a peninsula in the Black Sea, forming part of the Russian government of Taurida, with the mainland of which it is connected by the isthmus of Perekop. It is situated between 44. and 46. N. Lat., and 32. and 37. E. Long. It is of an irregular square, or rhomboid form, measuring diagonally about 190 miles from east to west, and 123 from north to south, and containing an area of about 8000 square miles. Its south-eastern, western, and north-western coasts are washed by the Black Sea, and the eastern by a shallow lagoon called the Sirosch, or Putrid Sea, which is connected with the Sea of Azoff by a very narrow strait, and separated from it by a tongue of land, consisting of sand and broken shells, about 70 miles in length, and 1 to 1½ in breadth. The eastern part of the Crimea forms a minor peninsula, stretching eastward to the strait of Kertsh or Caffa, or Jenikaleh, the ancient Cimmerian Bosporus, which forms the communication between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff; but is not navigable by large or deeply-laden vessels.

The Crimea consists mostly of a continuation of the steppes that occupy so large a portion of the southern governments of Russia. From the isthmus of Perekop, southwards to the neighbourhood of Kara-su-bazar, the country is one continued flat; then it rises by an easy gradation to the summit of a chain of hills that occupy the southern part of the peninsula, extending along the shore of the Black Sea from the vicinity of Kaffa to Sevastopol, to the southward of which they form the celebrated promontory called by the Greeks Kriou Metopon, or the Ram's Face, and now by the Tatars Ai Burun, or the Holy Cape. These hills are composed mostly of calcareous rocks, and no primary rocks are to be found among them, nor in any other part of the peninsula. They rise abruptly from the sea to a considerable elevation; and the highest, called by the ancient Greeks Trapezus, or the table-mountain, from the flatness of its summit, and now called by the Tatars Techatir-dagh, or the Tent Mountain, is 790 toises = 5051 feet above the level of the sea. The coast of this mountainous region is very picturesque, and numerous vineyards have been formed along its sunny slopes; but though they have the advantage of a fine exposure and a favourable climate, they have not been successful in the culture of the grape. The mountains produce likewise timber for shipbuilding, and abound with wild beasts. They are intersected by valleys of fine arable land, and are said to be rich in mineral produce of various kinds. From the northern foot of the mountains the country sinks into a boundless level steppe, mostly smooth as a bowling-green, with a soil of a dark coloured loam, with brackish water gathered in its hollows, but without either springs or rivers, though the beds of rivers that once existed may still be traced. The soil is generally impregnated with salt; but wherever it is capable of cultivation the surface is covered with plants, whose gaudy blossoms fill the air with fragrance. The most valuable product of this part of the country is salt, which is mostly derived, and in very large quantities, from lakes near Perekop, Kozlov, Kaffa, and Kertsch.

The only rivers worth mentioning are the Salghir and Rivers. The Kara-su or Blackwater. The former, which rises from a cavern near Simferopol, at the northern foot of the Techatirdagh, falls straight into the plain below, and then runs northeastward into the Putrid Sea, watering in its course the central part of the peninsula. The Blackwater rises from the mountains a little farther east, and falls into the Salghir in the lower part of its course. Neither of them is navigable. The Alma is a small stream a little north of Sebastopol, with steep southern banks, celebrated for the defeat of the Russian army, September 20, 1854, by the allied forces of France and Britain.

The climate from March to May is said to be most salubrious and delightful, the heat being moderate and refreshing, and the nights cool and serene. The summers are irregular and very hot, the thermometer rising to 100° in the steppe. Long droughts then frequently prevail, parching up the verdure; while thunderstorms, accompanied with hail and heavy rains, are frequent and destructive. The autumn is unhealthy, fevers and agues being then very prevalent and often fatal. In winter the mountains are covered with snow, which continues on the higher ones till June; and even in the plains the weather is sometimes extremely severe. Throughout the year the winds are very variable. They bring rain from the west, mild air and mists from the south, clear dry weather from the east, and cold from the north. Of late years the climate is believed to have changed materially for the worse; and fevers have become so prevalent in every part of the peninsula, that it is considered scarcely possible for a stranger to escape them.

