by the notice which he has taken of Col. U. ; and his im- perial majesty's opinion carries the greater weight with it, and is the more flattering, as he is said to have a competent knowledge of engineering. It is gratifying to find our countrymen employed in such distant places ; the master in Sweden, and the pupil in Tartary. The difficulties of such un- dertakings in Russia are considerably increased by the scanty number of good artificers, the principal ])art of those employed being soldiers, who, origi- nally serfs, and not brought up to any trade, make but poor workmen, even when employed for the SOLDIERS AT WORK. ]41 most ordinary purposes. This I saw strongly illus- trated in the removal of the hill, on the site of which the admiralty is to be erected. Upwards of 4,000 men taken from the garrison were at work to effect this. Very few had even hand-barrows ; the majority were carrying away the earth in their coat-tails, and in bags about as large as those used by hackney- coachmen in feeding their horses. Their movements were slow and spiritless, and they seemed to be almost incapable of greater ex- ertion. Those who are entirely under Colonel U.'s control, and obliged to use the wheel-barrows he has had made, could with difficulty be brought to see the benefit of them : but once satisfied on the subject, these useful articles were regularly fought for, as they work by task. The want of common energy exhibited by these men is easily understood. The government allowance of four- pence a day which they are supposed to receive, is put into the *' caisse d'epargnes,"* from which few of them ever reap any benefit ; at any rate, the prospect of doing so on discharge is too remote to be a stimulus to their exertions, whereas if the • Stock imrse. I l'^ TIIK VALI.r.Y OF INKER MAX. money was paid into their luinds at the time, it would be an incentive to their industry. The pumps wliicli clear the coffer-dams at the admiralty quay were worked by deserters. All persons travelling in this country without pass- ports are considered vagabonds and are also liable to be so employed. Ha%'ing thoroughly inspected the docks, we took boat, and rowed up the bay to Inkerman to see the excavations in the rocks there. The chambers and chapels cut out of the freestone are said by Clarke and other authors to have been the residence of the Arians who retired there to escape persecution. They are now the retreat of reptiles of all sorts. The river which some tra- vellers have described asjloicing into the bay from one of the most beautiful valleys in Europe, was nearly stagnant, and as muddy as the Tiber itself. The valley has not more than half-a-dozen trees in it and its beauty, if it ever had any, has departed. Returning, we rowed about the harbour, perhaps the finest in the world. It has so great a depth of water in some of the bays or inlets, that line-of- battle ships of the largest size lay close in to the THE GREAT HARBOUR. |4,'3 shore. I Avalkcd on board the Warsaw of 120 guns, lying in the harbour marked J in tlic plan. The fleet is laid up here during the winter ; the ships are then dismantled, and the crews go into their barracks ! The entrance to the port, about 800 yards wide, is made in the night, by keeping the two lights in one ; the nearest is at the end of the harbour, near Inkerman, and the other three miles off; and 200 feet above it, on the mountain, the anchorage is excellent. The Alexander sand, as may be observed in the plan, narrows the entrance for large vessels to nearly one half of its apparent breadth, though the depth of water over it is sufficient for small ones. The Blonde paid a flying visit here a few years ago, and since her, the Mischief, a yacht of Captain L.'s ; they both caused great commotion. The latter, a bit of a thing, left with a strong breeze against her, and the Russian man-of-war brig or- dered to see her clear ofl", was obliged to bring up ; had she persevered in the execution of her orders, she would in all probubihty have gone ashore for want of good handling. I I I IvKFEREXC'ES TO THE I'LAN ()!• SEVASTOI'OL. A Tort Alexander. B „ Constantine. C „ Nicholas. D Large field work on the liill. E The ancient Church of St. Vladimir. F The Lazaret. G Ruins of the ancient city of the Chersonesus. II Marhour for Merchantmen. 1 Principal landing place. J Harbour for the Fleet. K Dry Docks. L The large filter at which the fleet are watered. M Admiralty. N Careening Harbour. O Powder Magazine. P Lighthouse at Inkerman. (i Small stream from the valley of Inkerman. i{ Tunnel. S Hospital. T Ban-acks. V Ordnance storehouses. a a a Batteries in tarlli. b b b Aqueducts of the canal. c c c Excavations in the rock at Inkerman. d d d Guard ships. (■ Church. MILITARY WORKS. 145 The three principal works which command the approach, entrance, and interior of this harbour are, forts Alexander on the right, Constantine on the left, and Nicholas at the base of the hill on which the towii stands ; they are marked in the plan with the letters a b c. These forts, or rather batteries, in wliich a system of casemates has been adopted to the exclusion of every other principle, have been erected from the designs of a French- man in the Russian engineers. Their construc- tion in this respect renders them unique in the annals of fortification ; for though casemates have been and are frequently used, they never have been so to the same extent as in this instance. The freestone of wliich they are built is soft, and the strength of the masonry very questionable. The counter-forts are filled with rubble, and several of the key stones of the arches have given way un- der a salute ; the facing, however, is neatly finished, and the works externally have a most formidable appearance. The Constantine and Nicholas bat- teries are not yet completed ; the former will be the largest, with three tiers of guns ; the upper "en barbette." This work, rounded at the end VOL. I. II J4G MILITARY WORKS. towards tlie sea, is closed in the rear, which has casemates in it, of the same dimensions as those in the otlicr parts of the fort ; the guns on one side look up the harbour. The Alexander, the smallest work of the three, has only one tier of guns in casemates ; the upper, of thirty, being as in the other two, " en barbette." This work terminates in a cavalier or circular tower, covered with tiles, three guns of which look into the harbour. The rampart is about six feet thick. The apertures or port-holes of the case- mates are so small, that there is no possibility of training the guns either to the right or left. Upon inquiry, I found that Admiral Greig, who formerly commanded the Black Sea fleet, considered this of no consequence, as from the great number em- ployed, upwards of 2,000, there was no point in or near the harbour which did not lay under a cross fire of 60 pieces of the largest artillery. If this statement be accurate, the position of the guns must have been calculated with consider- able mathematical precision and ingenuity. The casemates are used as barracks, ten men occu- pying the distance between each gun, and the MILITARY WORKS. 147 window in the rear. In tlie winter, tliey are warmed by stoves ; the cook-houses are at each end, and a passage runs the whole length of the battery be- tween the guns and the men's cots ; there is also a furnace in each tier for heating shot. The dif- ficult}'^ of procuring proper ventilation has not been obviated. It was intended to accomplish this by the chimneys, and more particularly by the port-hole and the large window in the rear opposite to it : but the gun defeats this desirable object by stopping up the former. The size of the window failing to produce this effect is objectionable, as it must weaken the wall, and being low, would permit the ingress of shells from the court. I thought Bous- mard's opinion on casemates remained uncontra- dicted: he says, " Malheureusement les batteries qu'on y etablit ne sont pas susceptibles de faire une service prolongee ; la fumee de la poudre les encombre promptement, et y incommode telle- ment les artilleurs qu'ils ne peuvcnt plus continuer a faire usage de leurs pieces, tons les efforts jusqu'si present pour obvier cet inconvenient n'ont pas encore obtenu un succes satisfaisajitJ" TIic Alex- ander battery is closed in the rear by a loop-holed 148 MILITAHV WORKS. wall, and gates which might easily be forced. But these works are not constructed, nor are they in a position, to resist an attack by land ; the comniand is so great from the town in the rear that whoever is in possession of it must also be in possession of the works. They have already cost Russia 5,000,000 of roubles, and are considered impreg- nable. It may be a long time before that ques- tion is decided, but if we should ever contemplate the destruction of the admiralty and fleet which they arc intended to jrroiect, I have not the least doubt that there are many admirals in our service who would be ready enough to make the experi- ment. The remaining works are in earth ; the small battery at the point near the admiralty ex- cepted. The fort marked d, which was intended to defend the harbour previously to the erection of these permanent works, was placed at so great a distance from the shore that none of the guns commanded it by a point blank fire. The scale on the plan is one mile. The lazaret in wUich Mr. Bell and his crew performed their quarantine, is marked f. The establishment is much smaller than that of Odessa AN ANTIQUARIAN'. \.\.C) or Kertcli. The harbour, like many others be- tween it and Cape Chersonesus, is an excellent one. My friend, B , when incarcerated in the lazaret, on his return from Turkey, from pure etimd amused himself with opening one of the ancient tombs which he discovered within its pre- cincts, and was rewarded for his pains by finding a vase, evidently Greek, and in it an instrument something like a bodkin. Thou";h an excellent hearted fellow, he was no antiquarian, and in proof of his apathy on the subject, told me the following anecdote, that occurred to him during the Turkish campaign : — " We were constructing a field-work near Size- poli, when one of the men struck his pickaxe against a large stone, which, upon examination, turned out to be an ancient tomb; it was opened with greatcare, and three jars, painted red and black, with drawings on them of men and women fight- ing, were found in it." " And you have them ?" said I eagerly, a beautiful Greek vase with the battle of the Amazons, already pictured in my imagination. *' Oh, no !" replied the Colonel, ** but I am very sorry that 1 have not, as you seem inte- ]50 SAINT VLADIMIK. rested about them. The fact was, our camp equipage, never very complete in cantonment, was of course utterly deficient of many articles con- ducive to comfort in the field, and we made use of them as water jugs ; but they did not last any length of time, for they were very fragile ; two of them were soon broken, and the third left behind r' So much for numismatics! The church, near the lazaret, is said to have been built by Vladimir, the first Christian Tzar, whose mode of obtaining baptism and a Christian wife, appears to have been rather singular. Scorn- ing the idea of putting himself under any obliga- tion to the Emperors Basilius and Constantine, he laid siege to Theodosia, then belonging to the Greek empire, to procure priests for this purpose. After an obstinate defence of six months, during which thousands of men perished on both sides, for the gratification of his barbarian vanity, the town fell into his hands. He then demanded the sister of the Emperors in marriage ; they, terrified by his threats of attacking their capital, sent the Princess Anna to him, who was not much flattered by this mode of wooing : Vladimir was then chris- THE CAMP. 151 tened Basil, and married. This church is built of the remains of the ancient cities of the Cher- sonesus ; and portions of columns and entablatures may be seen in its walls. The foundations of those of the above-mentioned cities may be traced, and a great quantity of the materials taken from them have been used in building Sevastopol. About 14,000 men are encamped here during the summer ; when on parade, they look in good order ; in their tents, \N'retched, everything being dirty and in confusion. In the winter, they go into the barracks, here, and at Simpheropol, or are quartered in the villages in the neighbourhood. Ophthalmia was very prevalent amongst them, principally owing to their being employed during the gi*eat heats on the public works, when the glare and dust are insufferable. The sick amounted to nearly 4000. Cataract is a very common disease in the Crimea. CHArTER XI. Leave Sevastopol — Ascend to tlic ruins of Mangoup Kalu — Bagtche- serai — A Tartar wedding — The bath of the harem — Gypsies — Ko- rolce and Tchoufout Kale — Karaite Jewesses — A night in a Tartar house — A peep — An Indian barber — Return to Choreis. On my return to Yalta, I was accompanied by Colonel U 's son, who has a small estate in the neighbourhood, and the journey was rendered much more agreeable by his society ; independ- ently of this, he was of great service to me as interpreter, speaking Russian fluently, and under- standing Tartar. I took leave of his family with regret, and many thanks for the great attention and kindness they had shown me. Having sent the corporal on to Bagtche Serai, to procure a room for us at the palace, which I had been in- formed was the usual halting place, we took a more circuitous route. About ten versts from ASCEND TO MAXGOUP. ]53 Sevastopol, we passed the reservoir of the canal, and following: the road throusrh several beautiful valleys, covered with walnut-trees laden with fruit, arrived at the foot of the mountain, on the summit of which are the ruins of Mangoup Kale. It rises almost perpendicularly. The town was once in the hands of the Greeks, it became afterwards a Genoese fortress, and was subsequently the resi- dence of the Karaite Jews. A guide being ne- cessary for the ascent, we entered a small village at the foot of the mountain, to procure one, and in the course of our search, surprised several Tar- tar women at their avocations under the sheds of the houses, who hastily put up their fercdges and dispersed. Wliile the nags were getting ready, we strolled down to a fountain at a short distance from the village, and finding the water delicious, took a deep draught. The inscription informed us that it was erected as an act of charity by some benevolent Tartar. The ascent to the ruins was steep and difficult, and very tortuous in conse- quence of the large ma'^ses of rock which, having fallen from above, obstructed the path. The nut- trees, always in great numbers in this part of the H 3 J 51 RUINS OF MAXGOUP. Crimea, were covered with fruit, wliich we ga- thered and ate as we rode ; their great profusion was principally owing to the natural irrigation on the mountain side. Emerging from the underwood, we came to the cemetery of the Karaite Jews, containing many thousand tombstones of coffiji shape, covered with Hebrew inscriptions. They reach close up to the outer wall of the fortress, which, running across the hill, follows the inequali- ties of the ground, and is flanked by square cas- tellated towers, at short distances from each other. Within this wall was the town of Mangoup, beyond which, and to the left, one extremity of the mountain runs out in a kind of promontory, precipitous on all sides. This was also strongly fortified by a wall and towers, which ran across it^ and formed the citadel. The sides of this pro- montory are full of excavations, which appear to have been used as prisons ; the view from the windows of these chambers is of the wildest character, and a glance at the village, several hundred feet below, into which a stone might be dropped, is sufficient to unnerve the strongest RVIN'S OF MANGOrP. 