nary, as the ships seem to have arrived there by enchantment, and nobody would conceive that this long lake could have any communication with the sea. Opposite the garden, a little to the right, is the vineyard of Bardac.

At a later period, after the discussions occasioned by the capture of the Vixen in 1837, when war was supposed imminent between Russia and England, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg grew frightened at the possibility of the English in case of war making a descent upon some point of the Heracleotic Chersonese, and defences were then ordered to be constructed on the land side of Sevastopol.

The ground on the north side of Sevastopol is much higher than on the south side, and consequently the citadel of the place, an octagonal fortress, called the Sievarna, or Northern, Fort, which is erected there, commands the whole town, bay, and docks. It has been greatly strengthened of late years, as the most important position for the defence or attack of the town. For itself it can only be attacked on the land side, as its height above the water would render ineffective the fire of ships, and its precipitous shores both on the side of the Great Bay and the sea would make a landing very difficult for troops. This is the fortress which Sir Howard Douglas calls "the key of Sevastopol," until we secure which we can never hope to take the place. "But this taken," says Sir Howard Douglas, "the Telegraph and Wasp batteries on the northern heights, Fort Constantine and the forts below, being commanded and attacked in reverse, must soon fall; while the town, docks, arsenal, and barracks on the south side of the harbour would be at the mercy of the allies, who, by the fire of their batteries, might entirely destroy them all. On the contrary, by attacking the place from the south, the enemy holding the northern heights, although the works on the crest of the southern heights should be breached and taken, the town, the body

of the place, with its docks and arsenals, will not be tenable by the besiegers till the great work on the northern side, and all its defensive dependencies, shall have been captured. These, no doubt, will have been greatly strengthened before the allies are in a condition to direct their attacks against them.""

The fortifications then which render Sevastopol so very strong are the important works on the northern side, for there is no use in taking the town, even if it could be done, as the strongest part of the fortress would yet remain. At the same time, if an army were brought sufficiently large to invest it completely, the place must fall, because the supplies of food, ammunition, and especially of water, would quickly fail. In water the place is very deficient, as there are no springs in the town, and only two sources out of the town by which it is supplied. One of these is the river which supplies the docks, through the tunnel which has been described, as reaching from near Inkerman to the town. This tunnel was recently (January 26) stated to be now used, not only as a passage for the water, but as a safe road by which the Russians introduce supplies into the town, and this is highly probable, as there is a foot-path on each side of the conduit. The old town of Kherson, as will be stated afterwards, was taken by the Russians in the tenth century by cutting off the water-pipes which supplied the town, and perhaps this may be the way in which the modern representative of old Kherson will ultimately fall.

We have found to our cost how inexhaustible are the stores of Sevastopol, and yet it is said that a still greater amount is laid up in the chain of fortresses that have been erected during the last twenty years on the German, and particularly on the Prussian, frontier.

As the nations of Europe are fully occupied in their own affairs, and as Russia is peculiarly inaccessible by

Naval Gunnery, 4th ed., p. 619.

nature, she never could fear an invasion, and her armaments must therefore be looked upon as threatening her neighbours. Besides, as will afterwards be seen, her army for the internal service of the country is totally distinct from the immense mass of men called the Grand Army, kept hovering for many years past on the frontiers of Germany, in a mobilized state, and ready to pour down its legions upon any point at a moment's notice.

Let us shortly inquire where these great military stores are laid up, and in what establishments they are prepared. Arsenals in Russia are divided into permanent and temporary: the first are at Petersburg, Bransk, Toola, and Kief; and the second at Petersburg, Tyraspol, and, since the Polish war, at Modlin. The arsenals of Petersburg, Toola, and Kief, are vast and elegant edifices, each of which can contain 100,000 small arms, and where carriages and other material for the artillery are made. The others are only dépôts. Up to the commencement of the seventeenth century there were no manufactories of iron or foundries in Russia, and the Government was obliged to buy all arms abroad. A Dutchman, named Andrew Vinius, was the first to establish foundries, which were worked by water-power. The first establishment of this kind was founded in the year 1632, on the little river of Toulitza, at fifteen versts from Toola. Since that time several others have been formed in the governments of Toola, Kalouga, and Moscow.

