OF THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA.

93

Thefe excurfions are particularly gratifying to females. Imme-diately below the convent, a fpring of excellent cold wateriiTues from the rock; it is well enclofed, and ferves to irrigatethe vineyards cultivated on the lower terrace. On the rockywall, the E/aterium, and other plants, which delight in warm,fituations, grow in abundance. Botanical purfuits, however,are attended with difficulty ; and, after defcending this windingpath to the fea-fhore, even perfons provided with the beft lungswill, without refting, be fcarcely able to climb up as far as theconvent.

On the fhore, near this monaftery, three different fpecies ofrock may at one view be diftinguifhed: thus an idea may beformed refpe&ing the orography of Crim-Tartary. Uppermoft,appears the lateft bed of lime-ftone, which is copioufly mixedwith teftaceous fragments and oolites, the whole furface beingcovered with thick ftrata: below the convent, lies a ftill moreancient calcareous ftone, or more properly a rock approachingto marble, and forming folid mafles without regulär gradations;but the filTures are interfperfed with vitriolated martial ochre:and this foflil allo prefents itfelf on the furface of the SacredPromontory, termed Aya-Burun, as well as in the more diftantmountains towards Balaklava ; while the modern calcareous bedterminates here. Laftly, near the fea, and efpecially at theeaftern corner of the rock, which forms the bay of the convent,there occurs a dark grey and often brownifh argillaceous fchiftus,coarfely laminated, and in which both pebbles and oclahedralmarcafites are occafionally difcovered. The red jafper, obtainedin fragments on the declivity of the rock, is fomewhat veinedwith chalcedony, and appears to originate from a vein or cleft;

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