155 head, the party who scaled the Peter Botte moun- tain always excepted. Sevastopol, its numerous harboiu-s and shipping, may be distinctly seen from hence, and towards Bagtche Serai the eye ranges over a broken chain of mountains, each in itself a natural fortress. Not a human being now resides here ; the vast population that once inhabited Mangoup is dis- persed : a few, who lingered, eventually retired to Tchoufout Kale, in the last century. Ivy has embraced the walls and towers, the vine has given way to the thistle, the chambers in the rock are choked with rank herbs and trees, the lizards disport themselves over the ruins of the syna- gogue ; and an eagle's feather, which lay on the ground, completed a scene of desertion and desolation more particularly striking when con- sidered with reference to the history of the He- brew race. The only objects which excited our attention on the road to Bagtche Serai, were the small brick monuments erected by Potemkin to com- memorate the Empress Catherine's visit to the Crimea. J^'Jg BAGTCHE SERAI. It was niglit before we arrived at our destina- tion. This is one of the few towns in the Crimea inhabited solely b}' Tartars, who still cling with affection and reverence to the ancient capital of their race; it would be more interesting to those who have not travelled in the East, for though the glory of their Khans has departed, they have preserved all their eastern manners and customs. Their nature is kind and inoffensive, and they generally prefer a pastoral life ; a fe,w employ themselves in the manufacture of leather cushions, ' slippers, whips, saddles, &c., fur caps of the black lamb-skin, and cloaks called bourkas. The latter are shaped like a large cape, and woven in one piece, the outside being covered with woollen ends left purposely hanging from the cloth, which gives them something the appearance of a sheepskin ; they are black, and turn any rain. The caps are worn by tlie Little Russians, as well as by the Tartars. My Arnaout had been unsuccessful in his mission ; he presented the passport, but failed in procuring us a room ; we therefore went to the house of one of his Greek friends. The appear- ance of the somovar, tea, and fresh eggs, with the A TARTAR WEDDIKG. 157 addition of a " pocket pistol," and the never-fail- ing effects of the soothing chibouque, made us forget our disappointment at the palace, and throw- ing ourselves down on our bourkas, (excellent beds for men who had been twelve hours in the saddle,) we were soon asleep. My dreams were of India, and I awoke to find them almost realized by the confusion of sounds which met my ear, pro- duced by tom-toms, gongs, bagpipes, and other simi- larly melodious instruments used in that country. The window of our room looked towards the street, and on opening it, I found the concert was in honour of a Tartar bride, whose equipage, drawn by two ponies, was surrounded by curtains and torch-bearers, lighting her to the hymeneal couch, in a manner truly classical. Though awakened by so interesting a circumstance, I wished her and her " cortege " far enough, and laid down, wondering where the phrenologists would find the organ of music in the head of a Tartar. The mausoleum of tlie Khans is a wretched edifice after that of the Sultans at Constantinople ; and a striking example of the instability of human greatness. The palace presents a series of .diminutive apartments, small ]5g THE nATII OF THE HAREM. courts, fountains, and kiosqucs ; tlic furniture is mean, and of modern date, and one room, left in its original state, is lined with looking-glass. The seraglio is separated by a wall from the principal building, but the gallery of the apartment, in which the Khans gave audience, is latticed so as to enable the ladies of the harem to hear and see unseen. The bath in the garden must have been a delightful retreat for them ; the trellis built over it is covered by a most splendid vine, so old, that these houris no doubt gathered the pendant and dehcious fruit when bathing. On the foun- tain, called Selsabil, in the vestibule, is the follow- ing inscription, remarkable only for the oriental character of the style : — "Glory to God in the Highest. "The town ofBagtch^--Serai rejoices in the beneficent soli- citude of tlie luminous Crim-Gheri-Khan : it was he, who with generous hand quenched the thirst of his countrymen, and who will occupy himself in shedding still greater bene- fits, when God shall assist him. His benevolence discovered this excellent spring of water. " If there exists such another fountain, let it present itself. The towns of Scham and Bagdad have seen many things, but never such a fountain." GYPSIES. ] 59 The author of this inscription is by name Chegi. Those tormented with tliirst, will read through the water, which falls from a pipe of the size of a finger, what is traced in the fountain. But what does it announce ? " Go, drink of the beautiful water from tlie purest of fountains, for it bestows health." (In the year 117G, a.d.) My inquiries here for coins produced a gold one of the Lower Empire in very good preservation, and many Tartar ones of copper. The coffee- houses, very poor and dirty, were divided into little pens by low partitions, and the beverage, as in Turkey^ was served in very small cups in fil- agree stands. The proprietor of the cafe we entered had been Mayor or Bashi, and wore an enormous medal presented to him by the Emperor when he visited the town. The gypsies near here live in excavations of the rock, and we turned aside to see their habitations ; they may be truly said to live ** in holes in the earth :" the women are remarkably handsome, and liad the marked and peculiar features of their race. We continued our jtnirncy iji the aftcrnuun, and 160 KOROLEF. AND TCIIOUFOUT KALE. at a little distance from the town came to a stream, which has been described as the " roaring Djouroiiksou ;" when we passed it was so small that we stepped across it, and ascending the ra- vine, arrived at the monastery of the Assumption at Korolee. This building, like that of St. George, is perched upon a ledge of rock, pierced in many places for mausoleums similar to those of Inkerman. Recrossing the ravine, we ascended the mountain to Tchoufout Kale, a town of the Karaite Jews ; a remnant only of this sect, now remains, and the place will, in a few years, be as deserted as Mangoup. These Jews date their schism as far back as the Babylonish captivity, and reject the Talmud, and every kind of tradi- tion ; they have, from their long residence in the East, many of the habits and manners of Maho- medans, and are both honest and cleanly, two rare qualifications with their brethren of Odessa. As we rode through the streets of this almost uninhabited town, bright eyes were occasionally seen peeping from a latticed window. As we in- creased our distance, the obstacle to the gratifi- cation of curiosity was thrown open, and the KARAITE JEWESSES. \Q\ heads of these Rebeccas were brought full ii view, no doubt with the intention of preventing disappointment to themselves, as well as to us. Their beauty is remarkable, and their eastern costume, of a gay character, set them off to admi- ration. The burying ground, at a short distance from the gate, is prettily situated. The synagogue was small ; the women sit apart from the men, in a gallery with a very efficient grating in front of it ; the building was hung with lamps, and the rabbi showed us several old copies of their Testa- ment, which commences with the book of Joshua. Near it, is a ruined mausoleum of one of the daughters of a Khan. The sides of this mountain, and several others in the neighbourhood, are so scarped, that they might, with very little trouble, be made impregnable. The view from hence towards the Tchatir Dag, the highest mountain on the south coast, is not unlike that from the Acropolis of Corinth, looking towards Nemea. As usual, it was late before we reached our station for the night, and our arrival was soon made known to the inhabitants of the village by the loud barking and yelling of their dogs ; every Jgg A TARTAR HOUSE. house is provided with at least half-a-dozen, but tlie wattled fences that surround them, being high, kept them at a distance. The corporal soon found the Bashi, aiid the ladies having been allowed time to retire to an iimcr room, we were shown into the one they had left. A divan, covered with coarse cotton, ran round the apartment, and the fire-place, in the centre of the side near the door, was large enough to admit six or eight persons within the chimney. Of course, there were no tables or chairs ; a low wooden stool or plateau on three legs, as in Turkey, being used for meals. One of them, covered with kaimack, (thick cream, which made an excellent substitute for butter,) fresh milk, and eggs, was quickly placed before us. Supper being despatched, we stretched oui'selves on the divan, and were soon blowing a cloud of such fragrance and volume from our chibouques, that the apartment was not only perfumed by it, but in that haze so delightful to those who really enjoy the art of smoking, not a cigar, but through a cherry-stick. We were not, however, left long in the quiet enjoyment of these Elysian nebulae, for the fleas assailed us in myriads. I was himt- A PEEP. 163 ing them all night, and towards moniing, was fairly obliged to perform a " spoglia," to make the chase eiFectual. While thus employed, I happened to look up at the window, which, on account of the heat, had been left open, and was not a little amused by discovering a lady Tartar peering at me with all her eyes ; but they were not hke those of the Rebeccas of Tchoufout Kale : but no sooner had she caught mine, than, has- tily drawing her feredge over her face, she dis- appeared in a twinkling. Our host appeared rather astonished at being remunerated, in the morning, and said that the generality of his visit- ors were always on duty ; adding, " Our conquer- ors. Sir, have left us very poor." "We set out early, being anxious to reach Yalta before the evening. Our road, the bed of a tor- rent, led us to Ousembash, a village at the foot of the mountains, which lay between us and the coast. The fences near the road were, as well as the trees and shrubs in them, covered with the wild hop, tlie vine, clematis, and oilier parasitic plants. The former was growing in great lux- uriance, and with cultivation, ought to succeed 1(34 AN INDIAN BAUBEK. admirably. The liouses in these valleys are much better built than those on the coast, and though very low, have frequently two stories, with a gal- lery running round them on the outside ; the roofs also are raised and tiled, and the ceilings sometimes ornamented with carving in wood. The village of Ousembash boasted a khan, to which I made my way, and sitting down in the divan, in the court, a Tartar barber relieved me of a tliree days' beard, in the most approved style of eastern art. His thumb followed the razor so closely, that the pressure on the skin prevented the action of the latter from being felt; and his dexterity put me not a little in mind of one of his brethren in India, who had the reputation of being able to shave his customer without awaking him from his slumbers, no matter how light ! I think it neces- sary to add that the person who related the anec- dote to me is dead ! ! ! Ha\'ing breakfasted, we commenced our scram- ble up the mountain, as on the road here, through the bed of a torrent, and being excessively steep, the horses had some difficulty in keeping their legs. The summit, completely devoid of trees. RETURN TO CHOREIS. 