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OF THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA.

the lower road when I firft vifited that place; but the failorshave fince divided this mafs by the faw, and carried off thefquares for the ufe of buildings. On the fecond proje&ingcorner, a fort has been erected. This rock is likewife on itsSouth fide fo completely excavated, that its open cells, which,like ftories of a houfe, are divided into rows, refemble at adiftance in fome directions the form of bee-hives; and thewalls, or fpaces intervening between thefe cells, are frequentlylefs than a fpan in thicknefs. On the South-weft is the church,confiderably above ground j befide which, there are a fewfcattered caverns, and two flights of fteps leading to the former.Here the rock forms a precipice as fmooth as a wall; pro-je&ing, however, at one corner in a terrific manner, fo as toreprefent the fegment of a Gothic arch. It is hollowed at itsbafe, probably by the effedts of water, and has confiderableempty fpaces or grottos. The whole appears to be almoft afolid rock, without particular ftrata, being divided only by afew horizontal veins, and confifting throughout of fmall fhells,of fimilar fragments, and diminutive fmooth entalites.

The church, of which an internal view is delineated inthe fourth vignette, has been formed out of a fingle pieceof this rock. On both fides of the altar erecled in a niche,there is a choir formed of the fame rockj and we likewifeon each fide obferved a farcophagus of fimilar workmanfhipdepofited on the floor. In the latter, we underftood, havebeen found the bones of perfons who were probably reveredfor their fanctity; of which, however, no veftiges can bedifcovered. The length of the chapel is about three fathomsand a half, or twenty-four feet fix inches; and its height, one

fathom