OF THE CRIMEAN PEN1NSULA.

69

fo as to become a verft and a half broad at the {höre of the bay.The whole foil of this diminutive femi-ifland has apparentlybeen occupied by a populous city, and indicates, in my opinion,the ancient Cherronefus* of Strabo.

The firft objedt that attra&s the attention of a traveller, onentering this little peninfula, is a fmall ifle, which is in amanner connected with the continent by a marfhy neck; beingfituated at the extremity of the longer creek ifluing from thebay, and oppofite to the farm of Alexiano. I was thereforeinduced to communicate, in the fecond vignette, the plan ofthis fortification, that confifted of bulky free-ftones ; of which,however, a few of the lowermoft only remain in their places;fo that I am prevented from giving the exaft dimenfions.Whether this fortified poft was built for protetting the ancientcity of Cherronefus, or whether it was one of the forts, whichthe Scythian leader, Scylurus, ereclied againft the Generalsof Mithridatesf, I fhall not attempt to decide. The iflemarked A, has a dry foil, elevated above the fea; but theneck B, by which it joins the land, is low, fwampy, and partly

* The fituation of this ancient city cannot be more accurately determined than in thewords of Strabo. " Inter urlem (namely the modern Cherronefus') et Promontorium(Parthenium) portus funt trcs ; fequitur vetufla Cherfonefus, nunc diruta, et pqfl banc portusangußo introitu ; — Sytnbolon dicitur." From this paffage it is evident that the old citymuil have ftood between the bays of Fanary and Balaklava ; the harbour of which wasSymiolon, a name fince changed by the Genoefe into Cembalo. It is likewife at thisdiftance, we ought to fearch for the Promontorium Parthenium ; as the coaft in otherrefpefts has an uniform appearance.

•\ Prxter enarraia Cherronefi loca, alia etiam cqßella funt, qute Scylurus et ßlii ejus ex-truxerant, iifque adverfus Mithridatis legatos belli arcibus 11/i funt: Pallakium, Chavum,Neapolis ; fuit et Eupatorium a Diophanto conditum. — Strabo, loc. cit. The origin of thename " Balaklava" fhould, I conceive, be traced in the expreflion Pallakium, rather thanin the Tartar word Balyk, which fignifies Fiflj.

inundated,