fertility of that flat and fat district which occupies the northern and least interesting part of the peninsula, he dismisses the whole line of the southern coast, with the short, uninviting and disreputable character of being rough, rocky, and teeming with northerly gales.' (vii. 4.) Men of ordinary minds in all ranks and countries, particularly those to whom mountainous scenery is no novelty, seldom entertain much real regard for the wilder features of a landscape, and generally limit their admiration to the arable. In these latter days, however, and since the important era of the subjugation, the Tauric Chersonesus has been duly and frequently explored by intelligent individuals from the west of Europe, and has moreover been peculiarly fortunate in attracting the attention of Pallas and Clarke, two of the most distinguished travellers of modern times. From the accounts of these and other writers, the great natural division of the Crimea into stepp and mountain, is, we believe, pretty generally familiar. The vast grassy plain which is designated by the Russian term, constitutes by far the largest share of the whole peninsula, covering about four-fifths of its surface, and communicating by the narrow isthmus of Perekop, with wide and almost interminable continental wastes of the same description. This level and treeless green desert, however, though apparently formed to baulk the expectations of the landscape-hunter, is not without considerable and weighty claims to the respect and attention of more sober-minded travellers. The deep vegetable earth of which it is every where composed is of such extraordinary fertility, that when scratched with the most barbarous hook ever complimented with the name of a plough, without any assistance from manure, and sometimes even from rain, it returns the grain, which is carelessly scattered on its surface, very frequently in a twentyfold proportion. Cultivation, however, or even habitation is rarely to be met with on the stepp. The Tartars and Greeks,' says Dr. Clarke, 'refuse to till the land, because they fear to be plundered by the Russians, and the Russians are too indolent to speculate upon the advantages of industry.' A high and luxuriant crop of grass, full of lizards, marmots, bustards, and wild flowers, covers during the spring, and till the middle of summer, the surface of this extensive waste, where the soil is so rich and inexhaustible, that, in the very midst of its rankest herbage, a gigantic species of horse-radish contrives to maintain a root twice the thickness of a man's arm, and the beautiful yellow holyoak to shoot up its lofty stem, to the height of eight or ten feet from the ground, Such is the nature of the northern, and, in point of extent, by far the most considerable portion of the Crimea; the remainder, however, however, is of a totally different character. After traversing the level of the monotonous stepp for the distance of eighty or ninety miles from his entrance at the golden gate of Perekop, the traveller is suddenly delighted to find himself in the midst of scenery the very reverse of that which he has hitherto been passing. Instead of an uniform horizon and dull green surface, only varied by tumuli of defunct Comanians, his eye plunges at once into all the intricacy of a woody and Alpine tract, as bold and diversified, though by no means so elevated, as those of Greece, Switzerland, or the Tyrol. The Crimean mountains form an abrupt wall on the southern border of the peninsula. The substance of which the whole range consists is, with some few exceptions, calcareous, but those on the northern side of the chain are of tamer forms and more recent formation than those which line the coast. The oldest and most lofty mountains,' says Pallas, (ii. 109.) extend from Balaclava to the vicinity of Theodosia, or Kaffa, a length of nearly 150 versts; but are of unequal breadth, which is most considerable in the central situation of the hills, and decreases towards the places before mentioned-according to general appearance, they consist of high ridges and crests, craggy on the south side, which is diversified with rocky terraces, but more gradually declining towards the more northern points of the compass.' The centre of this ancient ridge is occupied by the singular and conspicuous mountain called Tchatyr Dagh, the Trapezus of Strabo, whose summit is by far the most elevated point of the whole peninsula. Its positive height, indeed, is not rated by Pallas at more than 1200 feet above the level of the sea; but its classical appellation would seem to be sufficiently identified by the decisive testimony of its own form. All persons, however, who have contemplated its figure, are by no means agreed in the similitude it presents, but have ingeniously displayed their own national tastes in the names which