Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof
9781465549303
418 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The peninsula of the Crimea is a southern portion of the Steppes of Russia, raised by volcanic action out of nearly the centre of the Black Sea. It is about 200 miles across in a direct line from Cape Karamroún on the western side above Eupatoria to Cape Fanar, the furthest point eastward on the Straits of Kertch, and 125 miles from Perecop to Cape Kíkineis on the southern coast. It contains a population of about 200,000 inhabitants, and covers an area of 10,050 English square miles. The Tauric range of mountains runs east and west along the southern coast from Balaclava to Theodosia, and generally within a few hundred yards of the shore, which, being protected by them from the northern winds, enjoys a delicious climate, like that of southern Italy. But this mild temperature is confined to the narrow strip of land along the coast which is shut in by the mountains, and to the north of them the weather shows severe alternations of heat and cold, and the snow in some seasons covers the ground for a considerable time in winter. The mountains themselves occupy a large space, and rise to a height of from 1000 to 5000 feet. They are generally flat-topped or dome-shaped, and hold within their range high elevated plains called Yailas. Their summits reveal granite and other primitive rocks, and on their northern sides lie, like a mantle, the Steppes, which constitute all the northern portion, and nearly two-thirds of the area, of the whole peninsula. These steppes gradually incline downwards towards the north, and hence received from the later Greeks the name of “ta climata,” or the inclines. The following are the principal rivers:—Eastward, the Salghír, the Bulganak, the three Andols, the Tchoroksou, the Soubashi, and the Karagos, which flow into the Shiváshe or great lagoon on the east, improperly called the Putrid Sea; and on the westward, the western Bulganak, the Alma, the Katcha, and the Belbek, which discharge their waters into the long open bay at the head of which stands Eupatoria. The peninsula of the Crimea was known to the Greeks under the name of the Taurica Chersonesus, and in the middle ages was called Gothia. It is now called either the Tauride (a version of its first appellation), or more commonly Crimea, from the famous city of Eski Krim, near Theodosia, which was built by the Tatars in the thirteenth century, and is now a ruin. The Crimea is joined to the main land by the narrow isthmus of Perecop, on each side of which there is a very shallow sea. To the north of it the dreary plains of Russia extend interminably, on the west to Bessarabia and the Ukraine, and on the east to Tatary and Siberia. There has in all times been a connexion between the Steppes to the north of Perecop and the peninsula of the Crimea itself, and they have both generally been in the possession of the same people. A portion of the Steppes, bounded by Bereslaf, Alexandropol, and Mariopol, are now included in the Russian government of the Tauride. As the character of the Steppes is very peculiar, and they form, as I have said, about two-thirds even of the whole peninsula of the Crimea, I have thrown together in the next chapter some general observations upon them. I will now say a few words about the road between Perecop and Odessa, and the principal towns through which it passes. The whole distance is 352 miles, and there are post-horses along the road, which runs entirely through the Steppes. Road, however, properly speaking, there is none; for even outside the gates of Odessa the traveller follows the track of those that have preceded him, and in dry weather bowls rapidly along, but is arrested by the slightest fall of rain.