1(J5 was very cold ; but the view repaid us. The descent on the other side was rapid, and from the quantity of pine cones that had fallen from the trees, required care. I dismissed the corporal at Yalta, and having parted with my companion, who had contributed so much to the pleasure of my excursion, made the best of my way to Choreis. CHAPTER XII. Count AV 's "jour-de-fOtc" — Tlic Greek ritual — Prayer for the Emperor — An extraordinary scene — Collection of vines at Nikita — Crimean wines — Moscow champagne — Crimean delicacies — Return to Odessa. My good-natured friend, the Prince, received me with cordiahty ; and on turning in for the night, I was not sorry to find myself in a comfortable bed. The day after my return was the "jour-de- fete" of the young Count W , a relation of my host, and every one went up to the chapel at Massandra, to attend the service in honour of tlie day. I was glad to have an opportunity of wit- nessing the Greek ritual, and accompanied the Prince. Four horses in a light phaeton soon brought us to the door, which, as well as the interior, was thronged with people of the lower orders, in their pink shirts and gay sashes. They THE GREEK RITUAL. 1(37 looked careless, and unconscious of their slavery ; but it was there — completely betrayed by the way in which they saluted my companion as we passed ; not only was the cap in hand, but the body was bent low, with a servility of manner truly distress- ing to witness. Though the church was so densely crowded, the talisman of rank and power soon made way for us up to the altar ; it was brilliantly illuminated, for a great many of the congregation brought candles as an offering, and, having hghted one, placed the remainder with it on a table near the altar for the Papa ; whether for his benefit, or the young Count's, I did not make out. The chaunt, though pleasing, was tedious, and monotonous in the literal sense of the word ; the Prince's steward, who stood near us, exerted him- self most laudably in keeping up the quantity, if not the quality, of the tone. Tlic heat, not pure caloric, soon made me anxious for the conclusion ; but the censers, though they increased it, relieved the unpleasant efflu\ia. Towards the end of the ceremony, the doors in the gilt screen, which, like the veil in front of the Holy of Holies, concealed the altar, were closed, the chaunting ceased, the 168 rUAYER FOR THE EMPEROR censers wci-c withdrawn, and every one remained in mute attention. At length, the folding doors in the centre were re-opened and thrown back, and the priest, a gigantic fellow, with a large black beard, carrying on his head an enormous volume, which he steadied with both hands, came forward, and in one of the finest voices I ever heard, commenced a long recitation. Every one bent low, not in humble adoration, but in superstitious awe. I asked the Prince, in a whisper, for an explanation of a scene which exhibited so much emotion, and found that they were praying for the Emperor. The large volume contained the Gospels. The sensation mani- fested on this occasion surprised me much ; it was scarcely equalled by that usually seen in Catholic churches at the elevation of the Host. But the serfs of Russia look upon their Tzar as equal, if not superior to the Deity, and consequently, the prayer for his Imperial Majesty is listened to with more attention, and responded to with greater fervour, than any other part of the service. Seve- ral women now entered with infants in their arms, as I imagined for a christening, but in reality to AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE. JgQ have the sacrament administered to them. Their mothers, kneeling before the altar, gave them in succession to the priest, who endeavoured to place a spoonful of the elements in the mouth of each. This, as may be supposed, was neither easily nor silently accomplished, and a chaunt arose of a character quite different from that in which the steward had taken such a prominent part. The scene that ensued defies all attempts at description. The children kicked, and squalled, and all resisted to their " little utmost" this food, so unnatui-al to them ; while their mothers, evidently impressed with a belief in the benefit they were to derive from it, anxiously endeavoured to induce them to swallow at least a portion, and in some cases, forced it down their throats. The whole finished with a sermon, which the httle communicants, not half pacified, interrupted hy their cries ; but the Papa, determined that his eloquence should not be displayed in vain, ordered the young choristers out of the church. A Russian nobleman, who vokiiiteered a discus- sion on religious topics with me, as we drove away, said, " We don't believe all this, mais c'est tres VOL. I. I ]70 COLLECTION OF VINES l)on pour Ic peuple." Query, how much has Christianity progressed in Russia since the days of \lacUinir, eight centuries ago ? and what has education done for her nobles in the last two ? On the 12th of September, during my stay at Choreis, I dined one day with Mr. A , a Li- vonian, and Director of the Botanical Garden at Nikita ; he was kind enough to show me every thing himself, particularly the collection of vines. There are upwards of three hundred varieties, the greater part of them had been collected in the south of France for an American merchant ; the money, however, was not forthcoming on the day of sale, and Count Woronzoff, then at Vienna, having heard of the circumstance, travelled day and night to be in time to purchase them. I be- lieve I may say, without fear of contradiction, that the collection is unique, though not quite complete ; a very few of the varieties known to botanists are wanting. I missed one, the Au- rungabad, a grape known to all persons on the Bombay side of India, for its curious shape and luscious flavour. These vines were all in the open air, and trained on sticks on the French plan. With AT XIKITA. 171 very few exceptions, they were all well ripened, and looked very strong and healthy. The black and white Muscats, and the Isabella, (a South Ame- rican grape, as I understood ISIr. A ), were the best amongst those that I tasted ; had Van Huysum been alive, he would have gloried in hanng some of them as subjects for his pencil. Mr. A informed me that considerable quan- tities of these grapes are sent to the Emperor, at St. Petersburgh, a distance of 2400 versts. The wine grapes, as usual, were execrable. The stone fruits, all grown either on espalier, or on stand- ards, are not so good as in England ; the white figs, however, were exquisite, and the filberts and Spanish nuts of an enormous size. The olive, though growing here, does not succeed, bearing fruit but rarely, and of an inferior quality. Some forest trees from the Himalaya were tlu^iving re- markably well. A great variety of Crimean wines, principally sweet, were produced at and after dinner ; they were good of their kind, particularly the Malaga. The soil, aspect, and climate of this coast arc so favourable to the cultivation of the vine, that ]-;2 CRIMEAN WINES. every sort of wine may be made here ; and where great attention is paid, they are decidedly good. I saw an instance of this in the wine made by my travelling companion, Mr. U , which was unquestionably the best T drank in the Crimea, particularly the red ; it had the strength of good French claret, with the flavour and colour of port; and, as a farmer in my county once said to a most hospitable squire, whose wine he had been drinking over night, " There wasn't a headache in a pailful of it ;" a piece of homely, but gratifying criticism. But the reason of Mr. Upton's success is obvious ; fortunately for him, he cannot keep a steward, who, in common with nearly all the servants in Russia, are great rogues ; he is therefore obliged to be on the spot, and look to every thing himself, not only as to the management of the vines, but the making of the wine. Besides this, the ma- jority of the vine growers consider principally the quantity of wine, and not the quality ; and in order to obtain this result, when the grapes are nearly ripe, the vines are so much watered to increase the quantity of juice, that the wine is worth nothing. MOSCOW CHAMPAGNE. |73 The cliampagne of Count Vi is an exception to this ; and though not so good as Mouet's, is better than Charles Wright's, or any otlier wine of the same kind out of France. I heard that the Count is desirous of introducing the Crimean wines into the English market ; but the local expenses, great distance, and heavy duties would, even if they ever arrived at the same perfection as the French, be an insuperable bar to their standing any competition with them. The great customers for these wines are the proprietors of a champagne manufactory in Moscow, and agents are sent here by them every autumn to purchase all they can procure. Tlie process must be an extraordinary one, as the different varieties of white wine are said to be mixed up together. The speculation, however, answers ; for being put in French bottles, neatly leaded, and the mark counterfeited on the cork, a great quantity is disposed of as French Champagne, whicli is seldom sold at Moscow for less tlian eight guineas a dozen ! Another agreeable day was spent at Count A — 's, the lineal descendant of the celebrated admiral, who liaving spent three foitiui(.'.s in the capitals 174 CRIMEAN DELICACIES. of Vienna and St. Petersburg]!, has retired here to vegetate, as he calls it, on the wreck of a fourth. He was exceedingly entertaining, and did the honours of his house to admiration. It was curi- ous, that in this secluded place, the immediate neighbourhood produced the choicest delicacies of a table perfectly " en regie " in every respect. Sterlet soup, a luxury unknown to the " bon xi- vants" of London or Paris, was followed by excellent sturgeon, sgombri, (a kind of mackerel,) and trout, boar and chcvreuil, quails of exquisite flavour, dressed in vine leaves, and fruit of the most unri- valled bloom and sweetness, the production of nature, not the hothouse. The wines were the only foreign luxury ; the Count did not patronize the Crimean. The " Peter" arrived on the 14th, and having taken leave of my good-natured host, I embarked in her, on my return to Odessa. We had a most prosperous " trajet," and I was not a little delighted, on knocking at No. 17, at the " Pctersburgh," to find that, during my month's leave of absence, the best half of my estabUshment had met with no disasters, and were quite well. I now resumed RETURN TO ODESSA. \f^ my notes, to which the back of many a letter was doomed. Illness detained us at Odessa till it was too late in the season to travel to Moscow, and winter there, as had been our original intention. Though I regretted this at the time, I had afterwards good reason to alter my opinion, for I found that it afforded me many opportunities of becoming ac- quainted with Russian character, much more undisguised by the policy of pleasing, than I should have done in either of the capitals, St. Petersburgh especially. CHAPTER XIII. The site of Odessa — The Snbanski granary — Streets — A sixth cle- ment — Tlie fifth element — The General aground — The Boulevard — The cscalier monstre — The Duke do Richelieu — Count Woronzoff 9 house — The bathing house — Aquatic gjrmnasticE — Mermaids in full dress — Jelly fish. It is singular that with two such rivers as the Dnieper and the Dniester on this coast, the site of Odessa should have been selected for a com- mercial town. There is no natural harbour, and its trade consists almost entirely of raw pro- ductions from the interior, which are brought in carts drawn by oxen, a distance of from three to seven hundred miles. The only reason I ever heard assigned for the choice, is that the position is more favourable for enforcing quarantine laws and regulations than that of a town situated on a river. Odessa is seen to the most advantage from the THE SABAXSKI GRANARY. ]77 sea. It stands on a high cliiF, along which runs a Boulevard ; the streets are generally at right angles to it, and exceedingly wide. Large in- tervals of ground are left between many of the houses ; the granaries also are very numerous, and occupy considerable space, and the town is, there- fore, spread over a very wide surface. One of these granaries, by its style and dimensions, throws every other edifice, even the public build- ings, quite into the shade, and from its commanding position, on the opposite side of a ravine facing the town, is a very striking object. This maga- zine consists of a fa9ade with pilasters and a pedi- ment, and two wings extending from it; the National Gallery will give an idea of its length, though not of its height. The architect. Monsieur BaufTar, is a ver}' clever Italian, residing at Odessa. This granary originally belonged to a Pole of the name of Sabanski ; which gentleman having taken an active part in the Polish revolution, it became forfeited to the crown. It is said that the proprietor, before leaving Odessa, mortgaged it to its full extent, and did not, therefore, lose by the seizure. I 3 1 78 STREETS. The two principal streets, those of Richelieu and Catherine, are planted with a row of acacias on each side, which, from their stunted appear- ance, give no further hope of cither ornament or shade. Very large open drains, about two feet deep, also run the whole length of the street ; these are for the purpose of carrying off the melted snow when the thaw sets in, which frequently takes place so rapidly, that without them the streets would be under water. These di'ains are intersected at short distances by low arches, to enable persons to cross them from their carriages or otherwise. The Rue Richelieu has trottoirs : this street, on our arrival at Odessa, was paved a great part of its length with Trieste stones, but these were being taken up when we left to furnish materials for macadamizing the same road. — Trieste stones ! with so much granite on the banks of the Bug and the Dnieper ! On inquiry, I found that this was to accommodate a gentleman, one of the paving committee, who had furnished some of the other members with private loans, gave good dinners, &c., and who carried on an extensive business with that town. The Rue A SIXTH ELEMENT. 