In ancient times the Crimea, then called the Tauric peninsula, produced a great quantity of corn, which was exported productive to Athens and other parts of Greece; and, with proper inducement, it is believed to be still capable of maintaining its ancient productiveness. But the Tatars, who form the bulk of its present inhabitants, prefer the pastoral to the agricultural life; and so much do they neglect the cultivation of the soil, that even in the best years a large quantity of corn has to be imported. The sunny slopes of the mountains being supposed to be favourable to the cultivation of the vine, the Russian government has endeavoured to introduce it, and a large extent of the hill sides near Prince Woronzoff's palace of Marsanda has been covered with vineyards; but the produce has not been sufficient to remunerate the labour of the cultivators. The wine is not remarkable for either flavour or strength. The same part of the country likewise produces excellent garden fruits, particularly apples, which are so highly esteemed as to form an article of com- Crimea.

merce as far as Moscow. Trees, if planted in the steppe, perish altogether, after a brief existence of a year to two. According to Pallas, the most prevalent trees and shrubs that naturally occur are mountain-pine, juniper, yew, and some other evergreens, oak, beech, elm, several kinds of poplar, linden, maple, and ash. Wild sage and thyme are the prevalent plants of the mountains, and many parts of the steppe yield a rich and luxuriant pasturage. Of cultivated plants, wheat, barley, rye, oats, maize, millet, peas, flax, and tobacco, are grown in the fields; and in the gardens, melons, water-melons, gourds, and cucumbers. The other principal fruits produced, besides apples, are quinces, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, mulberries, walnuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts.

Animals.

The wild animals consist of wolves, foxes, badgers, weasels, hares, and jerboas; the tame, or domesticated double-humped camels, buffaloes, and beesves; three kinds of sheep, one of which is distinguished from those of any other country by short curly wool of a bluish-gray colour; goats, dogs, and deer. The Tatars possess large herds and flocks of sheep, oxen, camels, and buffaloes, with small wiry horses more remarkable for activity and intelligence than for beauty. The variety of birds is not great, consisting mostly of crows, owls, thrushes, blackbirds, partridges, quails, kingfishers, pigeons and poultry, geese, swans, ducks, teal, and gulls of various species. Serpents, lizards, and frogs are abundant; and the *Rana variabilis*—most disgusting like animal, swarms in the Sivash. Scorpions, tarantula-spiders, and scolopendras, are found in the dwellings of the Tatars, and are dangerous. Caterpillars and locusts are often very destructive. Bees are abundant, and produce excellent honey and a great deal of wax. The rivers are not prolific in fish; but great abundance and variety haunt the sea-coasts, among which are two kinds of sturgeon, mullet, herring, mackerel, oysters, and a variety of other shell-fish.

The most valuable commercial production is salt, which, as already mentioned, is obtained in very large quantities from *tuzlas*, or salt lakes, near Perekop, Kozlop, Kaffa, and Kerch. It is a government monopoly, and yields a considerable revenue. The other principal articles of commerce and export are wine, honey, wax, leather, hides, wool, and lambskins; of the last of which, called *shumski*, great quantities are exported yearly to Poland and other neighbouring countries. The only manufacture worth notice is what is called morocco leather, which is produced of good quality. The mountains contain masses of red and white marbles, full of cracks and fissures, which make them well adapted for quarrying, if there were a demand.

The oldest known inhabitants of the Crimea were the Cimmerians; but these were driven out by Scythians, only leaving a remnant in the mountains, where they acquired the name of Teuri. That these were a very savage people appears from the fact that every stranger that landed on their coast was sacrificed to a goddess whom the Greeks, from some supposed similarity of attribute, identified with the Artemis of their own mythology, distinguishing her however, as the Tauric Artemis. From these Taurs likewise were derived the name of *Tauric Peninsula*, bestowed upon the country by the ancient Greeks, and the modern Russian name of *Taurida*.