In 1764, a Hamburger raised the first manufactories of steel at Olonetz. The first hydraulic manufactory for muskets was built in 1648, at Moscow, on the Taouza; in 1653, another was established in the village of Tchentsof, on the Skniga; and in 1700, Nikita Demidof Antonief carried the arts of founding and making firearms to the Neva in Siberia.

The principal manufactories of fire-arms are now at

Toola, Votka, Sesterbeck, and Zlatoust. The manufactory of Toola," founded in 1712, by Peter the Great, has been much increased; and its flourishing period dates from 1817, when an Englishman, John Jones, undertook its management. Some years ago it furnished each year 50,000 muskets, and 25,000 sabres, besides carbines, pistols, bayonets, and pikes. Seven thousand men, and nearly 10,000 women, are employed in it; besides 3500 peasants, belonging to the establishment. It costs 124,000 roubles a year, or about 20,000l.; and it consumes yearly 70,000 pounds of Siberian iron, and 10,000 of steel. The manufactory of Votka is situated on the little river Isch, in the district of Sarapoul, in the government of Viatka; and some years ago it employed 3000 workmen, and produced annually about 14,000 muskets.

The manufactory of Sesterbeck is near Petersburg, and is modelled on that of Toola. It produced some years ago yearly 12,000 muskets, and the same number of sabres. Zlatoust, in Siberia, furnishes most of the sabres for the cavalry and pioneers, to the annual number of about 50,000.

There are five cannon foundries in Russia, at Petersburg, Moscow, Riga, Kief, and Kazan. A Scotchman, Gascoigne, sixty years ago introduced as much improvement in the founding of cannon as Jones in the manufacture of fire-arms. There are two powder manufactories, one at Ochta, near Petersburg, and the other at Tchotersk, near Gloukhow.¶

The military stores and provisions for Sevastopol come from the interior of Great Russia and Siberia, down the Volga and Don to Rostof, on the Sea of Azof, whence in peace they were shipped, and passed

P Toola, besides the Government, has many private establishments, and is considered as the Birmingham of Russia.

9 For all these details see Tanski, Tableau du Système Militaire de la Russie. Paris, 1833, p. 295-7.

through the straits of Kertch, the whole way by sea to Sevastopol and the other fortresses on the Black Sea. Since the war began, they have come, as usual, down the Don and across the Sea of Azof; but instead of passing through the straits of Kertch they have been landed near Cape Kazantip, on the coast of Crimea, within the Sea of Azof, and thence were carried across Crimea, about 100 miles to Sevastopol, during the whole time of the siege, till the Sea of Azof froze in November last. Cape Kazantip was fortified by the Russians last summer, and wharves erected near it for the landing of the goods, and a regular transport service arranged across the peninsula of Crimea.

This is probably the new road to which allusion has been lately made in 'The Times.' The facts I have stated were communicated to me by Mr. Lander, an English merchant at Taganrok, and Mr. Carruthers, late Consul at that place. These gentlemen passed over the strip of land by the side of the Putrid Sea, called the Arabate, to Kertch, in May last, and saw the military stores at Rostof, and the wharves just erected on the Crimean coast, and the fortifications of Kazantip. The late English Consul at Kertch, Mr. Cattley, is now interpreter to Lord Raglan; and he also passed by this route last summer, and therefore neither Lord Raglan nor the Ministry ought to have been ignorant of these facts.

Thus continual supplies were poured into Sevastopol up to last November, the period of the freezing of the Sea of Azof; and since that time the stores for Sevastopol have probably been carried across the ice to some point on the northern shore of the Azof, and thence by land over the Isthmus of Perecop. Had the latter place been occupied, it would have been easy to have taken possession of the Strait of Yenitchi, and to have commanded the tongue of Arabate. Indeed, as I have mentioned in another place, there is deep water (24 feet) along the Arabate, on the side of the Azof, and a few gun