234 JOURNEY OVER THE TSHATYRDAG, AND THROUGH

origin. Firft, in a ftraight line nearly due Eaft and Weft,and thirty-two paces long, there are about ten tombs, enclofedabove ground with flat flones, which are placed in the foilon their edges, and in a manner divided into compartments.Four of thefe fepulchres are fquares of four arfhines, or ninefeet four inches; but five others, though of a fimilar length,are only two arfbines in breadth, and confequently oblong.Their fucceflion is irregulär; and, in two places, there is anintermediate fpace of two feet four inches. The following isthe Order in which they are difpofed from Eaft to Weft, aswell as their refpe&ive diftances from each other s

2, i, 4> x > 4> 2 » 2 > 4> 3» 4*> 2, 2, arfhines.

At their fouthern extremity, fome of thefe monuments haveprobably been provided with a larger ftone; and, at thediftance of almoft two fathoms to the South-weft of the rowabove fpecified, we met with another feries of three detachedtombs. Towards the eaftern end are, a low hillock furroundedwith ftones, and two ifolated fquares alfo enclofed with flagsftanding on edge; but which, on their eaftern fide, exhibit alarger ftone in an erecl: fituation. The Tartars fuppofe thefeburial-grounds to belong to a former colony of Jews; thoughit may, with more probability, be conjectured that they ori-ginate from another ancient, and not very numerous nation.

The road to Toklyk takes a circuitous courfe along thefhore, on account of the many rain-water hollows that defcendfrom the barren Tokluk-Syrt. It difcovers, for the moftpart, a clayey faline foil, and throughout the deep glens weobferved the horizontal beds of argülaceous fchiftus interfperfed

with

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