The latter are either carried fresh to the markets of the neighbourhood, or salted and sold to dealers who come from the interior of Russia. Through the whole era of Christendom in the East, salted fish has been largely exported from the Crimea to Constantinople, Asia Minor, and other quarters, owing to the demand for it occasioned by the numerous fasts of the Oriental Church. It was also famous at a more remote period. The coins of the Greek cities situated on the coasts of the Euxine show the antiquity of the trade, and the value set upon it, by exhibiting the figure of a fish, sometimes a fish-hook.

The

Not a single river exists in the Crimea worthy of the name through the entire year. Many of the small streams are wholly dried up by the heat and drought of summer, while the larger are either reduced to a thin shallow volume, or to a series of ponds scarcely connected with each other. Salghir, the most considerable, rises in the mountain chain of the southern coast, passes by the modern capital, Simferopol, enters the steppe country, and creeps slowly through it to the Putrid Sea. In nearly all parts of its course, before reaching the plains, it may be passed dry-shod in summer, by simply stepping from one stone to another in its bed.

But the heavy rains of autumn, and the melting of the snows in spring accumulated in the highlands, convert it into a deep and rapid river. At Simferopol on the 18th of January, being Twelfth-day, Old Style, the ceremony of blessing the waters, observed by the Russian Greek Church throughout the empire, is a notable occasion. The priests, arrayed in all their sacerdotal splendour, go down to the river, attended by the civil authorities, perform service on its banks, and immerse the cross several times in the stream. The people then crowd to fill their vessels with the consecrated water, and carefully preserve it to be used as occasion may offer, having great faith in its curative properties, both for man and beast. The Salghir and all the streams which descend from the mountains to the steppe, remarkably change their character on making the transit. The steppe being entirely devoid of stones, they lose their gravelly and pebbly bottom, with their limpid appearance, and assume the aspect of canals.

The Alma, now famous in military history, similarly changes its character with the season from a rapid stream to an insignificant rill. It flows from the neighbourhood of Bagtche-serai, the old Tatar capital, to the west coast; and is confined to the hill country through the whole of its course. The

scenery on its banks is beautiful, and rendered luxuriant by cultivation. Orchards and vineyards, with the snug dwellings of their owners nestling among trees, are on either hand; and in summer, nightingales keep up a continued song from eve to morn in the groves. Thousands of frogs add to the sound without improving the melody; yet, however unmusical the croak, it is not discordant, being a merry utterance, a note of self-satisfaction, like haha-ha, as though the creatures were not merely content with their lot, but replete with enjoyment. The Alma winds remarkably. Hommaire De Hell crossed it eighteen times in the space of three hours. Another stream, by the side of which many a gallant soldier has found a grave, is the Tchernaya Retchia, or the Black River of the Russians, called by the Tatars the Bouiouk Ouzine, or Great Water, a sufficient indication of the poverty of their watercourses, considering its insignificant character. It has its principal source in the vale of Baidar, flows through the valley of Inkerman, and enters the upper extremity of the harbour of Sebastopol. The heights in its neighbourhood are picturesque, but its own features are as uninviting as those of one of our fen streams, at least in the lower parts of its course,

– tall reeds, rushes, and other aquatic plants, lining

and overgrowing the channel. In the esteem of sportsmen, it has one redeeming quality, the vegetation being the favourite haunt, at certain seasons, of snipes and wild ducks. But the Tchernaya is a serious evil to the government, being the breedingground of an almost imperceptible worm-equally pernicious in salt water as in fresh- which attacks the ships at Sebastopol, and reduces them to premature decay. The ravages of this little animal shorten the time which a Russian ship of war may be expected to last to a period of eight years, while the average duration of ships belonging to the British and French navies is reckoned at about double that interval. Various expedients have been adopted to protect the vessels, but they have not been followed by the success anticipated.

Salt lakes are numerous in the steppes, from which the indispensable condiment is readily obtained in vast quantities, and transported to immense distances. The largest and most productive extends from the southern extremity of the isthmus of Perekop, along the shore of the Putrid Sea. Carts are driven axle-deep into the shallow water, and loaded at once, the salt being at the bottom like sand. It is then sent into the interior of Russia, and forms an important part of the revenue which

the government derives from the peninsula. Saline lakes occur in the neighbourhood of Kertch and Theodosia, and furnish an article of commerce with the shores of the Black Sea. They are also found near Eupatoria, and from these the home market is chiefly supplied. Not far from this town, the little village of Saak is situated upon the margin of a saline lake. The place was unknown to fame a few years ago; but it now enjoys a high reputation, has a large hotel, and annually attracts a crowd of Russian fashionables, some of whom come from distances as remote as Moscow or St. Petersburg. During the summer heats, in June and July, the waters of the lake evaporate, and leave a residuum of slime and mud, of pasty consistency, saline and black. To bathe in the mud, when thoroughly heated by the sun, is the grand object of the visitors, as a cure for rheumatic affections and cutaneous disorders. Gipsies, male and female, are at hand to attend upon the invalids; and a medical man is in residence to regulate the duration of the baths. A hole having been dug in the warm slime, the bather occupies it in a reclining position; the body is then covered, only the head being left above ground to mark the site of the living man's grave. The sensations are described at first as the reverse of agreeable.