About the year 550 B.C., the southern and eastern parts of the peninsula were colonized by Greeks. On the western side of the Bosporus the Milesians founded the city of *Panticapaeum*, called also *Bosporos*, now represented by Kerch. Being favourably situate for trade, it soon became a place of importance, and the capital of a kingdom which eventually included the whole of the peninsula. The last of its kings, being hard pressed by the Scythians, voluntarily ceded his dominions to Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, on the opposite side of the Euxine. After his downfall his son Pharnaces was allowed to retain the kingdom of Bosporos; and a series of kings continued to rule it till a late period under the protection of the Roman empire. It was afterwards invaded and overrun successively by the Alans, the Goths and the Huns, and other barbarians, till about the year 1237, when it fell into the hands of the Mongols, under Genghis Khan, and became a province of their empire and peopled by their roaming tribes. Soon afterwards the Venetians established several commercial stations on the coasts, and carried on a lucrative trade till they were supplanted by the Genoese. These were allowed by the Mongols to take possession of Kaffa, which they rebuilt and fortified, and made the centre of an extensive trade, carried on overland, with Persia, India, and even China. In 1441, the Crimea came into the possession of a race of khans of the family of Genghis; but these were soon afterwards subjected by the Ottoman Turks, who ruined the foreign trade of the Crimea, and closed the navigation of the Black Sea to the western Europeans. So matters continued with unimportant changes till 1774, when, through the intervention of the Czarina, Catherine II. of Russia, the khans of the Crimea nominally recovered their independence, which continued however only for ten years more, when they were supplanted entirely, and the Crimea was annexed to the Russian empire. It now forms the southern or peninsular portion of the Russian government of Taurida.

The population consists mostly of Tatars, but there are also considerable numbers of Russians, Greeks, Germans, Jews, Armenians, and Gypsies. The Tatars consist of Nogays, who live in villages, and pique themselves on the purity of their lineage, as being the unmixed descendants of those who settled in the Crimea in the time of the Mongols; and of Tatars of the steppe, who are of less pure descent, but still consider themselves superior to the Tatars of the southern coast, who are a mixed race, largely alloyed with Greek, Italian, and Ottoman blood, and despised on that account by the two former races. The Tatars are all Mohammedans, and Simferopol is the seat of one of the two mutfts of the Russian empire. They are classed into mirzas or nobles, mollahs or priests, and peasants. The noble families are now few in number, but there is a mollah for every parish or small district. The Tatars are simple in their manners and dress, and live principally on the produce of their flocks and herds, not being much disposed to the regular industry required for the cultivation of the soil. Their character has been highly eulogized for sobriety, chastity, cleanliness, and hospitality; but this will apply principally to those that live in the country, while those who live in towns are probably not unlike the townspeople of other countries similarly circumstanced. The houses in the towns, as well as in the villages, are built mostly of square timbers, having the interstices filled up with brickwork or turf, and the chinks and crannies made tight with clay, and then plastered both within and without, the roof consisting of bricks or turfs. Only the medscheds or mosques and the baths are of stone. The other inhabitants, Russian, German, Armenian, and Gypsy, are in no way distinguishable; but the Jews are all of the Karaite sect, and remarkably and honourably distinguished from their brethren in other countries by their probity, for which, according to Mr Oliphant, "the Karaite merchant enjoys everywhere so high a reputation, that throughout the Crimea his word is considered equal to his bond."

According to Pallas the population of the Crimea, before its annexation to Russia, amounted to half a million of souls; but it was subsequently much reduced, chiefly through emigration. The population of the government of Taurida, of which the Crimea forms the principal part, is stated to amount to 543,000.

