[Illustration: _Frontispiece._
STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN.]
RUSSIA
ON
THE BLACK SEA
AND
SEA OF AZOF:
BEING
A NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS IN THE CRIMEA
AND BORDERING PROVINCES;
WITH
NOTICES OF THE NAVAL, MILITARY, AND COMMERCIAL
RESOURCES OF THOSE COUNTRIES.
BY H. D. SEYMOUR, M.P.
WITH MAP, &c.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1855.
_The right of Translation is reserved._
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
The following work is partly the result of my own personal observation,
and partly a compilation from some of the most approved authors who
have written on the Crimea and the resources of Russia. It was prepared
for the press during last winter, and the publication of it has been
retarded by the attention which, for the last few months, I have been
obliged to bestow on other matters. As the Crimea is still an object of
deep interest, and as I am not aware that the notices I have collected
have yet been presented to the public in a succinct form, I hope by the
following pages that I may help to satisfy public curiosity and add
something to the stock of information which we possess respecting the
Southern parts of European Russia.
Having paid one visit to the Crimea in the year 1844, and two visits
to Southern Russia in 1844 and 1846, I have been able to correct and
verify the descriptive parts of the book by my own experience. The
careful work of M. Dubois de Montpereux[1] has been my principal guide
on geology, archæology, and ancient history, and from his magnificent
atlas I have borrowed a few illustrations. I have abstracted from the
‘Études sur la Russie’ of M. Haxthausen an account of the Russian navy
and army, adding matter acquired from other trustworthy sources. To
the above-named book and that by M. Tegoborski,[2] both standard works
on the internal economy of the Russian empire, I am much indebted; and
although I think their accomplished authors write under a strong bias,
yet their works are indispensable to those foreigners who wish to study
the resources and organization of the Russian empire. M. Tegoborski has
not been allowed to state his whole opinions upon some subjects, and the
Censor has obliged him to make material alterations, particularly where
he speaks of the condition of the peasantry. I have likewise alluded to
a discussion which took place last year in the ‘Revue des Deux Mondes,’
in which this gentleman took a part. In the course of last summer a
very able article appeared in the French ‘Moniteur,’ on the subject of
Russian Finance, in which it was attempted to be proved that Russia
was very weak on this point, and could not hold out for any lengthened
period against the Western Powers. The subject was followed up by M. Léon
Faucher in the ‘Revue des Deux Mondes,’ in a damaging article on Russian
resources and finance. Soon afterwards an answer to this was sent from
Petersburg, written by M. Tegoborski, who is an employé in the Bureau des
Finances, and it appeared in the November number of the Revue, with a
rejoinder by M. Léon Faucher, written just before his lamented decease.
Notwithstanding the truth of M. Tegoborski’s observation, that Russia
cannot be judged by the same rules as other European nations in matters
of finance, owing to her totally different state of civilization, I think
he fails to prove the main object of his article, that Russia can stand
many more such campaigns as that of 1854. Russia must have little hope of
persuading us of her power by other means, when she is obliged to have
recourse to an article in a foreign periodical in the midst of a deadly
struggle.
I have borrowed much from the work of M. and Madame Hommaire de Hell,[3]
and would refer any reader who wishes for vivid descriptions of Southern
Russia, full historical information, and accurate scientific knowledge,
to the original French work of this distinguished engineer and his
accomplished wife. M. H. de Hell spent five years in the country to
ascertain the difference of the levels between the Black Sea and the
Caspian, and his work is accompanied by an atlas of rare merit.
I am indebted to many friends, and, among others, to Mr. Yeames, late
Consul-General at Odessa, Mr. Crawfurd, and Mr. Blackmore, late chaplain
at Cronstadt, for many valuable suggestions and corrections; and Mr.
Lander has been good enough to revise the chapters on the shores of the
Sea of Azof, with which no man is better acquainted. This accomplished
gentleman was born in New Russia, and for many years has conducted the
house of Yeames and Co. at Taganrok; and I may say with truth, that the
eighteenth chapter is rather his than mine.
In Chapter V. I have especially to acknowledge several pages of valuable
matter relating to the Asiatic races of mankind, for which I am indebted
to a note by Dr. William Smith, inserted in his recent admirable edition
of the great work of Gibbon. My little book pretends to be scarcely more
than a compilation, and if I have anywhere else omitted to acknowledge
assistance, it has not been from the wish unfairly to appropriate the
labours of others.
I have also to thank the Rev. Walter Sneyd for the sight of a translation
of a curious Italian MS. in his possession, describing the travels in the
Crimea of one Nicholo Barti of Lucca in the seventeenth century.
