a ruined city, in the south of the Crimea, at the head of the harbour of Sebastopol, and situated on the rocks to the right of, and overhanging the valley of Tchernaya. These ruins are cut out of the solid rock, and in many respects resemble those of Idumaea. They consist of columns, tombs, and the remains of palaces hewn out on the face of the cliff which rises perpendicularly for several hundred feet above the plain. The builders of these stupendous temples and mausoleums are merely subjects of conjecture; their handiwork, however, has a peculiar interest from its being the only remains of its kind in Europe.

It was on the heights, on the other side of the valley, opposite to the ruins, that the desperate battle took place between the Russians and the allied French and English troops on the 5th November 1854. At the commencement of the siege of Sebastopol in that year, the right attack rested on the declivities of the plateau overlooking the Tchernaya, called the "Heights of Inkerman." These were held by the English, who, from inadvertency erected no defensive works to secure their position, excepting a small battery without guns. The Russian general, Dannenberg, was aware of this, and on the 5th November attempted to carry the heights, and thus oblige the Allies to raise the siege. His troops, from 30,000 to 40,000 strong, animated by the presence of the Emperor's two younger sons, Michael and Nicholas, and supported by heavy guns placed on a neighbouring hill, commenced scaling the acclivity at 5 o'clock in the morning, concealed from view by a dense fog. Before attaining the summit, however, they were met by the British "guards," and some companies of the line, who, with the courage of despair, and against fearful odds, kept the assailants at bay for nearly five hours until reinforced by the French, with whose assistance the Russians were at length forced down the hill, after a struggle which raged for eight hours, and which was a series of the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters. The loss on both sides was heavy. About 9000 Russians were killed or wounded, and about 5000 of the Allies. Each side lost a general; the Russians, General Soimanoff, and the English, General Cathcart.