179 Catherine, with a few other streets, is macadam- ized with the soft stone of the cliff, a conglo- merate of shells wliich is soon converted into dust two or three inches deep ; this makes its way into desks, drawers, and all corners of the house; every article of food is covered with it, for the heat is too intense to allow of the windows being closed. In the tremendous gales which often occur here in the summer, it is almost impossible to leave the house ; for it drives " en masse " with such caprice, that the attempts the passenger naturally makes to avoid the spiral columns which rise every moment, are utterly futile ; and after having zig-zagged from one side of the street to the other, he finds himself completely enveloped in its gritty, hot, and dry embrace. When Napo- leon came to Russia on his insane expedition, he remarked that he had discovered a fifth element — mud ; had he remained the summer he would have found a sixth — dust. The dust may, in fact, be considered a perfect scourge, and causes diseases of the eye, and pulmonary affections. Twice a week only, tlie comfort of the inliubitants is consulted, when the Boulevard is watered in 18Q THE FIFTH ELEMENT. the evening, and they are tantalized with an at- mosphere which they can only breathe for six hours in the week. The rains of autumn, and the thaw in spring, convert all this dust into such a depth of mud, even in the three principal streets, that it is difficult to cross them without sinking up to the ankles. The charity of the upper classes, who never frequent any other, is too uncertain to induce any one to speculate, and work upon the chance of their getting a livelihood by sweeping a crossing, though there is enough to do in this way to maintain the numerous paupers, that may be seen in all parts of the town. The other streets become almost impassable to foot passengers, and in these seasons droskies are in- dispensable ; even they can scarcely make their way in some parts of the suburbs, which are then a very Slough of Despond ! Now and then a drunken man, or an old woman, is suffocated at a crossing; " mais ccla passe conime le temps." The women servants can only get to the bazaar in WelHngton boots ! and if they have none of their own, v.-hich is a rare occurrence, as they keep a pair for the purpose, they take their masters'; THE GEXER.VL AGROIXD. Jg^ at least, so mine sensed me. Thus accoutred, with their petticoats tucked up above their knees, they have no occasion to pick their way, though they never fail to pick their employers' pockets. Ladies going to the theatres or balls, were formerly obliged to yoke oxen to their carriages, and even now, during the deep falls of snow, when coming away, their servants, to give them a little notice, announce their shovels previously to their carriages. On one occasion General L , com- manding the Odessa district, in going to a review stuck fast on his drosky ; finding further progress on it impossible, he left his equipage, riding off on the near horse with all his harness still about him, and with this charger thus caparisoned, made his appearance in front of the regiment he was going to inspect. For eight or ten weeks in the winter, the streets are in better order, the sledging proceeds merrily, and scarcely a carriage is to be seen on wheels: some of the sledges are nicely lined with furs, and carpets are hung over the back, ornamented with tassels. Most of them are driven at a very rapid rate: towards the end of the season, the Iga THE BOULEVARD. road becomes very uneven, and worn into holes, and the ricochet movement of the sledge is then very disagreeable. Many Russians, however, are very loth to leave off sledging, and keep it up for some time after tlie thaw has set in ! others, by refusing to enter a sledge, wish to intimate that the climate is like that of Italy. The principal houses are built of a stone so soft as to be easily shaped with a hatchet, and are therefore soon run up ; the roofs are of iron and zinc, and being painted green, have a cheerful ap- pearance. The best are on the Boulevard, and in the streets leading to it. They are much in the Itahan style, and though sho\vy when new, soon become shabby, and have a very cheerless appear- ance from the stucco falling off after hard rains and frost. This promenade runs along the cliff, and is planted with a quadruple row of acacias, which though very stunted, are something better than those in the streets; but by the end of June the brilliant green of their foliage is superseded by layers of dust ; and they look as if a Brobdinagian dredging-box of second rate flour had been passed over them. The view from this cliiF is most un- THE "ESCALIER MONSTRE." 183 interesting. The opposite shore of the bay is a dreary expanse of steppe, presenting to the eye a long low coast without any object upon it but a few small huts — not a tree or slirub is to be seen. From the centre of the Boulevard, a staircase called the " escalier monstre " descends to the beach. The contractor for this work was ruined. It is an ill-conceived design if intended for orna- ment; its utility is more than doubtful, and its execution so defective, that its fall is already anti- cipated. An Odessa wag has prophesied that the Due de Richelieu, whose statue is at the top, will be the first person to go down it. This monument in bronze stands remarkably well. The Duke, represented in a toga, is looking towards the sea with his right hand extended in the direction of the harbour ; the attitude is dig- nified, the pedestal simple, and the cficct of the whole chaste and good. This nobleman, a French emigrant, was made governor of Odessa and South Russia by the Emperor Alexander, and was a glorious example to all men in oflicc, more par- ticularly to those of Russia. 184 THE DUKE DE RirilELIEU. During the Duke's administration, the plague raged here with great violence. He visited the hospitals ; and at Petrikofka, when the inhabit- ants refused to bury their dead, he took a spade himself and set them the example. Two thousand six hundred persons fell victims to this disease in the years 1812 and 1813. The town has happily been visited only once since that period by so dreadful a calamity. This occun'ed in 1829, but the decided measures taken by Count Woronzoff prevented it from spreading to any extent. Me- dals were struck on this occasion, and presented to those who assisted in carrying his orders into effect. Richelieu's moral courage was only equalled by his charity and hospitality; and his salary as go- vernor, being insufficient to supply the demands upon both, he was frequently without a sous in his pocket. Alexander hearing this, sent him a considerable sum as a present, but the war with Napoleon breaking out at the time, he returned it to his generous master, remarking that his impe- rial majesty would have plenty to do with his spare money. He pursued the same line of conduct to COUNT WORONZOFFS HOUSE. Jg5 the end of his administration; and though he had numerous opportunities of enriching himself, he left the town, on his return to France at the Resto- ration, in a cabriolet de poste with a portmanteau containing his uniform and a few shirts — all his wardrobe. His departure was deplored by all classes, particularly the poor, who looked up to him as a father. At the extremity of the Boulevard stands the house of his excellency Count WoronzofT, the pre- sent governor general of New Russia. The inte- rior is fitted up with great taste. The library is perhaps the best private one in Russia ; and there is a good collection of pictures and philosophical instruments. The stables, under the care of two good English grooms, are extensive and admirably arranged. The house is surrounded by a small shrubbery which runs down the cliff to the road leading to the Pratique port. The mud in this harbour is sometimes very offensive. The lotkas and a few vessels employed as coasters from the sea of AzofT, Kertch, and Ni- colaieff, are nearly all the craft tliat lay licre, with the exception of the cruisers, steamers, or 1{^(J THE nATHING HOUSE. vessels brought in for repairs. The Russians are averse to yachting or boating, but if they had any taste for either, the regulations of the quarantine would prevent them from enjoying it. Fishing- boats are not allowed to go beyond the bay for the same reason. The troops and military or naval stores for Sevastopol, Circassia, or any other des- tination, are embarked at this harbour. At the foot of the cliff, and immediately oppo- site the wall of Count Woronzoff's shrubbery, is a wooden bathing-house built on piles a few feet over the water. This establishment is much fre- quented during the summer months by Poles and the fashionables of the town. The sea is not very salt, owing to a current setting along the coast from the Bug and Dnieper. Those to whom the saltness of the water is an object, go to the estuary on the other side of the neck of land at the extre- mity of the bay. The water there is like brine. The building is divided in the centre by boards ; steps into the water are the only accommodation. Every person brings his own towels, and if not, makes his pocket-handkerchief do instead ; failing in this, he shakes himself, and stands in the sun, the AQUATIC GYMXASTICS. 187 burning rays of which soon supply the deficiency of Hnen. The bathers, in puris naturahbus, are in full view of the ^vindows of the houses on the Boulevard, and the promenaders which frequent it. Public decency is a virtue held in little es- timation in this country, even amongst those who have the advantages of birth and education ; it is not therefore extraordinary that the lower orders are destitute of it. In tliis establishment, the ladies are only separated from the gentlemen by a wooden partition, but they never tliink of confining their aquatic rambles to the twenty feet of boards which would conceal them, for they strike out in parties of six or seven to show ofi*, and ha\ing gained an offing, as Jack would say, they rival one another in tlic various modes of swimming, floating and diving ; now and then dis- playing a leg or an arm above the water, and giv- ing other proofs of their agility and strength. I was left to conclude that these exhibitions afforded great amusement to the ladies, or they would not have frequented the place. On my first visit, I naturally followed the example of those gentlemen who liad 8v/um out, never f 196 WATER. gance ; they arc all whitewashed, aiul their domes, like the roofs of the houses, are painted green. The only objects that relieve this mass of mineral verdure are the watch towers, of which there is one in each quarter of the town ; a soldier is sta- tioned day and night in the gallery at the top, to give immediate alarm in case of iire. The esta- blishment of engines, firemen, &c., is upon a very fair footing, only one thing necessary, how- ever, to its efficiency, is wanting — water! the Ai'tesian wells have failed here, and only a few of the best houses have reservoirs in their court- yards, which are supplied by the rain, led in by pipes from the roof ; but many of these fail en- tirely in the dry season. The general supply for the inhabitants is brought into the town in large barrels, placed on a cart, and drawn by a wretched horse. The vodovosks, or water carriers, fetch it from springs at a distance of from three to six versts ; these sometimes fail, and the large stag- nant ponds near the suburbs are then put in re- quest. The vodovosk goes from house to house, and the price of a vedro, a small stable pail, is two copecks, but they generally supply persons by the THE THEATRE. j^-J- month, the expense for a family of four being about five roubles ; in the winter, six or seven ; but for washing, or baths, the charges are extra. These men are all Russians, and form a larRf>sKY. in tlie national costume, the footmen are in gaudy, ill-chosen liveries, cocked hats, covered with gold or silver lace, and great coats ; and are, therefore, not unlike a London parish beadle, or the porters at the Burlington Arcade. In spite of all this finery and outward show, I once surprised a noble- man's footman on the staircase with his boot off, arranging a dirty piece of rag round his foot, in place of a stocking. The drosky, the national vehicle, is the hack- carriage of the place ; the old-fashioned ones still in use at Moscow and St. Petersburgh, of wliich there are but few here, consist merely of a board, with a leather cushion, placed on springs, with four wheels ; the back is low, and the jarvie and his fare sit one behind tlie otlicr, as if they were on horseback. Those of Odessa are a great im- provement upon this. The coachman is placed on a small dickey, and the seat of the carriage is wide enough for two people, though they cannot sit conveniently, on account of the bench which connects the seat with the dickey in front. When a male fare is alone, he throws his leg over the bench, and sits as in a saddle, no bad position, THE DROSKY. OQQ considering the chances he has of being jolted off by the holes in the road. The women, of course, sit sideways, but Russian ladies seldom use these carriages " en ville." The drosky is driven with one, two, or three horses. In all cases, one is in the shafts, with a light piece of wood attached to them, forming an arch over his head ; to the centre of this is fastened a kind of bearing rein ; the traces draw from the nave of the wheel ; (the case also with the carts ;) the bridle and other parts of the harness are orna- mented with small pieces of brass, or silver. If two horses are driven, the second is always placed on the near side, his head drawn a little down, and outwards, by a rein attached to the bit for the purpose ; he is trained to canter, and show him- self off, while the other does nearly all the work, at a rapid trot : when there are three horses, the one on the opposite side is also harnessed with his head outwards, and capers in the same way. A drosky, well turned out in this manner, is by far the prettiest equipage of the tiiree ; ami when going at speed, the usual pace, tlie horses have the effect of those in an ancient car. O\0 FASHIONABLES. On Thursday and Sunday evenings, the Duke de Richelieu is surroimded by a crowd of shabby and