84 JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUTH-WESTERN QUARTER

as well as in feveral other places, where the foft calcareousrock was eafily worked by the chifel. We have, indeed, amodern fpecimen of fuch archite&ural fculpture in Ruflia, andwhich is performed by Greek monks in the wealthy convent ofSvatogorfkoi, at a (hört diftance from Tor, and Ifium. Thismonaftery has been dug to the length of fifty fathoms, orthree hundred and fifty Englifh feet, into a high chalky moun-tain, overgrown with wood, on the banks of the Donetz.There are feveral natural fpires, two of which in particularrefemble artificial turrets erected above the church, thoughconfifting entirely of foft chalk.

In-Kerman, or literally the Town of Caverns, has receivedits name from the cells excavated within the rock. The cal-careous ridge, above alluded to, extends to the port of Akhtiar;approaches a fimilar mountain, fituated on the oppofite fide, atthe diftance of fcarcely one verft and a half from the mouthof the rivulet Beeyouk-oufehen, which empties itfelf into thatharbour: thus it contra&s the Valley confifting of rieh meadows;and here ends in fteep rocks. The mountainous ridge terminates,toward the right fide of the fmall river, in two projeetingangles forming ftraight rocky walls ; the firft of which exhibitsevident ftratifications: in the moft remote corner, there arenumerous cells difpofed in feveral rows one above another.A view of this fituation has been taken from the South fide,and the reader will find it diftin&ly reprefented in the fixthplate.—A prodigious mafs of rock (being of a fize at leaft equalto that employed for the pedeftal fupporting the ftatue of Peterthe Great at St. Peterfburgh), which contained a few demolifhedcells, had tumbled down in the winter of 1793-94, and lay on

the