My notice on the Russian Budget in Chapter VIII. is not so full as I
could wish it to have been, and perhaps I may have made too high an
estimate of the military expenditure. The other facts relating to it are
taken principally from M. Tegoborski’s writings.
I have endeavoured, in the following pages, to be as accurate as
possible, but more leisure than I have enjoyed would have enabled me to
go over the ground still more carefully than I have done, and verify
my statements upon various subjects by information gathered from other
scattered sources.
I am fully alive to the defects and incomplete character of the sketches
which I now venture to present to the public; and I ask, therefore, for
indulgence if I have not contributed as much as I might have done to the
instruction or amusement of my readers.
INTRODUCTION.
My original intention was to have compiled a summary of the history of
the Caucasus, where I spent nearly three years, and to which a short
account of the Crimea would only have served as an introduction. The
increasing interest attaching to the latter subject, however, made me pay
more attention to it; so that I now offer to the public some notices on
that country and the shores of the Sea of Azof, without being able to add
anything upon what I hoped to make the main subject of my inquiry. Some
chapters upon the Caucasus are already partly written, but I have not
had sufficient time to prepare them for insertion in the present volume,
although intimately connected with it. They relate to a country replete
with the deepest interest, and I hope that, ere long, some more competent
hand than mine may vindicate the character of those heroic mountaineers,
whom many are accustomed unjustly to stigmatize as barbarians. Though
unlettered, they possess equal claims to our admiration with our own
Saxon and Norman ancestors, or with the Swiss in the days of Tell, for
they possess that stubborn love of independence and that “spirit of
divinest liberty,” which is the root of all good.
When peace shall be made, it will be most fortunate should we be able to
secure the freedom of the Eastern coast of the Black Sea by treaty, for
the independence of that country would form one of the best securities
against Russian aggression. At the Caucasus Russia may be said to end,
and a new class of nationalities to begin, and she can only desire to
possess that mountain range with the intention of extending her conquests
beyond it.
The Caucasus, that is, the mountain range itself, and the countries that
lie at the foot of them, to the north and south, are the most convenient
entrance to the heart of the great table-land of Asia, which, when once
thoroughly subdued, might constitute an impregnable citadel whence Russia
would be enabled to extend her influence and dominion in every direction.
The Caucasus is the real citadel of Russian power in the South and
East, although as yet beleaguered by the nations from which it has been
partially wrested. Russia has surrounded it by an army of 170,000[4] men,
and carefully keeps its inhabitants from communication with civilized
Europe. We have never acknowledged the sovereignty of the Russians over
this territory, nor over the Christian provinces to the south of the
Caucasus. If her blockade were permanently removed from the eastern coast
of the Black Sea, and the brave inhabitants of the mountains allowed to
carry on a liberal commerce with Europe, their energies would be quickly
turned from war to peaceful arts.
Those who designate the Circassians as mere warlike barbarians should
remember that we ourselves were but warlike semi-barbarians in the
early ages of our history, and that the manly character which made us
so formidable in the days of the Plantagenets enabled us ultimately,
with better directed energies, to raise our great commercial empire in
the eighteenth century. The Circassians and the other mountain tribes
resemble us in many particulars: they debate every great affair in a
national council; they venerate the ancient usages and ordinances which
form their constitution; and they have the same gradation of ranks and
aristocratic feelings which distinguish ourselves.
Above all points of resemblance to us, they have clung to their
independence with Anglo-Saxon tenacity; and shall we, when peace shall
be made, allow their rude and gigantic enemy again to surround them with
her liberated forces, till she exterminate them by brute power, and no
memorial be left of unsuccessful virtue save that which history will
assuredly record in their favour?
We acknowledged the independence of the Colonies of Spanish America while
they were still struggling with the mother country; we went still further
with Greece, for we gave them active assistance, having not only the
French, but the very Russians themselves for our allies. Surely, then,
there exist far more cogent reasons for assisting the Circassians, who
have never been conquered by the Russians. Up to the breaking out of the
present war the Russians had only an ever-disputed possession of the
actual ground occupied by their fortifications and protected by their
cannon, and they have been constantly resisted by the mountaineers, who
have ever refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Emperor.
The coast of Circassia is now free, and all that is required is that it
should be kept so, without being again subjected to a barbarous blockade.
If a consul were placed there, and merchants encouraged to frequent it,
its gallant inhabitants would soon yield to the civilizing influences of
Europe, and engage themselves in developing its boundless resources.