broken-down carriages, which set down their company at the turnstile that forms the entrance to the Boulevard ; a few exclusives, however, re- main in their calashes, which parade up and down the road between the houses and the trees, the fair occupants occasionally stopping to listen to the band, or to flirt with some aide-de-camp, all lace, feathers, and orders, the rattle of whose steel scabbard and spurs forms a useful running accompaniment to the conversation. The other side of the carriage is occasionally graced by a young foal frolicking about liis mother, one of the wheelers, and helping himself to his supper ; while she, irritated at the circumstance, destroys half the pleasure of the tete-a-tete going on at the door by her fidgety movements. The toilette of these Black-sea belles is in the extreme of fashion, and might be modified with great advantage ; but much cannot be hoped for in that way amongst a society in which painting, both in white and red, even in the day-time and on the promenade, is commonly, though not uni- A MEDLEY. Oil versally, to be observed. But independent of the very last fashion of Paris and Vienna, every variety of nation and costume may be seen here. The calpacked Armenian and blue-breeched Greek, whose inexpressibles Mynheer Van Dunck might envy, are occasionally to be seen walking with an Albanian in his fustaniella and capote ; fezzed and turbaned Turks, servants dressed like Circassians, Karaite, and other Jews; some Tar- tars, in their pink pelisses and white turbans ; others in their bourkas and woollen caps. To these may be added, papas, in broad brimmed hats, violet-coloured robes and gold-headed canes, with beards that an old-fashioned Turk would have caressed all day long; schoolboys of the Lycee in military uniform; great Russians, malo or little Russians, and Russian nurses, particularly distinguished by their high head-dress of red cloth embroidered in gold. The men who sell ice, quass, hot drinks, and apricots, (no larger than walnuts,) are in the usual costume of the mujiks, a pink shirt and blue calico trousers. This list may be closed with officers in every kind of uni- form, civil, military, and naval. The picturesque 0\2 THE EMPERORS UIRTII-DAY. effect that this groat variety would otherwise have, is always exceedingly subdued by the dirty and uncouth appearance of the lower orders and the most " outre " Frank dresses, both male and female, of all classes. The Emperor's birth-day was ushered in here by a salute from the guard-ship, not better fired than the one we heard from a Turkish frigate in the Bosphorus. In the evening the Quadrant and the Boulevard were crowded to excess to see the fireworks, which had been provided by the govern- ment for the amusement of the inhabitants ; they had a very good effect, and were answered by rockets from the guard-ship. The crowd on this occasion dispersed without a cheer, or the slightest expression of feeling in honour of the day — Rus- sian etiquette. The only promenade besides the "Bulvar" is a small garden near the Lycee, where there is an establishment for the manu- facture and sale of mineral waters, conducted by a German. The shops in the street, which runs in a direct line from this garden, are principally Russian ; they are generally of one stoi-y with arcades in RUSSIAN SHOPS. 213 front, under wliicli the goods are piled on cither side the door, such, at least, as can be so placed. They consist principally of common groceries and their own manufactures in brass, iron, and cop- per; church bells, somovars, cauldrons, culinary utensils, stoves, and oil-cloth, coarse linen, cottons, and woollens, leather gloves for the istvostchiks,* hats, and bad crockery. Most of the hai'dware is from Moscow and Tula : the knives wretched imitations of English, having the words " shear steel," " Smith, Sheffield," and the crown with " warranted " stamped upon them. The trades- man, or his shopman, is generally bowing at the doors of these dark and dingy little houses, and calling to every one who goes by to turn in. This disagreeable practice prevails in all parts of Rus- sia. If a passenger is unfortunately obUged to accept their invitation, it is certain he will be cleverly cheated, more especially if a foreigner, and accompanied by an interpreter, as he and the sliopkeeper will then do it in concert. If their victim finds them out in their roguery tliey laugh in his face, and, if not, behind his back. This • Drosky-drivcr. OJ4 TIIK BAZAAR. Street, nearly a mile long, leads to the bazaar, which is laid out in streets and square market- places ; it has, however, nothing of an oriental character about it : the former are wide, but the houses are extremely low, dirty, and mean. The entrance to it is crowded by servants and workmen waiting to be liired by the day. The carpenters, bricklayers, sawyers, and masons have their implements, (a small stock,) in bags or baskets on their backs; the washerwomen and char -women are almost without clothes, generally without shoes or stockings, and many evidently fresh from " a cave " after a night's carouse. The principal markets are held here twice a week ; in the first square are sold bread, butter, eggs, bacon, poultry, and vegetables : the stalls in the centre are occupied by Jew moneychangers and Russian tea venders, with their somovars and apparatus before them, disposing of it by the cup. The street to the next square is lined with tinmen, coopers selling tubs, and wooden baths, spoons, bowls, cradles, and baskets of all kinds ; at some of the other stalls are sold nails, gridirons, frying- pans, and anchors, sweetmeats and charcoal. Flesh, THE BAZAAR. 015 fish, and game are sold in the second square : these three are very cheap, but of inferior quality, particularly the mutton ; the sheep are of the same breed as those at the Cape of Good Hope ; their tails weigh firom three to eight pounds, and are sometimes so large that two wheels and a little tray are obliged to be placed under them to enable the animal to move about. Veal is the best meat. The supply of fish is, generally speaking, good ; there is a great variety, but, with one or two exceptions, few of them are known in England; amongst these are the sturgeon, sterlet, soudak, sgombri, (a kind of mackerel,) thornback, sea carp, and eels. The supply of game is very uncertain, and the price consequently varies. In the winter, part- ridges are snared and netted in great quantities, and as the weather enables the peasants to keep them for several days, they sometimes arrive in the market by cartloads ; and on these occasions tliey may often be had for 20 copecks a l)race. Hares are generally from 80 copecks to I rcjuble 80 co- pecks. Woodcocks are always poor, and remain 0\Q THE BAZAAR. here but a short time. Quails plentiful and good. The bustard is a fine bird, but the breast only is eatable ; wild fowl are numerous. In looking over some accounts, I find that one hare, one bustard, and three partridges, cost, early in November, 5r. 80c. ; and in the end of that month, one hare and two partridges, Ir. 20c. But this game, though large, is far from being well- flavoured. The poultry is rarely good, being badly fatted; fowls are from Ir. 80c. to3r. a pair; turkeys from 2r. to 4;-. a-piece ; geese a little cheaper. Beef is about 20c. a pound, mutton from 2r. to 3r. the quarter; leg of veal 1;-. GOc. ; calves' feet 40c. Butter, made by the German colonists near the town, is from 40c. to 80c. the pound, according to the season. Eggs from 20c. to 50c. for ten ; new-laid ones in the winter 10c. each ; milk about 30c. a quart. Potatoes were from 12r. to 14r. the chetvcrt. People generally lay in a stock of winter vegetables ; they are kept in sand and put in the cellars. Cauliflowers, strawberries, and cherries are brought from Constantinople by the steamer ; the former, in the spring, were Ir. 4'Oc. each; the boat also brings lobsters and oysters, THE BAZAAR. Oj-' the latter excellent. Fruit is very cheap, but, with the exception of water melons and grapes, very inferior; the former are hawked about the streets in carts, and form, with black bread, the principal food of the lower classes during the summer months. Those from the Crimea and Cherson are by far the best. Truffles, the pro- duction of the country, are not to be compared with those of France. The oranges are cheap but bad; the greater part come from Sicily and the Archipelago. Dried fruits are inferior to those wliich are sold in England, where the best of every thing is always sent. Charcoal is sold by the cart-load, and comes from Bessarabia; when purchased in small quantities, the price is 3r. the chetvert. Wood, always dear, is from GOr. to I20r. the sagene, according to the time of the year it is laid in, and the supply in the market. The poor people Inirn kissick or kippeetch, dung mixed with straw, most offensive while burning, but nevertheless some of the grandees use it in their kitchens. This bazaar is two miles from the Boulevard, and those who do their own marketing generally vol.. I. L 218 TIIK MAHKET BASKET. proceed there in Lritzkas, kibitkas, pavoskies, or droskies, and sometimes, but very rarely, the cook in a great house is sent in a broken-down travelling carriage of her master's. With the exception of bread, and a very few other articles, the necessaries of life must be purchased here, as there are no shops for meat, game, fish, or poultry in the town. This system prevails all over Russia, and is very inconvenient. In the winter it is a miserable thing to see the provisions turned out of the market basket entirely frozen, the eggs as hard as marble, the beef only fit to put in a turning lathe, and the game so stifi", that with a little assistance from the wall, the birds and hares stand upon the kitchen table as erect as those in a museum. As meat is of a poor quality, this makes it much worse, for in the necessary process of thawing, all tlie goodness runs out be- fore it is cooked, and when placed on the table it is scarcely worth eating. The Jews have their own butchers, for they never taste any meat unless the animal has been killed according to the forms prescribed by the Levitical law. This must be done under the RABBIS AND THEIR FLOCKS. OJQ immediate superintendence of their Rabbis, whose fees for performing the ceremony keep up the price. In fact, this is one of the sources of revenue belonging to the priesthood, and their flocks con- sequently pay dearer for their mutton than any one else in the town. CHAPTER XVI. The currency — Gold and silver mines — Money coined — Money changers — Hiring a servant — Boulevard on a Saturday — Jews and other foreigners — Insurance offices — A Greek broker — Merchants — A sensible financier — Foreign shopkeepers — Colonists and servants — Carte-dc-sejour — The height of impudence. The Jews form the largest portion of the foreign j^opulation; as in other countries, they keep them- selves distinct from their Gentile neighbours, and follow any vocation by which they can turn their ■wits to account. A few are very rich and engaged in banking business ; many make large purchases of imported goods from the foreign merchants, and sell tlicm retail in their own shops. Pre- viously to the Ukase of October, 1839, great numbers were occupied as money changers, in- deed, nearly the whole of that class, with the ex- ception of a few Greeks, were of this community. That decree has, however, materially reduced THE CURRENCY. OO]^ their numbers, and destroyed this branch of Jew- ish industry ; a few are still left who change notes into silver, or the reverse, at a premimn of half per cent. Before the Ukase in question was in force, all taxes, customs, and sums due to the state, were received in government paper only ; this caused a high premium on notes, as much as eight per cent., when I arrived at Odessa. The value of the silver rouble (the standard) has, by this Ukase, become the same all over the empire, for the taxes are now taken in silver as well as paper. Previous to this salutary change the silver rouble varied in almost every government. In Odessa it was worth three roubles eighty copecks, (cop- per ;) in Moscow, four roubles, and in Peters- burgh three roubles and seventy copecks. This financial change was effected, like most things in Russia, without giving much notice. The old paper roubles are now being withdrawn, and the new notes which have been issued represent the silver rouble. When this change has been com- pleted, and the old notes have entirely disap- peared, the currency will be uniform, and tlu; OOO GOLD AND SILVER MINES. paper rouble, like our guinea, a nominal coin. The coinage is very handsome, and the silver and copper are in great quantities; the former is very heavy. Gold is scarce, though the govern- ment returns of the precious metals would leave a person to infer tliat there is an abundance of it in the country. Pouds lbs. zol. grs. By the following extract, taken from the Government Gazette, it appears that the gold taken from the mines of Oural, be- tween the years 1823 and 1838, amoimt- ed to . . . . . 1,592 14 22 G2 Gold taken from the mountains of Altai and Emershinsk, in Siberia, during the same period, amounted to . . 548 8 48 18 2,140 22 71 12 Gold taken from the mines of private indi- viduals amounted to, in the same period 3,009 30 72 47 Total from the mines of government and those of private individuals . 5,1.50 13 47 59 The platina taken from the government mines in the mountains of Oural, during the same period, amounted to . . 29 83 82 Ditto from the mines of Dcmidoff . 1,216 29 9136 Ditto from those of other persons . 13 13 65 10 1,259 4 48 60 MONEY COIXED. OO3 Pouds lbs. 20I. STs. Silver from goverament mines in the mountains of Altai, during the same period amounted to . . . 14,704 7 ;>7 S!> Ditto from the mines of Emershinsk . 3,301 30 20 7 18,005 37 58 28 During this period, that is between the years of 1 823 and 1838, tlie money coined amounted to Gold imperials .... 8,548,213 Silver roubles ..... 