The towns are mostly situate on the coasts, or in the valleys of the Salghir. Simferopol, the provincial capital, situated on the banks of the Salghir, is a modern Russian town, with wide streets and very white tall houses, and all the public establishments requisite to conduct the affairs of an extensive province. It has been built close by the old Tatar town of Ak-metchet (Whitechurch), which is still occupied by about 5000 Tatars. About 20 miles southwest of Simferopol is Baytchi-Serai (Garden-palace), the old residence of the former Khans of the Crimea, still in good preservation, situate in a narrow and rocky but romantic valley. Adjoining, there is a large town, exclusively occupied by Tatars, who allow no Russians to settle in this valley. Near the town is Jufet, or Tchonfut or Tchaykhot Kaleh (Rogue's or Infidel's Castle), on a high rock, possessed by, and forming the headquarters and place of refuge of, the Karaité Jews, few of whom, however, live here, on account of its being so disadvantageously situated for trade. The streets are now silent, but the adjoining valley of Jehoshaphat is "fully garnished with tombstones; all the devout Karaites, when increasing infirmities warn them of approaching dissolution, being brought hither to die." Yenikale, pronounced Yenekaleh (New Castle), built by the Turks to command the entrance of the Bosporus from the sea of Azoff, looks, says Oliphant, "like some dilapidated town on the Red Sea." It is inhabited by a few hundred Greeks and Tatars. Kerch, on the west side of the Bosporus, on the site of the ancient Panticapaeum, is almost the only town in Russia that is built entirely of stone. The houses look handsome and substantial; and the population amounts to about 10,000 souls. For some Russian reason, incomprehensible to common sense, says Mr Oliphant, the tribune of commerce was transferred from Theodosia, a town advantageously situate at the head of a deep capacious harbour, which is never frozen, to the shores of these straits, which are closed for four months of the year, where the anchorage is dangerous, and the water shallow. Here every ship must remain, and perform a four days' quarantine. The larger ones wait until their cargoes arrive from Taganrog, or Rostof, in lighters, while those drawing less water cross the bar and proceed to load at Taganrog. Independently of the supply of shipping, the only trade of the town consists in exporting salt. Theodosia, or Kaffa, situate on a fine well-sheltered bay of the Black Sea, 45 miles west of the strait, was formerly a flourishing place of trade, but is now a decayed town with about 5000 inhabitants. Jalta, Jalta, or Yalta, 70 miles S.W. of Kaffa, is a small town with well-built houses, streets prettily laid out, and an air of commercial bustle, with a secure harbour. It is the commercial centre of the wine country, and a favourite watering-place for summer visitors. Kozlov, on the site of the ancient Eupatoria, founded by Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus, on the west coast, is a considerable town, with a lazaretto, custom-house, several fine mosques, and a Tatar college. The great mosque of Kozlov, several centuries old, is the finest building in the Crimea, and much admired for its elegance, extent, and solidity. Although the bay is open and exposed, and the surrounding country only a series of steppes and marshes, Kozlov is considered the most thriving port in the Crimea. It owes its prosperity to the great number of Karaité Jews who have settled there. They form now the greater part of the population, and the handsomest synagogue of which the sect can boast in Russia adorns this town. Not far from Kozlov are the salt lake of Guilan, which produces a large quantity of salt, and the mud-baths of Sack, in which, during summer, invalids sit for hours up to the chin in mud. Korasanbazar (Black-water-market), on a branch of the Salghir, to the N.E. of Simferopol, is one of the largest and most characteristic of the Crimean towns. It contains about 15,000 inhabitants, consisting of Tatars, Jews, and Armenians, who carry on extensive manufactures of Morocco leather, soap, candles, &c. The Kara-su runs past the town, through a fertile valley, which produces large quantities of grain and tobacco. But the most important place in the Crimea is Sebastopol, or Sevastopol, the Tatar Akhtiar, situated on the S.W. coast, about five miles east of Cape Chersonesus. The harbour consists of a fine bay of the Black Sea, about three miles and a half long, and from one to three quarters of a mile wide. The town stands on the south