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the amount of which became a debt due to the state, in order to practise, and thereby teach, skilled husbandry and handicrafts. They now form whole villages, intermarry among themselves, and still retain their language, dress, and manners, adhering either to the Protestant or the Roman Catholic communions. Such are Neusatz, Rosenthal, and Friedenthal, between Simferopol and Karasu-basar. The names recall the memory of the Rhine, as do the habits of the people and the aspect of their locations. But, though tolerated in the free exercise of their own religious forms, no expansion of religious opinion is practicable. Proselytism in Russia, whether from Mohammedanism or Lamaism, is not allowed, unless it be in favour of the Russo-Greek Church.

The singular confederation of the Zaporogians on the Dnieper was finally broken up in the days of Catherine. After using them in her wars, and having her name inscribed in letters of gold in their public registers, her policy changed; and their suppression was determined, on the ground of leading a debauched and licentious life—a remarkable charge to issue from such a source. Attacked and overpowered in their retreat by considerable forces, a number dispersed in various directions, some to lead a brigand life in the steppes, while the rest

surrendered at discretion. The final arrangement with reference to these wild men was planned by Potemkin, but not executed till after his death. By virtue of the ukase of June 30. 1792, they had the peninsula of Taman, and the country between the Kuban and the Sea of Azof, made over to them, and were removed to it, receiving the name of Tchernomorski, or Cossacks of the Black Sea. They were attached to the army of the Caucasus, and designed to be a barrier against the independent highlanders. The land of the Tchernomorski, with the Nogai steppe, north of the Sea of Azof, and the Crimea, now constitute the province of Taurida, sometimes called the government of Simferopol. These districts were at first included in the province of Ekaterinoslav on the Dnieper, but were raised into a distinct government by the Emperor Alexander in 1802. One of the early governors, General Michelson, was an Englishman. To no man was Catherine more indebted than to this veteran officer, for when her throne was tottering, and universal anarchy threatened the empire, owing to the remarkable rebellion of Pugatchof, he was his most talented, indefatigable, and successful antagonist.

The work of spoliation with reference to lands and buildings marked the first exercise of Russian

authority in the Crimea. Grants of lands from the crown were obtained by nobles and officials without attention to the rights of the natives; and in many cases, the new proprietors vastly extended their allotments by gradual encroachment, regardless of the terms of the grant. In the valley of Baidar, 700 acres were assigned to a magnate, who succeeded in enlarging his boundaries till they embraced 20,000 acres; and also laid claim to the labour of the peasants in his neighbourhood. The mosques were stripped of their lead to make bullets; and the buildings themselves, with the fine monumental remains of the Genoese, were ruthlessly ravaged for materials to run up barracks, storehouses, and government erections. "When I caused," says Pallas, an awed eye-witness of these proceedings, referring to Kaffa, "the prospect of this town to be drawn, there were two minarets, sixteen fathoms high, and furnished with serpentine staircases leading to the top, though both structures have since been demolished." "Had he ventured two syllables further," observes Dr. Clarke," and merely added the word 'Alas!' his grey hairs would not have saved him from the air of Siberia."

CHAP. IX.

SEBASTOPOL AND THE COAST.

EARLY NOTICES OF THE

FIRST MAP OF THE CRIMEA.
PORTS.-SUWARROW AT AKTIAR.—CHERSON, NICOLAIEF,

AND SEBASTOPOL.-RUSSIAN WAR-FLEET.-HARBOUR OF
SEBASTOPOL.-THE FORTIFICATIONS.―DOCKYARD AND

CANAL.
ENGLISH BURYING GROUND.
COLONY.- RAILWAY.

THE ENGLISH ENGINEER.

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MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE.

SUBMARINE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. SOUTH COAST.—
ALOUPKA.- PRINCE WORONZOW.-
-THREE CELEBRATED

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A SPECIAL map of the Crimea, perhaps the first that was ever executed, appeared in connection with General Manstein's Memoirs of Russia in the year 1764. That officer took part in the first invasion of the peninsula under Marshal Munich, and the map, a copy of which is here inserted, was prepared from the surveys of the engineers. It does not, as might be expected, accurately delineate the natural configura

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