48,764,823 Platina pieces of the value of three silver roubles 2,458,00!) The gold imperial is worth about ten silver roubles, accord- ing to the agio which there always is on gold. The value of the silver rouble is about three shillings and four-pence, ac- cording to the exchange. To return from this long digression to the money changers : their general rendezvous is the Greek bazaar, but now and then one may be seen at the comer of some remote street witli a dirty table in front of him, and a piece of chalk in his hand to assist him in making his everlast- ing calculations. This fellow, however, with his siiovel hat and greasy gaberdine, long matted beard and anxious eye, who looks as if he was not worth the skin of the water-melon he has just thrown down beside him, could, upon a pinch, and tor 024< HIRING A SERVANT. a proper consideration, produce some thousands of roubles. Tlie remainder of the Israelites are usually employed in hawking fruit, tape, gloves, and pins, staylaces, dressing-gowns, hats, tinware, old clothes, and hooks, about the streets ; and some, called " courtiers," make a livelihood by providing families with servants, and servants with places. There is an office for conducting this business, and a person requiring any of these (in Odessa literally) necessary evils, sends to the bureau for one. A day or two after, the courtier makes his appearance with the lady, to be looked at hke a horse, and, if approved of, taken like a horse, on his waiTanty ; the person hiring her never ex- pects to obtain any further information about her than what he gains by their assertions and the iise of his own eyes. If she continues a month with her employer, the bear-leader expects a fee of three roubles ; or as much more as he can get. The scene on the Boulevard on a Satur- day evening is peculiarly striking. It is then thronged by the Jewish population, and there seems to be a tacit agreement amongst the Chris- BOULEVARD OX A SATURDAY. OO5 tians to abandon it to them ; very few individuals, not of their race, are to be seen there on that night, certainly too few to break the deadening effect of the uniformity of their sombre costume. The men are dressed in a long wrapper wliich reaches very nearly to the ground, occasionally grey, mostly black ; new, or ragged and rusty, as may suit the purse or the habits of the wearer. Though generally of woollen, they are sometimes of silk, and the exquisites, for there are a few, have them of satin ; under this is a pair of black trousers tucked into high Wellingtons, Russian fashion. A low-crowned broad-brimmed hat, or a black cloth cap, edged with fur, completes the ugliest costume of Europe or any other country. The Italian opera furnishes an example of it in the Jew pedlar of the Gazza Ladra. The eye, unfortunately, is not the only organ offended by their presence : this is the more extraordinary, as they have a most admirable example of cleanliness before them in their Karaite brethren. The women very generally dress in black, with a grey scarf or kerchief on the neck ; the gown, of ordi- nary make, is of rags or satin,. as may happen; L 3 00(3 JEWS AND tlieir head-dress has a high front, divided in the centre above the forehead, and covered with black velvet ; it is usually ornamented v^^ith gold, jewels, and quantities of seed or other pearls. Many of these tiaras are of great value, and descend as heir-looms in their respective families. Like the men, the habits of the women are dirty in the extreme. Beauty, by no means rare amongst the females of this people in England, Italy, and many other parts of Europe, is never seen here, and few Rebeccas, either in mind or form, are to be found in Odessa, though Reginald Front de Boeufs are numerous. The Jews herd together at their own coffee-house near the hotel Richelieu, and the only amusement which they enter into in common with the rest of the public is the theatre. They were formerly exempt from military ser- vice, but the present Emperor lets no biped escape him in this way, and has lately introduced them into the army ; a sort of balance to Count Woron- zoff 's philanthropy, who was the first person to take them by the hand, and by whose advice they were settled in this part of Russia. Though it OTHER FOREIGNERS. OO7 is the fashion with Russians to abuse them, and the practice of some travellers to descant with great virulence upon their rapacity, meanness, and demoralization, I saw no reason to think them worse than the lower orders of the Russians in the towns, certainly not in Odessa, where I had a year's experience of both. As to honesty in them, or any other portion of that class of the inhabitants, (exceptions to the rule allowed,) it ^ would be absurd to look for it; in sobriety and general usefulness, they had the advantage over aU. The principal foreign merchants here, are Greeks, Italians, and Germans ; the only two English houses in the toNNH, when I was there, have since ceased to exist. The greater part of these Greeks may truly be said to be of the Lower Empire ; and their success is owing more to their cunning, than to the honourable exertion of in- dustry and fair dealing. One of the richest amongst them originally sold oranges about the streets, and was waiter at a low wine shop. There- is much more of the broker than the merchant about them ; in fact, many are little more than OOg INSURANCE OFFICES. agents, and cannot be compared with the mer- chants in any large commercial tov\Ti in England, or on the Continent, either in intelligence or libe- rality. The acts of roguery committed here, are scarcely to be believed ; in any other mercantile community, a person guilty of them would be a marked man, and would not dare to show his face again on the Exchange. A Greek broker, who forged a bill for ten thousand roubles, during my stay, was at large a month afterwards ; his coun- trymen, having subscribed the sum amongst them, succeeded in defeating the measures of justice ; and after this whitewashing, he was no worse looked upon than he had been before. Five out of the six insurance companies that have been established here, at different periods, have failed, and their ruin was greatly accelerated by the dishonest speculations of one of the most wealthy persons in the town. This man, having a country-house near the sea, had numerous opportunities of ascertaining which were the most inefficient captains and crews of the lotkas en- gaged in the coasting trade, between Odessa and Cherson. These vessels he invariably insured ; MERCHANTS. OOQ some of them were scarcely sea-wortliy, but the crews of many that were, if they met with any- tliing of a breeze, ran the lotka aground, and taking to the small boat, went on shore. If the vessel held together, they continued their voyage ; if not, she went to pieces, and this "richard" poc- keted the insurance ; while rumour frequently pointed him out as having connived at the circum- stance. With few exceptions, the merchants of Odessa have brought themselves into such disrepute, that it is with difficulty they can obtain credit in Lon- don ; but a man's honesty, in the former place, is quite as likely to impede his success as to promote it. However revolting to his principles, he is obliged, occasionally, to bend to circumstances, and meet the men he has to deal with with their own weapons. One peculiarity, which I never met with any where else, was here forced upon my observation continually, — let me converse with whom I might, high or low, he was always sure to warn me, as a stranger, against the rascality of the inhabitants. Tliis happened much too often for me to suppose that the speaker was an cxtt'i)- 230 A SENSIBLE FIXANCIER. tion to his own rule, and tliereforc, it left the account of honest men small indeed, and justi- fied my forming a general opinion of each man's class by these admissions, which I found after- wards amply borne out by facts. These mer- chants have no intercourse with one another ; mutual suspicion seems to destroy all social feel- ing. They meet only at the parlatoire, the bourse, the cafe, the theatre, and three subscription balls, during the winter. A few frequent the house of Count Woronzoff, on public evenings, where their wives, by their extravagant display of dress, paint, and jewellery, contrive to dispose of a little — indeed, not a little — of their husband's superabun- dant wealth, who sit down to fifty-copeck whist, and when they lose, leave the table, looking as sour as their own villanous Tenedos wine. The collector of customs, Mr. L , a thorough bon vivant, and a very amusing fellow, proposed to the Government that, as Lafitte was prefer- able to this horrible composition of vinegar and rosin, the duties which were nearly double on the claret, should be lowered a few roubles, and the Greek raised, so that though an advantage would FOREIGN SHOPKEEPERS. 03J be gained by !Mr. L and tlie public, the Government would lose nothing by the alteration. But this very just and sensible proposition was not acceptable to the IMinister of Foreign affairs, who thought it of more consequence to keep the Greeks in good humour. The principal foreign shopkeepers, German and French, live in the Rue Richelieu ; some of them are of the first guild, and pay three thousand roubles a-year for permission to trade ; a decent tax upon commercial enterprize, and in a country where, according to the statistics of the " Journal des Debats," a few years ago, there were only 300,000 merchants. Amongst the Germans may be particularly mentioned the house of StifTel, Brothers ; almost any article of English manu- facture, and many of French and Swiss, may be procured here ; they have also a large establish- ment for the sale of china and glass, paper, porter, tea, and drugs. Wagner, a German, is in the same way of business, but not on so large a scale. The principal French shops arc those of Ventre, Frercs, Rubcaud, Guerin, Neiiman, Bcranger, and Martin, and the booksellers Saurun and Mie- 232 COLONISTS AND SERVANTS. villc. This is the most respectable class of people in the town, and the only one with whom a stran- ger can deal in confidence. The small shopkeep- ers are Germans, Greeks, Italians, and Levanters of every description, amongst whom it would be difficult to say which are the greatest rogues. All the apothecaries are Germans, and if a person requires bleeding, a Greek barber is called in, who does it with ajleam ! The rest of the foreign population are colonists and servants ; the former, who live in the environs, supply tlie market with vegetables, butter, eggs, and poultry ; they bring their goods into the town in long German wagons vdthout springs, which are very generally driven by the women, who are always in the way on the road. In one of my visits to the Bazaar, two of these female charioteers, each in possession of a rein, drove their pole right through the body of my drosky, and nearly broke my leg. The foreign servants are either from the colonies, or are the sharks and outcasts of their respective countries, whether Greeks, Italians, or Germans ; and are, without exception, dirty, dishonest, given to drink- ing, and wholly destitute of respect, either for A CARTE-DE^EJOUR. 033 their employers or themselves. As before stated, no character is asked for, and consequently, they have no idea of the value of one, and act accord- ingly. The only security a person has against being robbed of whatever they can lay their hands upon, is their " carte-de-sejour." But this, if he cannot read Russ, sometimes turns out a forgery. Being anxious to know the form of one of them, I requested an acquaintance to translate it, and was not a little amused to find out that it was part of a marriage settlement. This paper the Emperor provides them with, every year, at the rate of twenty roubles, and on entering a service, they are obliged to give it up to the master. Robbed he will be, of course, in all articles of housekeeping ; but this is never thought an affair for the police by either party, nor would they take any cognizance of it. They consider pilfering in this way legitimate. A friend of mine, an old resident, told me that, having been cheated to an unusual extent, in fact, far beyond what was customary and expected, he bought a pair of scales, in order to check the rascality of tlic delinquent — his cook ; and the next market O^.J, Tin: HEIGHT Ol' IMPUnENCE. day, the " frau," on her return from the bazaar, was, to her great astonishment, desired to weigh her purchases in his presence. Down went her basket, and eyeing, first the emblem of justice, and then her master from head to foot, she put her arms a-kimbo, and said, " What, mein herr ! do you think I'll live in a house where scales are kejjt ? nein, nein ! you must get some one else to do your marketing :" adding, in her elegant patois, " Mein Gott! ich nich wol." I shall conclude this description of the foreign population of this town in the words of one who appears to have been a keen observer, and a com- petent judge : — " Rogues go to Pera to learn their trade, and when perfect, to Odessa to practise it." CHAPTEE XVII. The Countess Woronzoff at home — Russian whist — A soiree in Lent — A fancy ball — A lady with two husbands — Climate of Odessa — The interior of a post-house in a " mcctcU" — The cattle in a snow storm on the steppe — Merinos. Count Woronzoff entertains all the mnter, and twice a -sveek, the principal inhabitants are re- ceived : on these occcisions, the society is not very select, as many of very slender pretensions to the honour, are admitted by the Count's good-nature. His kindness and hospitality, particularly to Eng- lishmen, are too well known to need any remark. Besides the noblemen of the town, all the civil and mihtary employes are to be seen here. The amusements consist of music, dancing, round games, and whist ; at the latter, much larger sums may be lost than with us, l(jr llie mode of scoring is totally dilfcrent, and the calculations are so 03(3 RUSSIAN WIIIST. mucli