We may rest satisfied that the freedom of the Caucasus will form an
important element towards the diminution of Russian influence in the East.
I agree with Mr. Gladstone in thinking we must look for future security
not only by reducing the power of Russia, but by raising that of Turkey
and the other independent peoples bordering on the Black Sea. Free
communication and free trade once firmly established there, the question
might be considered as in a great measure settled. It is true that you
cannot impose free trade upon Russia, who occupies half the coasts of the
Black Sea; but you may claim your right to traffic with the Circassians
on the east coast of that sea, and protect your commerce there by an
authorized agent. So great are the advantages of unrestricted trade—so
much does commerce strengthen and civilize, that the liberal tariff of
Turkey, and the opening of the Principalities (as stated in App. E),
have been, in an indirect manner, the cause of the present war; for,
with freedom of trade, the Christian subjects of the Porte, for some
years before the commencement of hostilities, had so much increased in
importance and wealth, that they excited the jealousy of Russia, and she
feared that if she did not claim in time a closer protectorate over them,
they might escape her altogether. I say this, assuming it to have always
been a cardinal point in the politics of Russia, in due time, to advance
her empire to Constantinople and Athens.
Although I believe the whole Russian nation to be bent upon certain
measures of territorial aggrandizement, I have not failed to acknowledge
in my notices the general pacific character of the people. They are not
a martial nation; that is, they are not a nation which takes delight in
war for the sake of braving its dangers and revelling in its excitement;
but theirs is the patient, enduring, indomitable courage which will
face any dangers to compass certain ends. The Russian nation has been
misdirected by its rulers as to the true objects of national glory, and
by an exorbitant tariff and other measures has been kept from mixing with
other European nations, lest it should learn juster ideas of the points
in which true glory and prosperity consist, and become impatient of a
military organization, the object of which is to carry out indefinite
schemes of conquest.
I have lived among the Russians, and I have learnt to respect them as a
strong, earnest, unprejudiced people, with a great principle of growth in
them, and who will work out the defects of their character, and become
some day an honour to civilization. They were the only nation in the
world, I believe, with whom we had never been at war.[5] None can more
deeply regret than I do that we have been obliged now to try their mettle.
We must remember that we have a Court to deal with which combines the
deep calculation of Europe with the wiles of Asiatic intrigue, and that
we shall assuredly be over-reached, if we do not insist upon sufficient
guarantees. We must also remember that the conquest of Constantinople
is the settled determination of Russia, and has been the prime object of
ambition to that country ever since the ninth century, when the Russian
fleets first appeared before its walls; and that, if we are determined
(as I hope is the case) that they shall never possess it, we must take
care, whenever peace shall be made, that it be rendered perfectly secure,
and the approaches to it guarded with the greatest possible care.
If we yield, as Mr. Gladstone and his friends wish us to do, to the first
offers of Russia, we shall fail in our paramount object, and become
the laughing-stock of the world. The lives of the brave will have been
wasted, and the successes we have gained will be of no avail; Russia,
at the first favourable opportunity, will renew the struggle, with the
advantages of railroads and all modern inventions. In dealing with so
subtle an enemy it will be wise not to hesitate, but push on, and,
treating Russia as she wished to treat Turkey, require from her effectual
guarantees that she will not again disturb by her ambition the peace of
Europe.
The supineness and indecision of the European Powers for the last thirty
years have enabled Russia to take up an insolent position towards
Europe; and the fears of our own imaginations have contributed to swell
the prestige of the Colossus of the North, and to render his intrigues
successful. Our statesmen are now fully convinced of the gravity of our
position, and the extent of Russian intrigue both in Asia and in Germany.
I had myself personal experience of it last year in the latter country.
In returning from India in March, 1854, I spent a day at the little
German state of ———— —— ——, to visit a German friend well versed in the
secret politics of his country. He told me how ashamed he was of his
countrymen, who were false to their true interests, and cowered beneath
the power of Russia. In the morning, when he came to breakfast with me
in my hotel, an officer took him aside to speak to him. When my friend
returned to me, he said, “You would not believe yesterday the degree of
influence which Russia exercises in Germany; you have here a proof of it.
That officer who took me aside commands the —— troops, and he called me
aside to show me a diamond ring and an autograph letter from the Emperor
of Russia, flattering him, and conferring upon him an order. That man is
henceforward the devoted servant of Russia.” My friend, who is himself a
distinguished littérateur, assured me that there were nearly two thousand
literary persons in Germany who openly received their quarterly pensions
at the Russian embassies to uphold Russian interests. He even authorized
me to authenticate these statements by the use of his name, which
nevertheless I refrain from doing.
