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name may have its origin in the Greek word to leap, as rough ground on which one is obliged to leap, and it may also have some connexion with the river Alma, which rises on the other side of the Tauric chain exactly opposite the plateau on which Great Lambat is situated.

After passing Cape Plaka, between Great Lambat and the sea-shore is one of the most extraordinary spectacles that can be witnessed. There suddenly appears a place which is called, by the moderns the Chaos, and by the Tatars Sunenkáia. It is a vast assemblage of enormous masses of rock, as large as houses, and as high as towers, composed of fetid black limestone, thrown together in confusion and sometimes leaning against one another, somewhat in the same way as at the Trossachs in Scotland. In one place they look like aiguilles or pyramids, in another place like the enormous ruins of some Cyclopean edifice, while further on they have the wild and broken appearance of the moraine of a glacier. The shumac, the walnut, the wild vine, and many different kinds of thorns grow in the deep crevices, and push their roots down to the water that filters below. Numbers of these blocks also have fallen into the sea, and form a chain on which the waves vent their fury. The Chaos lasts for about half a mile along the sea-shore, and is terminated by the black porphyry of Cape Plaka. This great amphitheatre of confusion goes on widening for a mile and a half inland, up to Great Lambat, and on crossing the high road, and going up towards the mountains, a new Chaos is met with, composed of blocks of ophitic granite instead of the limestone. From the highest point of the mountain all through the Chaos down to the sea-shore the ground is covered with ancient ruins, and the place was evidently chosen by the barbarous population of ancient times, as one secure from attack on account of the difficult nature of the country.

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Dubois, vol. vi. p. 7.

Dubois, vol. v. p. 450.

Dubois, vol. v. p. 451.

Above the second Chaos may be observed the solution of the whole scene. There is the enormous mouth of a crater, whence these vast fragments, broken in the bosom of the earth, have been vomited forth. The limestone, situated upon the ophitone, was rolled down to the seashore, while the ophitone itself appears only at the mouth of the crater, or near it, in a disturbed state. The schist and the grey limestone, whose beds were broken by the eruption of the ophitone, have been turned into red marble at the points of contact with it, which shows it to have been erupted in a heated state. The best situation for observing these interesting phenomena, is Mount Aithodor, or the hill of St. Theodore," so called from the ruins of a Greek church on the summit. Hence may be contemplated, as a whole, the mighty agency by which the Tauric chain, which towers above us, has been raised up, and the igneous domes of Kastele, Ouraga, and Aithodor itself are perceived as the immense levers which have raised up Mount Babougan, and the plains surrounding it, for several thousand feet.

At a place called Karabagh, near Bouiouk Lambat, is the country-house of M. Peter de Koeppen, whose valuable works on the statistics and geography of Russia are well known.

Further on, Mount Kastele completely bars all passage along the coast, and the road is carried through a defile between it and the main chain, which the Tatars call Demir Kapou, or the gate of iron, and, according to their usual system, the Tauri had here established one of their fortresses, in the narrowest part of the gorge, to defend their settlements at Lambát.

Three walls formed the enceinte; two, about two hundred paces long, run from the perpendicular flanks of Mount Kastele, and meet a third nearly at right angles on the

Ai for "agio," holy, in Greek; and "thodor," corruption of "Theodoro." Thus, "Ai Petri" for St. Peter.

opposite side of the valley. They are composed of great blocks of granite piled one on the other without cement, and sometimes as much as six feet in thickness and in height, and the interior forms a narrow enclosure, in which are the remains of some rude edifices. Everything here shows the infancy of art, and recalls the Cyclopean constructions of Greece, or even the Gaulish camps of France and Switzerland.

On the eastern side of the Kastele, the only remains of the Greeks or Genoese, are the foundations of a little edifice outside the fort in the midst of some trees looking towards Alouchta. The Tauri are probably the builders of a second fortress much more considerable than the first, and occupying a part of the summit of the mountain. A wall, constructed without cement, here runs from north to south from one precipice to another, and encloses numerous traces of habitations, and fragments of pottery. The traveller, after passing the gorge, soon finds himself at the top of the descent leading to Alouchta, with the town placed on the opposite side of the valley, which here widens out again considerably, presenting its usual features of wildness and Asiatic luxuriance. Here ends the really fine scenery of the southern coast, which extends over a distance of about forty miles from Phoros to Alouchta.

Dubois, vol. v. p. 455.

Dubois, vol. v. p. 446.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE EASTERN COAST AND SOUDAK.

Alouchta The Eastern and Western Coast - Oulou Ouzéne, the property of Mrs. Lang-Mdlle. Jacquemart -The Bay of Soudak - Ruins of the triple fortress-The Kiz Koullé, or Girl's Tower- Ancient Soldaya - Its history Remains-Vandalism of the Russians Ruined barracks - The Crimean Wine Company - The wines of the Crimea - Prices of land in the Crimea -Road to Theodosia - Tatar hospitality - Koktebel.

ALOUCHTA is beautifully placed on the sloping side of a gentle elevation, near the sea-shore, and the cultivation of the vine has made here rapid progress. Its situation, in a wide and fertile valley, at nearly the centre of the southern coast, must always have rendered it an important place, although the only mention of it in ancient times is with reference to the castle built here by Justinian, the remains of which are to be seen on a little hill near the sea-shore. The ancient town of Alouchta was built in front of the fort on the right bank of the river Oulou Ouzéne, but the place is now deserted and covered with the wild vine and tamarisk. Some remains may still be discovered of houses and of several Greek churches placed on the most elevated positions. The churches are nearly as large as those of Kherson; and in the principal one a semicircular apse shows that either a bishop or at least a priest of high rank presided over the clergy attached to it. Alouchta is the limit between the eastern and western coast, which are great rivals for public favour. There can, however, be no doubt that in remarkable scenery and romantic beauty the western coast has greatly the advantage. The igneous jets of ophitic granite do not come further east than Alouchta; and while the

* Dubois, vol. v. p. 429.

granite domes of Kastele, Aioudagh, and Liméne form promontories and bays, and sublime variations of scenery, the eastern coast is a monotonous repetition of narrow ravines, covered with meagre vegetation, of the wich elm (the commonest tree in the Crimea), the turpentine-tree, and the oriental juniper, some specimens of which measure as much as a foot and a half in diameter.

A ride of eight miles along a sterile and desert shore of the eastern coast brings the traveller to the valley of another river, called Oulou Ouzéne, the property of Mrs. Lang, who has planted vineyards and orchards, and converted it into one of the most agreeable residences along the coast. Some miles further on is the bay of Soudak, and the residence of an eccentric French lady, Mdlle. Jacquemart, who, having originally gone to Russia as a governess, and then, by her brilliant conversation and wit having gained a great reputation in the highest circles, both in Petersburg and Vienna, suddenly renounced the world, and retired to solitude on the shores of the Crimea. Marshal Marmont, in his works, tells a romantic tale about a rejected and despairing lover, who in a paroxysm of fury attempted her life; but according to Mdlle. Jacquemart's own account the story differs wonderfully from the unpoetic truth, which was, that a Greek, whom she had never seen before, brutally attacked and nearly murdered her, as she was returning home one evening to her solitary dwelling.

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The view of the bay of Soudak, on approaching it from the west, is very striking. Its shores present a charming rural prospect; and the valley which leads down. to the water is entirely occupied with orchards and vineyards. Near the extremity of the bay, on the right, the rocks jut out boldly, and the fortifications of the old Genoese town crown the heights. Soudak, as will presently be more fully explained, was in ancient times a very im

See H. de Hell, vol. ii. p. 484.

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