more imnierous, that they are kept with a piece of chalk on the table. In this method of playing, the ten counts as an honour ; and though all the honours are reckoned as points, and paid for accordingly, yet the game can only he won by tricks. For instance : the points are ten, as at long whist ; each party draws a chalk line before him, on the table, the score for honours being kept at one end of it, and for tricks at the other. A and B, C and D, in the first hand, score in the second hand, , score Tricks Honours Tricks Honours 4 1 5 1 •i 2 4 Third hand Tliird ham d Fourth „ 2 2 Fourth „ 3 Fifth „ 2 3 Fifth „ 2 Sixth „ Sixth „ 3 5 Seventh „ 1 2 Seventh „ 3 10 13 G 19 With the game at this point, A and B will have won ; though, upon the score being balanced, which is done after each game, it will be seen that C and D have the most points, and do, in fact. A SOIREE IN" LEXT. 03'J' >\-in two, though they lose the game. The score of the former will be 23, while that of the latter is 25; C and D, therefore, mark the difference between these two numbers above their line, and each party effaces his score, and they commence the second game, A and B C and D 2 and so on to the third, if it happens to be a long rubber. Had A and B won the most points, as well as the game, they would have marked their score above their line, and their adversaries the same number under theirs. Brushes are provided for effacing the score. During Lent, the phice of other amusements was supplied by " pctits jeux" and music. The toilette of the ladies was remarkable : so great is the rivalry on this point, that none consider how far the costliness of their attire may be consistent witli their circumstances ; and the wife of a poor and embarrassed employe takes care to be as richly dressed as that of a mercliant rolling in roubles. Beauty is not scarce, but the painting and the 238 ^ FANCY BALL. manners neutralize much of its clTcct ; and the conversation of the ladies is nearly limited to the scandal of the day. The fancy hall given at the Count's after Easter, was very splendid ; the milliners' bills were said to have amounted to 50,000 roubles, and the tailors' to half as much. On this occa- sion, I went in regimentals, and as the dancing was going on, an aide-de-camp of my acquaintance came up to me, on the part of some ladies, to ask if it was a Jiaval uniform ! Though the costumes were the great attraction of the evening, the cha- racter that most excited my attention was a lady with two husbands ! and she was not a solitary mstance of bigamy in Russian society. Her first lord, having been concerned in some conspiracy against the government, was banished to Siberia ; and being, therefore, civilly dead, she took advan- tage of the circumstance, and married her present husband, Prince G . The change had appa- rently turned out much to her satisfaction, for her " abandon," activity, and indefatigable exertions in the quadrille first attracted my attention. If her former husband returns, he will have no claim CLIMATE OF ODESSA. O39 to her. The Emperor can break a' marriage, as easily as a corporal. The bitter cold of a winter night, after these heated rooms, was more than unpleasant ; in fact, the climate of Odessa, described by some people as that of Italy, is far from resembling it in any respect ; the remark would be applied with more justice to the south coast of the Crimea. The la- titude of this town, though the same as Milan, is no criterion in judging of its temperature, the locality is so different. Between the coast of the Black Sea and the arctic circle, there is scarcely a hill to break the force of the northern blasts, which, in the winter, sweep over tliis vast tract of snow, so unlike the plains of Italy, sheltered by the Swiss, Savoy, and German Alps. The extremes of heat and cold are sometimes quite extraordi- nary ; and the thermometer ranges from 25° to S(f in the shade, during the summer, down to 18^; and sometimes, though rarely, 24° of Reau- mur, in the winter. While we were here, it was fre([uently 27° in the fornur season, and 19" in the latter. \Vitli tlie exception of a very few showers, by no 0.40 TLIMATE OF ODESSA. means sufRcient to lay the dust for a quarter of an hour, the summer is one continued drought, and the dryness of the atmosphere is extreme. A map, that I thought perfectly dry, wlicn I tacked it up against the wall, for it had been in constant use, in the course of a week drew the nails, and I found it curled up on the floor. Con- trary to what might be expected, the wind from the south is the coolest and most refreshing ; that from the north, in its progress over the parched and burning steppe, arrives at Odessa like a hot wind in India. Storms of wind sometimes rise so suddenly, that before the windows can be closed, several of them are broken ; and the flap- ping of the Venetian blinds and the doors of the apartments, together with the clouds of dust, put the house into a state of confusion and uproar, from top to bottom. In one of these tornadoes, an English servant of mine was nearly precipitated into the street by the Venetian, which, in her endeavours to close it, all but pulled her over the sill of the window. These storms, which some- times continue two or three days, do a great deal of damage to the shipping, and the dark and lurid CLIMATE OF ODESSA. O4I clouds on the opposite side of the bay completely conceal the coast. Dysenter}' and nervous fevers prevail here during the great heats ; the former attacks chil- dren, who seldom recover ; but those who can do so, generally remove them into the country in the summer. The greatest number of deaths take place in this season, and are, on the whole popula- tion, about one in thirty. There is no rain till late in the autumn. October and part of No- vember are the most agreeable months. The winter sets in rather suddenly about the middle of the latter with hard frosts. As the winter season advances, the snow storms become extremely vio- lent. Five years ago, four hundred of the draught oxen employed in bringing corn into the town were snowed up, and perished in the streets ; and such was the severity of the weather that they were not dug out till ten days afterwards. In the early part of that winter Odessa was visited by a most tremendous gale, which blew dead on shore, and as there were many ships in the roads, the consuls and principal niLTcliants, with a number y the localities, and concealed by the morning mist, approaehtd '280 MICHAILOFSKY nEDOUBT ATTACKED. the entrenchments without being seen, and preci- pitated themselves with impetuosity to the assault. Overthrown in several attempts, tliey returned each time with fury to the charge, and after a long struggle ended by being masters of the rampart. Rejecting every proposition to surrender, the gar- rison continued with unshaken courage to main- tain a conflict now hopeless, preferring a glorious death, and were overwhelmed together, with the exception of six soldiers in the lazaret, who had taken no part in the defence, and who were made prisoners by the mountaineers. These last, as a mark of respect for the defenders of the re- doubt, carried to their houses some amongst them who gave hopes of recovery, one of whom was the lieutenant Khoudobasheff of the infantry regi- ment of Navaginsky, who, severely wounded in the arm and leg, had fallen one of the last. The garrison of this redoubt was composed of four hundred men of all ranks ; the loss of the moun- taineers, in killed alone, amounted to nine hundred men. " On the morning of the 22nd of March, the mountaineers, to the number of more than 11,000 A PLEASANT PROPOSAL. 281 men, attacked the redoubt of Michailofsky, of which the garrison counted only 480 men of all arms. The brave commandant, second Captain Liko, of the 5th battalion of the Cossacks of the frontier line of the Black Sea, having received information of the enemy's intentions, had made his preparations beforehand to oppose to them a vigorous resistance ; seeing it was impossible to receive any reinforcements in time, he had pre- pared nails to spike the cannon, in the event of the rampart being carried, and had constructed in the interior of the redoubt a ' reduit,' by means of planks, boards, and other materials, fit for the purpose : he then assembled the whole garrison, officers and soldiers, and proposed to them to blow up the powder magazine if they failed in repuls- ing the enemy; this proposition was received with an enthusiasm which the conduct of the garrison subsequently justified. The mountaineers were received by a most murderous fire from the artil- lery of the fort, and could not make themselves masters of the rampart till after a combat of one hour and a liall", during whicii they experienced considerable loss ; the heroic efforts of the garrison OgO A SIMPLE SOLDIER. having, at one period, driven them into the ditch, they took to flight ; but the mountaineers on horse- back, who remained in observation at a certain distance, received the runaways at tlie points of their swords ; seeing, therefore, inevitable death on both sides, they returned to the assault, and having driven the garrison from the ramparts, drove them into the * reduit,' after having burnt all the military stores, provisions, and appoint- ments, that were in the redoubt. The fire of musketry continued for half-an-hour, it sud- denly ceased, and the mountaineers began to con- gratulate themselves on their victory, when the magazine exploded. The garrison perished in accomplishing this act, which will be for ever remembered in military annals, and witli them perished all the mountaineers that were in the redoubt. Unfortunately, the author of this heroic action is unknown ; it is thought that it was ac- complished by a simple soldier, called Ossipoff; the result of the inquiry instituted on the subject will be eventually published. The details of the defence of the redoubts WielminofF and Michail- ofsky, were disclosed by the mountaineers them- ASSAULT OF NAVAGINSKY. 283 selves, and by some soldiers escaped from their slavery. The services of those heroes, thus dead on the field of battle, have been honoured by his Imperial Majesty in the persons of their families, whose existence having been ascertained, their children will be brought up at the expense of the state. These two redoubts are re-occupied by detachments of troops, serving on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. " The fortress of Navaginsky has often been subject to the attacks of the mountaineers, but they have always been repulsed with the same valour and with the same firmness. In one of these attacks, taking advantage of the dark- ness of the night, and the noise of the tempest, they approached the fort unperccivcd by the sentries, surrounded it on all sides, and rushing all at once to the assault, with ladders and hooks, they made themselves masters of a part of the rampart, and penetrated into the fort. The com- mandant, Captain Podgoursky, and tlic lieutenant, YacovlefT, then went to meet thL'iu with a part of the garrison, and were all kilk-d ou the spot; but their death in no way diminished the ardour of 284 ASSAULT OF ABINSKY. the soldiers, who ruslied upon the enemy with the bayonet, and drove them into the ditch ; the combat was maintained with the same enthusiasm in every other part of the fortress, and even the sick, spontaneously hastening out of the lazaret, took part. At the point of day, after three hours of a bloody conflict, the fortress was delivered of its enemies, who left a considerable number of dead and wounded. "" On the 26th of May, the fort Abinsky, situ- ated between the Kuban and the coast of the Black Sea, was surrounded, at two o'clock in the morning, by a band of mountaineers, amounting to '12,000 men, who had assembled in the neighbourhood, with great cries and firing shots. The hail of balls, hand grenades, and artillery, with which they were received, did not stop their ardour. Full of temerity, and contempt of danger, they descended with promptitude and wonderful agility into the ditch, and commenced escalading the rampart, thus blindly rushing on to certain death. Their warriors, covered with coats of mail, pene- trated several times into the intrenchment, but each time they were either killed or repulsed ; at RUSSIAN VEUACITY. ggg last, however, in spite of all the efforts of the garrison, a numerous troop made their way into the interior of a bastion, and advanced, with colours flying, into the interior of the fortress. The com- mandant. Colonel Vassiloffsky, preserving all his presence of mind in this critical moment, rushed on the enemy with forty men at fixed bayonets, that he had kept in reserve, and drove them out of the intrenchment, with the loss of a pair of colours. This brilliant action arrested the auda- city of the assailants, and inflamed to the highest degree the courage of the garrison ; the enemy beat a retreat at all points, and took to flight, carrying their dead with them, according to the custom of eastern nations. Ten wounded remained in the hands of the garrison, who found six hun- dred and eighty-five dead, in the interior of the place, and the ditches ; the number of those that the mountaineers carried with them to bury, amounted, without doubt, to a much more con- siderable number. On our side, tlie loss was nine men killed, and eighteen wounded ; at tlie moment of attack, the garrison of fort Abinsky was com- posed of a general oflicer, fifteen ollicers, and six Ogg A YEARS PAY. hundred and seventy-six soldiers. Tlie numerical weakness of this place, alone, proves the extraor- dinary intrepidity of officers, as well as soldiers, and their \inaninioiis resolution to defend with unalterable firmness the ramparts confided to their courage. The reverend Father IvanofF, chaplain to this battalion, constantly remained, cross in hand, in the ranks, all the time of the assault." Well done, Tom Thumb ! The officers' names,who distinguished themselves, are then mentioned, and those who received crosses, including one to the Padre, called a " croix pec- torale."