they have imagined for the mountain. The Greeks,' says Mrs. Holderness, called it Table Mountain, the Tartars Tent Mountain, the Cossacks Saddle Mountain; but an Englishman at Sevastopol told a friend of mine that he considered it as resembling nothing so much as a sirloin of beef! From this pièce de résistance, which, lofty and detached, holds a prominent position in the centre, the chain branches off in two principal divisions, in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction, each following closely the shores of the Black Sea, and diminishing in elevation, as well as in beauty, in proportion as it approaches its extremity. Here, then, on the south-eastern slope of these mountainous ridges, which stretch like two wings to the right and left of the more elevated Tchatyr Dagh, are formed all those magnificent under cliffs, cliffs, natural terraces, and sheltered vallies, which, descending to the Euxine with a sunny exposure, constitute the appropriate and distinctive pride of the vaunted Crimean scenery. It is well known that in the delicious climate of this confined but highly favoured district, the richest vegetable productions of the south, the vine, the fig, and the olive, not only flourish in a cultivated state, but grow wild among the rocks. The scarlet pomegranate spreads its superb blossoms, and matures its fruit literally by the way-side. The large black mulberry-tree attains a size unknown in other countries, and is remarkable,' says Mrs. Holderness, for its luxuriance and the perfection of its fruit.' At Simeus, the bay (laurus* nobilis) forms a stem no less than thirteen feet in circumference, and a single walnut-tree at Sudac produces, on an average, a crop of 40,000 yearly. Even the apple of the Crimea requires the chartered aid of no horticultural society to make it one of the best and most beautiful fruits in the world, and maintains a successful competition with those of England and America, in the desserts of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Nor are the more exposed situations and less genial soil of the surrounding hills unfurnished with some of the most graceful species of European plants, the delicate and esteemed inhabitants of our English nursery grounds and shrubberies. Among the oaks and dwarf elms of which the mountain forests chiefly consist, are found the turpentine-tree, the wild medlar, two kinds of sumach, and the cornelian cherry. The pinus maritima thrives under the cliffs of the Criu Metopon, and the juniperus oxycedrus on the coast between Sudac and Alushta. The brushwood on Cape Ayoudagh is mixed with bushes of the arbutus andrachne; and the warm limestone rocks between that promontory and the village of Yoursouf, are in many places enlivened by the yellow blossoms of the bladder senna, (colutea arborea,) and the bright red berries of the pyracantha. Resembling the finest parts of Romelia and the Morea in many circumstances of its productions and climate, the scenery of the Tauric coast differs chiefly from that of the Greek peninsula in the more confined dimensions, yet livelier appearance of its habitable and cultivated ground. Unlike the large open plains which occur near the shores of the Ægean, covered occasionally, it is true, with a slovenly crop of wheat, barley, or maize, but more * French travellers are well known to be subject to palpitations, to which less sensitive constitutions are not liable. M. Reuilly experienced a regular paroxysm of this sort, at the sight of a laurel in the Crimea. La vue de cet arbre reporta ma pensée vers ma patrie; une larme d'attendrissement mouilla ma paupière, je songeai au Héros qui gouverne la France, je me rappellai ses victoires, je sentis un mouvement d'orgueil, et la joie succéda dans mon cœur au sentiment pénible qui l'oppressait !'-Voyage en Crimée, 28. Rhus cotinus and R. coriaria. frequently frequently with parched grass, thistles, and desolation, the steep and narrow Crimean vallies are little better in themselves than mere mountain defiles, but are filled completely, from side to side, with gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and always clothed, during the hottest months of summer, with the most brilliant and refreshing verdure. Sometimes, as at Parthenit, the low houses of the Tartars are altogether hidden under the spreading boughs and thick foliage of overshadowing walnut-trees. At other places, they are concealed in the same manner by vines and cherry-trees, or their site is pointed out by scattered groups of gigantic Lombardy poplars which are said to have been planted by the Genoese. In all, however, the environs of habitation are at once distinguished by an uniform and splendid attire of the most luxuriant green, and form a striking contrast with the graver colours of the gray rocks and darkly wooded hills with