60 JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUTH-WESTERN QUARTER

by the ftony mound of the level fhore, which is peculiar tothis part of the continent.

It deferves to be remarked here, as a natural curiofityoccurring on this neck of land, that its weftern, fteep, rockyfhore, which in many places (efpecially at a diftance of oneverft and a half frorn the point downwards) rifes from thirtyto forty feet, and ftill higher, is not compofed of the morerecent calcareous ftrata fo often mentioned, nor of the chalkymarl forming the mountains of Inkerman; but that it confiftsfimply of a porous or warty calcareous tophus in a concrete ftate ;and which fome fanciful travellers have fuppofed to be a realpumice-ftone. It is, indeed, diflicult to explain, how fuch amafTy and extenfive bed of ftalactite could have originatedin a country which exhibits no traces of water, effentially re-quifite to its formation. This fingular ftratum commencesonly at the fpot where the country of the Cherfonefus per-ceptibly declines toward the point of Fanary-Bay, and proceedswithout interruption upwards of two verfts and a half along thefhore, tili the land is covered by the fea \ the depth of whichvaries from one to three fathoms around point Fanary, whilethe coaft has no confiderable elevation.

The whole Heracleotic Cherfonefus is in a manner coveredwith the remains of antiquity. On travelling along the fouthernfea-coaft, however, tili we arrived at the monaftery of St.George, there was no trace of ancient buildings difcoverable,nor any other veftige of former habitations ; excepting a ftraightline of ruins, which may be drawn from the harbour ofBalaklava due North towards Inkerman. In the vicinity ofthis line, a long ridge extends acrofs the country in the

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