As so much is now said by some parties respecting the supposed fairness
and moderation of Russia, I will relate two anecdotes of what happened
under my own cognizance in the East. When the Russians seized, about the
year 1840, the island of Ashtoráda, near Asterabad, at the south-east
corner of the Caspian Sea, which they have since fortified and
garrisoned, and when they explored with steamers the Gourgan and Atrak,
rivers flowing exclusively through the Persian territory, but leading
in the direction of the best road to India, there was one Turcoman Chief
resolutely hostile to them, whom they could neither frighten nor seduce.
One night, therefore, troops were disembarked, his house was surrounded,
and he and all his sons were carried off and conveyed into the interior
of Russia, whence, at the prayer of a very influential personage, his
place of exile was changed to Tiflis, where I knew him.
The second is a more daring violation of the territory of the same
power, with whom, be it remembered, we have a treaty of alliance, and
at the court of which we have long had a minister constantly residing.
A certain member of the Georgian royal family, Suleiman Khan,[6]
lived in the Persian provinces ceded to Russia in 1828, and having an
inveterate enmity to that power, he refused to remain there when they
became Russian, and fled into a remote part of Persia. After many years
he thought he might venture to come and live at Tabreez, the capital
of Azerbiján, and near his own country. He had sounded the Russian
consulate, and found them apparently favourable, and when he arrived he
was invited to dinner by the Russian Consul-General. Everything passed
off very agreeably until after dinner, when, as he was sitting on a sofa
with the Consul, drinking his coffee, the latter begged to be excused for
an instant, and left the room. Immediately upon his quitting, a file of
Russians appeared at the door, with their pieces levelled at the Khan,
and the Consul, from behind them, told him he was extremely sorry that
he was obliged to treat a guest in so uncourteous a manner, but that
he must execute his orders, that Suleiman Khan must consider himself
a prisoner, and prepare instantly to be conveyed into the interior of
Russia.
This fact was told me by the English Consul at Tabreez, when I arrived
at that city some short time after this event had occurred, and I
dined with the Russian Consul in question, now holding a high post in
Russian diplomacy, in the very room where it happened. Of course, when
proceedings of this sort were overlooked by our Government, there is no
wonder that Russia grew emboldened, and believed that no European power
dared to interfere with her.
We have begun at last, after thousands of lives and millions of treasure
have been expended in attacking the only strong position of Russia in the
Black Sea, to attack some of the long line of vulnerable points which she
presents. Our successes at Kertch, Berdiansk, Mariopol, Taganrok, and
Soujuk Caleh have been as easy as they have been important, and we have
now only to continue the same course of action.
I can state, on the authority of persons intimately acquainted with those
countries, in answer to what Mr. Cobden said in the House of Commons,
that the blow we struck in the Sea of Azof has been the severest which
we have dealt to Russian power—that all the stores we destroyed at
Kertch belonged to the Government, and not to private individuals, and
that the same was the case with every bag of flour and oats destroyed at
Berdiansk, Mariopol, and Taganrok. The Russian Government, as is well
known, has always supplied Sevastopol and their other fortresses on the
coast of the Black Sea with stores and ammunition from the interior of
the country by means of the Sea of Azof, as is explained in my work.
It is known that they had just completed large purchases of stores for
Sevastopol which we intercepted in our late expedition, so that the
merchants had received their money, and the loss wholly fell on the
Government.[7] If our fleet had penetrated to Rostof, we should probably
have destroyed a still larger amount of stores, and at the latter place
the shot and shells which are brought down there from the foundry at
Lugan, and from Siberia, for transmission to the Russian fortresses in
the Black Sea. Perhaps this may be reserved for another expedition; for
close to Rostof are Novo Tcherkask, the capital of the Don Cossacks, and
Naketchiván, an Armenian town, and the head-quarters of many Armenian
houses deeply engaged in supplying the commissariat of the Russian army.
From the eastern coast of the Sea of Azof may also be obtained large
herds of fine horses for our cavalry, and fat beasts for the subsistence
of our army.
The taking of Anapa will allow the Circassians to overspread the country
as far as the Bosphorus, and even to cross it and assist us in the
Crimea, a part of which they formerly occupied, and from which some of
their noblest families make it their boast to have come.