which, on three sides, they are closely and abruptly surrounded. Among these emerald gems of the eastern world,' Mrs. Holderness gives, perhaps, a just preference to the delightful situations of Lambat, Aloupka, and Nikita. The first of these beautiful vallies derives its principal charm from the pleasing curve of its small rocky bay, and from its neighbourhood to the remarkable headland of Ayoudagh. The village of Aloupka has a sublime and unrivalled background in the perpendicular cliffs of the Criu Metopon, and the scenery of Nikita, rich and magnificent by nature, is rendered doubly interesting by the large garden which has lately been formed by the Russian government on its warm and sheltered terraces, for the laudable purpose of encouraging and extending the cultivation of fruit-trees in the peninsula. Laudabunt alii-the larger and more open vallies of Simeus, Yalta, or Alushta; but where all are beautiful, selection is difficult and ungracious, and we willingly. subscribe to the more comprehensive admiration with which Dr. Clarke embraces the whole coast: If there exist upon earth,' says he, a terrestrial paradise, it is to be found in the district intervening between Kutchukkoy and Sudac, along the south-coast of the Crimea. Protected by encircling Alps from every cold and blighting wind, and open only to those breezes which are wafted from the south, the inhabitants enjoy every advantage of climate and situation. Continual streams of crystal water pour down from the mountains upon their gardens, where every species of fruit known in the rest of Europe, and many that are not, attain the highest perfection. Neither unwholesome exhalations, nor chilling winds, nor venomous insects, nor poisonous reptiles, nor hostile neighbours, infest their blissful territory. The life of its inhabitants resembles that of the golden age. The soil, like a hot-bed, rapidly puts forth such variety of spontaneous produce, that labour becomes merely an amusing exercise. Peace and plenty crown their board; while the repose they so much admire is only interrupted by harmless thunder reverberating in rocks above them, or by the murmur of the waves upon the beach below.'— ii. 252. The male Tartar inhabitants of this varied land, comprising the lowlanders of the stepp, as well as the mountaineers, are estimated at 186,000. If this statement be correct, and it is given on official authority, it appears that the Tartar population is once more on the increase, since, at the beginning of the present century, this portion of it was found only to amount to 120,000. Previously to that period, it had suffered considerable diminution in consequence of the numerous emigrations which followed the Russian conquest. Mrs. Holderness divides the nation into three principal classes, 1st, the murzas, or noblemen; 2dly, the mullas, or priests; and, 3dly, the peasantry. The existence of the first of these orders, viz. of an hereditary nobility, is one of the many very remarkable points of difference between the polity of the Tartars and of the Turks. In Turkey, a title is merely an appendage of office, not descending to the second generation. The son of a Pasha is, indeed, sometimes called Pasha, being allowed the appellation by courtesy; but his rank always ceases with the life or employment of his father, and his quota of tails is inferior. The title of Emir and its concomitant green turban are hereditary, it is true, both in the male and female lines; but these honours, attached to the blood of Mahomet, are at present too widely diffused among the barbers and bakers of the bazar to accord, in the slightest degree, with any notion of aristocratical distinction. The Tartar murzas, on the contrary, are strictly gentlemen by birth, property, and consideration. The state of the Tauric peerage, at the commencement of the present century, may be collected from the work of Pallas, (xi. 344.) whence it appears that the Tartar noblesse in his time consisted of seven* more ancient and historical families, in several of which the title of Bey pertained by right to the eldest individual; and eight others of less account, the members of which were simply denominated murza. The descendants of public officers are likewise permitted to assume the same titular appellation, but are looked upon as parvenus by the older nobility, and regarded as an inferior race. The premier peer (if we may borrow the term) is an elderly gentleman named Atay Murza, who is Bey of the powerful family of the Shirins, the only one which, under the dominion of the Khans, had the privilege of intermarrying with the Ghereis. Undeterred, or Undeterred, or perhaps emboldened, by this remarkable right, they have proved themselves, * De Tott mentions only five of these, but we prefer the more recent and accurate authority of Pallas. from |