* The men were rewarded for their ser- vices by a year's pay ; in other words, the glorious sum of seven shillings ! This is a pretty good, though not an unusual, specimen of government veracity in Russia, and so filled up with new laurels, brilHant valour, heroic actions, glorious faits d'armes, haut faits, valiant effiarts, and glory, that one would imagine the Russians, not the Circassians, were the vic- tors. " Barbarous hordes," and " wild enemies," forsooth ! Pray what docs half the population of * An ipecacuanha lozenge. — Printer's devil. PROBABILITIES. OgY their country consist of? AVhat arc we to call the Calmiicks, the Bashkirs, and the Kirghiz, the Tchernomorski, and other Cossacks? Then we have the Circassians carrying off the wounded as a " mark of respect," — humbug ! much more like compassion. The history of the magazine comes next, the details of which appear to be a most " ingenious fiction," probably the invention of one of the party, who, more fortunate than his com- panions, had risen from the dead ; nothing short of such evidence could establish the fact. The writer of the bulletin assigns to the commandant the honour of assembling the whole garrison, officers and soldiers, and proposing to them to blow up the powder magazine, if they failed in repulsing the enemy ; — they did fail, they were all blown up. The author of this heroic action is unknown, yet the writer thinks, according to hearsay, that it was accomplished by a simple soldier of the name of Ossipolf. The captain's anxiety to have his nails ready appears rather superfluous whc-n he contcinijlatLd such a finale. This is kindly followed up by a di-sire of his Imperial Majesty to Ikivl- their "families asccr- £<^g A SI.ICillT niFFERENCE. taincd, in order that they may be brouglit up at the expense of the state." — What liberality ! The meaning of this is to make soldiers of them, and Russian soldiers! — Athens was never more grate- ful to her sons ! The account of the assault of fort Abinsky is equally preposterous with what has preceded it. This field work, with a garrison of 676 men, is described as having been attacked by 12,000 men, many of them accoutred in coats of mail, who, having performed prodigies of valour, and succeeded in getting into the body of the place, are finally repulsed by a charge of forty men, and obliged to retreat, leaving 685 of their dead in the fort and ditches. The number they carried with them to bury " being much more considerable," we may conclude they amounted to 900, making in all 1,585 killed; in this slaughter only ten are wounded, and the loss of the garrison amounts to nine killed ! and just eighteen wounded ! ! The truth of all this rhodomontade may be told in a very few words. In the month of February, 1840, the Circassians opened their winter campaign by an attack upon the fort of Soubashee, which was IX THE KILLED AND WOUNDED. OgQ attended with the most brilliant success ; the assail- ants came down from the mountains during the night, and concealed themselves in the ditch. Before dawn a few of them ascended the rampart unperceived, overpowered the guard at the gate, opened it, and let in their companions, who rushed into the interior of the work, and the greater part of the garrison being sick, all opposition ceased. This enterprize, upon which their future success depended, was conducted with the greatest skill, caution, and courage ; their further progress was plain sailing, and the guns and stores taken here were employed in reducing the fort of (Psisoape) AVielminofT. The attack upon this was conducted by Col. M , whose services I have already alluded to. Under his able directions, the operations were carried on in the usual man- ner, and two guns having been placed in battery, which the Circassians served with great courage and intelligence, a breach was soon cllected ; scorning the aid of musketry, they then drew their kindjals, and rushed to the assault, and as they neither gave nor received quarter, the whok- gar- rison was put to the sword. The forts of Toapse, VOL. I. O 290 TUEBIZONDE SMUGGLERS. (LazarefFsky,) and Vhoolan (Michailofsky) ■were taken soon after, much in the same manner. These successes terminated in tlie capture of the fort of Abyn, which, as I have before said, commands the defile and road between Ghelendjik, and Ojinskaia on the Kuban : this fortress was larger than any of the others, and the garrison of eight hundred men were all either killed or made prisoners. The immense quantities of military stores taken in these forts, together with other materials, will enable the Circassians to cany on the war. The difficulty of obtaining supplies is very great; the smugglers from Trebizonde continue occasionally to run small quantities of salt and powder, but the enterprize is attended with con- siderable risk. It can only be accomplished in the winter, when the Russian cruizers, unable, or disinclined to face the weather, run into the har- bours, which, on this coast, are few and far be- tween. Small boats, similar to the camarae men- tioned by Strabo, are employed to land the goods ; they are kept in marshy creeks inland, where they lie unobserved amongst the rushes, and are launched on the approach of the vessel, so that no THE KINDJAL. OQJ time is lost in removing the cargo. The elements also, now and then, do the mountaineers a good turn, for a Russian frigate, or transport, witli stores for the forts, is not unfrequently driven ashore during the heavy gales, and about three years ago the Jason, man-of-war steamer, was also wrecked near Ghelendjik. In order to appreciate the result of the efforts of the Circassians in this campaign, it must be borne in mind that their success was principally owing to their individual courage in hand-to-hand fighting, with a weapon only fifteen inches in length, opposed to disciplined troops, a powerful artillery, and all the means and appliances of modern warfare. The kindjal is similar in shape to the ancient Roman sword, remarkably broad in proportion to its length, but tlie handle is without any guard. It might be supposed that the horrors of war, under any circumstances, were sufficiently dreadful to call fortli the sympathies of every man who is unfortunately charged with tlie responsibility of conducting it ; but this is not the case in the pre- sent instance ; Mens, de Montpereux, the advo- OQO KILL AND CURE. cate of Russia in this contest, observes that the emperor Nicholas is " habile a saisir les mesures les plus efficaces, celles qui tranchent le mal par la racine." This feeling has been literally acted upon, and the motto of Loyola too often adopted by those who have been entrusted with the exe- cution of his Imperial Majesty's will. The expeditions and reconnaissances into the interior have frequently been marked by a regular system of rapine and pillage, and whole villages have been given up to the flames. If the report was true that the Emperor had given orders that the country should be laid waste in this manner, the superior officers were too ready to act in a corresponding spirit; and if it was false, it is monstrous that they should, upon their own re- sponsibihty, have been wantonly guilty of such enormities. This is no exaggeration of the con- duct pursued towards the Circassians. I have, on several occasions, heard them described by Russians as wild beasts, only fit to be hunted down wdth blood-hounds, as the Maroons were in St. Domingo. A deeply -rooted feeling of revenge has naturally ensued, and accounts for the Circas- THE WAR IXPOPULAR. O93 sians having given no quarter during the late events. The spell that hung over the Russian forts is now broken, as several of them have fallen ; this cannot fail to inspire the inhabitants of tlie Caucasus with the hope of further success. On the other hand, the defeats sustained by their enemies cannot fail to depress the "morale " of an army, completely disgusted with a war to which they see no prospect of a termination, and in which they suffer so severely from every kind of privation and disease. It is, in truth, popular only \vith the superior officers, and those holding commands, who, independent of an increase of pay, have, in their various perquisites, so many opportunities of benefiting by it. In justice, however, to the men, let it be said that the army of the Caucasus has done its duty ; the odium of the excesses which have been committed rests with him in whom the war originated. The contest in Circassia cannot fail to interest the heart of any man possessed of one spark of generous feeling, for it is for liberty of thf purest kind, national independence. It docs not owi- its rise to excess of tyraiuiy in her own princes, o2 094 CIRCASSIAN LinERTY. jior to the insidious arts of heated demagogues and political adventurers, supported by followers as weak and selfish as themselves. It is the struggle of a brave people, who have for sixty years been defending their wives, their children, and their homes, and all that man, civilized or not, holds deal*, against an enemy overwhelming in numbers, and possessed of immense resources. True, the liberty of Circassia is of a rough cha- racter, but the gem is there, though unpolished ; and shall we not sympathize with these noble descendants of the Lacedaemonians, who still act with the same gallant spirit that animated their ancestors ? Not only is the abstract idea of being subdued abhorrent to their feelings, but their fate, if unsuccessful, will be embittered by the tyran- nical and oppressive character of their conquerors. Well may they dread their rule ; a nation, amongst whom no liberty, but that of thinking, is per- mitted, and that not aloud ; who, in the countries that have submitted to them under the most solemn treaties, that their rights should be re- spected, have directly or indirectly violated them whenever superior physical power gave them the RUSSIAN TYRANNY. 095 opportunities of doing so ; ^vhose energies have been always directed, since the time of Peter the Great, in support of despotism, foreign and do- mestic, and whose civilization consists in little more than having adopted the arts of modern warfare, and the details of discipline, to render their brute force more available. But will no one step forward in support of this unfortunate people ? Will the powers of Europe permit the Caucasian race, whose silence in distress is far more eloquent than words — will they allow them to be swept off from the face of the earth by these half-civilized descend- ants of the Sarmatian hordes, whose love of ag- grandizement, and grasping ambition, have already extended the bounds of their empire to its present overgrown and unnatural limits? Yes, for on such occasions, the sympathies of governments are awake only to the commercial or other bene- fits that may be expected to result from their interference ; and even these, though manifestly existing for England in the present case, have been left unnoticed by ours. Without such assist- ance, the struggles of the Circassians, though 09(5 THE CinCASSIAN'S LAST HOPE. almost superhuman, will be in vain, and their opponents, by superiority of numbers, by tlie total disregard of the waste of human life in their own army, their vast resources, and the dogged tenacity with which they conduct every enterprize of the same nature, must eventually prevail. The apathy displayed by individuals on the subject can only be accounted for by supposing that the chivalrous efforts of these gallant mountaineers, in the cause for which they contend, are not generally known. If they were, surely they would find in England some generous spirits ready to assist them, at least with the means of defence, and thereby secure to them their only wish, as an alternative to success — that of dying with arms in their hands. Since this imperfect sketch of the operations in Circassia was written, Mr. Bell's woi'k on that country has been published, and in support of my views of their successes, I was glad to find in it the following pithy letter from one of the Cir- cassian chiefs to that gentleman : — *' My dear old friend, Yakul Bey, how are you ? as for ourselves, thank God, we are doing very HASSAN BEY'S DESPATCH. jK)- weU. The news we have for you is really inter- esting. " On Wednesday, the sixteenth of Zil-hitsheh, immediately after the morning prayer, the fortress on the stream of the Waia was stormed in an hour ; all the soldiers there, together with the women, the guns, the ammunition, and stores, all were captured, and the houses were burned. We had in this affair only twenty-one martyrs, (i. e. killed.) Before this, the enemy marched from Siikum upon Ardler, but was unable to effect any tiling ; our friends having gathered, stopped them on the way and took twenty-five prisoners. " Hassan Bey. " 27th of Zil-hitsheh, 1255. (1st March, 1840.) " 1st P.S. My old friend, after the taking of tlie above-named fort of Waia, on Thursday the 8th of Moharrem, after morning prayer, we at- tacked the fort of Toapse. After seven and a half hours' fighting, the place, and nil that it contained, fell into our hands. This moment for your in- formation. " 2nd P.S. OjiL- week after tlic above date, cK)J^ BREVITY, MODESTV, AND TRUTH. the fort of Abyn, in Shapsuk, was taken ; tlianks be to the Ahnighty. " At this moment, my good friend, we are gatherinfj ajjain. ".3rd P.S. Shckir Effendi, Barsek Hadji, Deckhemoka, Hussera Bey, and all our kinsmen, send you their salutations." So much for the old highland chieftain's de- spatch, which stands in happy contrast with that of St. Petersburgh, for brevity, modesty, awd truth. END OF VOL. I. \V. Tyler, Printer, Bolt-court, London. 4 6 8 7 9 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below APR 2 6 1935 MAR 30 1994. Form L-9-15hi-3,'34 UNIVERSITY of CAT.IFORNIA AT LOS ANGRLLS LIBRARY L 007 038 066 2 P# i iiiiil j;|i Iii '' -'i^i^ pip 'mmmm ^;;^j ■^^ a;fi^ urn ' , ■ ■' ■/■y.Kur.rJ.