22

TRAVELS IN THE CRIMEA.

foflil, confifting of a yellowifh fandy marl, and fmall roundifhquartzofe pebbles, being partly decayed on the furface, and fcat-tered among the black or loamy mould: hence an obfervermight eafily be induced to believe, that the water formerlyflowed over fuch regions, and caufed the roundifh form of thefepebbles. All the layers of the horizontal maffes decline im-perceptibly towards the North; and moft of the mountainswhich they conftitute, appear precipitate towards the South orSouth-eaft, in which dire&ion the ftratifications rife j fo thattheir edges, at a diftance, prefent a ferrated form, or as if theyhad been broken off by a violent commotion of the elements.The view of the rocky precipices and walls in the Valleywatered by the Salgir, as well as in many other dales compofedof this calcareous and horizontally arranged foffil, is the moreremarkable and ftriking, as it feems to be of modern origin,and extends over the whole piain of the peninfula. All thefemaffes are, to a certain height, corroded and wafhed under-neath, in a manner exa&ly fimilar to that produced by thewaves of the fea, after having watered them for a confiderabletime. It is difficult to decide, whether this fingular effectought to be afcribed to the former, and doubtlefs more elevated,flate of the Black Sea, or to the decompoiing influence of theatmofphere. The fituation of fuch vallies above the prefentlevel of the water, and the height to which thefe remarkablecalcareous rocks extend in different plains, certainly deferves tobe afcertained by the niveau.

The whole of this calcareous bed of mountains producesmany beautiful and fome peculiar plants, which fpread in aweitem direftion beyond the Karaffuk. The moft diftin-

guifhed