side of the bay, between two smaller bays, which extend southward, the eastern of these being the station of the imperial fleet, arsenal, and dockyard, and the other being the quarantine bay. The bay is so capacious, and the anchoring ground is so good, that the fleets of Europe might ride in it secure from every storm, and such is the depth of water that the largest ship may lie within a cable's length of the shore, and in the inner harbour, even close to the wharfs. It is the station of the Black Sea fleet, and no labour or expense has been spared to make the place impregnable by sea. The shores of the bay bristle with casemated batteries; and so many as 1200 guns, it is said, can be made to bear at once upon a vessel attempting to enter the harbour. It is, not, however, so well fortified on the land side, and possession of the adjoining heights would, it is believed, ensure the capture of the town and the destruction of the fleet. The fortifications were designed and executed by an English civil-engineer named Upton, who had been employed as a road-surveyor in Britain. The population of about 40,000 souls are mostly all naval or military, or in the employment of the government. The town is in fact an immense garrison, and looks imposing from so many of the buildings being barracks or government offices. Millions of money have been lavished on the object of making this place a fitting receptacle of the Russian navy, and the secure centre of Russian domination in and around the shores of the Black Sea. Westward of Sebastopol is the site of the ancient city of Chersonesus, founded by a colony from Heraclea Pontica, but now only to be traced by its ruins; and several miles to the southward, on the south coast, is the monastery of St George, which is believed by Pallas to occupy the site of the ancient Parthenium, and of the temple of the Tauric Artemis. Balaklava, ten miles S.E. of Sebastopol, is a small town deriving its name (Bella Chiave) from its fine harbour, which enters from the Black Sea by a strait only 30 yards wide, but then expands into a spacious basin, where large vessels may ride in safety during the severest storms. The bay is like a highland tarn, is about half a mile in length from the sea, and varies from 250 to 120 yards in breadth. The shores are so steep and precipitous that they shut out as it were the expanse of the harbour, and make it appear much smaller than it really is. Towards the sea, the cliffs close up and completely overlap the narrow channel which leads to the haven, so that it is quite invisible. On the S.E. of the poor village which struggles for existence between the base of the rocky hills and the margin of the sea, there are extensive ruins of a Genoese fort, built some 200 feet above the level of the sea. It must have once been a large and important position; and though its curtains, bastions, towers, and walls are all destroyed and crumbling in decay, they evince the spirit and enterprise of the hardy seamen who penetrated these classic recesses so long ago. There may be doubts whether the Genoese built it, but there can be none that it is very old, and superior in workmanship to the edifices of the Turks or Tatars. The town of Balaklava is approached in this direction through a narrow defile, leading from the more open country about Trakhtir. It is a formidable pass, and a few resolute men posted here might occasion great trouble even to a large army. The town is a poor fishing station, inhabited by a Greek colony. There are, however, one or two good houses of the usual character in the neighbourhood. All the hills around the town are barren rock; towards the land they become more fertile, and for a mile towards Sebastopol and Simferopol they are studded with pleasant-looking white villas and farm-houses, principally inhabited by Russian officials from Sebastopol. About ten miles east of Sebastopol is Mangoup kalch, one of the most remarkable objects to be found in any country. It is a castle situated on an inaccessible precipitous mountain, perfectly isolated, and surmounted with extensive fortifications. The rock, moreover, has been cut into a variety of chambers and watch-towers, affording a secure retreat for a garrison of several thousand men. It was the work of the ancient Greeks and later Genoese, but is now deserted.

The isthmus of Perekop, which joins the peninsula to the mainland, is, at its narrowest part, less than five miles across; and at that place it was formerly fortified by a wall and ditch, besides the small fort of Perekop; but all these seem to have been latterly neglected.