H$ JOURNEY THROUGH THE INTERtOR OF THE CRIMEA,

hind the fteep terraces of the heights, we met with an unevencountry, interfeöed with hollow grounds: its furface is over-fpread with a fertile vegetable mould, extending towards theadjacent piain; and, between the rivulet» Tfhoountflw, Befh-terek, and Suya, which fiows into the Salgir, there appearin many places the calcareous layers, expofed by large flats,and in a manner call into one piece. Thefe ftrata are moftlyporous, fometimes refembling tophus, and being generally com-pofed of teftaceous fand and rubble. As their bulk i& con-fiderable, the Tartars employ them in erecting the walls thatenclofe their yards and meadows. In fome beds, the fubftanceof the ihells is decompofed, or fwept away by the water, fothat their impreflion only remains in the calcareous mafs.Others, again, are mingled with quartz and various particlesof gravel. A very peculiar kind of brittle, light, andochreous-yellow lime-ftone is obtained from a quarry near thevillage of Burnafh; where the two rivulets laß: mentionedunite in the vicinity of the Salgir. This foflil is loofely cakedtogether of broken, fine, and very friable fhells: when moift-ened, it may be crumbled by the hand, or hewn into dif-ferent forms with a hatchet, or likewife be eafily divided bythe faw. Although it acquires fome degree of hardnefs, onexpofure to the atmofphere, fo that houfes have been con-ftru&ed of fuch material, yet it is permeable by air and water;and, after a dwelling has ftood for fome time, it is remarkablethat the rain, abforbed by the walls, diffolves the calcareous par-ticles; and thefe gradually cement the fquare ftones to each other.In the vicinity of the Suya, or twenty-one verfts from Ak-metfhet, a village has been eftablilhed by fome Ruffian colonifts,

whofe