OF THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA.

57

whole cxtent there are only inconfiderable flat elevations inter-fe£ted by hollows; all of which contradt towards the bays onthat coaft, as well as towards the large and fmall harbours ofAkhtiar. The length of this fingular region, from the port ofBalaklava to Point Fanary, does not exceed eighteen verfts;and its breadth, between the port of Akhtiar and the foutherncoaft, is computed to be fomewbat more than ten verfts.

There are, properly fpeaking, four bays* between the largecreek or harbour of Akhtiar and Point Fanary; each of whichmight ferve as a fea-port. The fmalleft of thefe bays, and atthe fame time the neareft to the harbour of Akhtiar, is that, onthe weftern fhore of which is fltuated the town of Kberfon yKorfoon, or Cherfonefus ; a place ftill called in the Tartar lan-guage Tjhortßioon, but by the Ruffians Karantinaya Bukhta^ onaccount of the quarantine there eftablifhed. Though very fmall,crooked, and not completely one verft in length, this creekforms a very fafe port for veflels lying at anchor. Buildingshave only within thefe few years been eredted for the purpofeof attending to the quarantine; as, previoufly to that time, theCrown-officers were ftationed in tents, and this duty of newly-arrived fhips was performed in fome recefles or caverns of thecalcareous rocks near fhore. The fecond of thofe bays is con-fiderably larger, extends more than two verfts into the country,and is at prefent termed Streletzkaya. Its depth at the entranceis about ten or twelve fathoms ; but it gradually decreafes to fix,and is in fome parts only two fathoms. The third is called

* Inter urlem {Cherronefum), fays Straho, et Promontorium (Parthaüum), portus funttra. In this account, he probably does not include the Round Bay, which is not fuffi-ciently convenient to ferve as a port.

VOL - »• i Kroog-