From Soujuk Caleb it is now friendly country to Ekaterinodár on the
Kuban, the capital of the Black Sea Cossacks; and if judicious persons
be sent to treat with the Circassians, a long line of easy and important
victories will be opened to us. But in the East, still more than in
the West, everything depends upon a judicious selection of agents; and
it is especially necessary, among free mountaineers, to gain their
confidence by kind, considerate conduct, and to persuade them that you
have no projects for your own aggrandizement, but wish, by confirming
their independence and adding to their strength, to render them a strong
bulwark against Russian aggression.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VIEW OF STEPPES _Frontispiece._
PLAN OF SEVASTOPOL _To face p._ 62
PLAN OF THE HERACLEOTIC CHERSONESE ” 148
PLAN OF KERTCH (PANTICAPÆUM) ” 256
GREEK ANTIQUITIES IN GOLD AND ELECTRUM FOUND AT KERTCH ” 282
MAP OF THE CRIMEA AND SEA OF AZOF _At the end._
NOTE.—In the Map, Cape Kazantip is represented as fortified by the
Russians. This is an error; the fortifications were meant to have been
marked near Arabat.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE CRIMEA.
General description of the Crimea—Mountains—Rivers—Ancient
name—Boundaries—The Steppes to the north connected
with it—The roads—Bereslaf—Kherson; its foundation
and importance—Gloubóky—Perversion of names by the
Russians—Nicolaief, head-quarters of Black Sea fleet,
described—Odessa—Definition of New Russia—Limits of ancient
Scythia—The dominions of the Khans of the Crimea—The Zaporogue
Cossacks Page 1
CHAPTER II.
THE STEPPES OF RUSSIA.
Extent and boundaries of the Steppes—The Tchorno-ziemé—Soil
and aspect—Their productions—Appearance of the Steppes in
spring, summer, and winter—Snow-storms, called “Metel” and
“Boura”—“Balkas,” or ravines—Roads, their state in spring—Tumuli
or “Kourgans”—False tumuli—The mirage—Tchernomore Steppes—From
Don to Moloshna—Moloshna to Dniepr—German colonies—Inhabitants of
Steppes—Game—Soroke or Marmot—Biroke—Suslic—The Steppes occupy
two-thirds of the Crimea 13
CHAPTER III.
FROM PERECOP TO SYMPHERÓPOL.
The isthmus of Perecop—Its defences—History—Its capture by
Marshal Munich in 1736—The Crimea and Kilboroún conquered
by him—His cruelty and atrocities—The Armenian Bazar—The
salt lakes—General view of the sea-coast on each side of
the isthmus—The Black Sea and Gulf of Karkiníte—Anchorage
of Akméshed—Cape Karamroún—The Lagoon of the Dniepr
and Boug defended by Kilboroún and Otchákow—The river
Boug—Gloubóky—Kherson—The Shiváshe, or Putrid Sea—The
Tonka, or Strelka, or Arabate—The road from Perecop to
Sympherópol—Sympherópol 26
CHAPTER IV.
BAKTCHÉSERAI AND TCHOUFOUT KALEH.
Description of Baktchéserai—The palace of the Khans—Pouschkin’s
fountain—The great council-room—The hareem—The cemetery—The tomb
of Dilara Bikéh—The gorge of Tchoufout Kaleh—Acheláma—Tchoufout
Kaleh—The Karaim Jews, or those who reject the Talmud—Their very
ancient origin—Probable descendants of Sadducees—Their high
character—Tomb of the beautiful Nenekedjàn—The crypt town of
Kirkor 37
CHAPTER V.
WHO ARE THE TATARS?
Origin of the Tatars—Original common stock of the Mongol,
Toungous, Turk, and Ugrian groups of nations—Short account
of each of these—The Tatars belong to the Turk race—Their
royal race, the Gerays, descendants of Zingis Khan, through
Tóktamish—Discord in the kingdom of Kiptchak for one
hundred years—Kingdom of Crimea founded by Mahomet II.—Held
tributary to Constantinople till conquest by the Russians—The
conditions—Popular notion that the Gerays are next heirs to the
throne of Constantinople—Selim Geray—Constitution of Crimea—Power
of the Khans with the Grand Sultan—The Sultans, or royal
family, of the Gerays—The wives of the Khans—Character of the
Tatars—Their manner of living—Their fidelity 48
CHAPTER VI.
SEVASTOPOL.
Road to Sevastopol from Baktchéserai—Conquest and foundation
of Sevastopol in 1783-84—Description of town and fortress—“The
Dvoretz”—Engineer buildings—Fort Alexander and Fort
Constantine—South Bay—The Hulks—Bay of Vessels, now the
Docks—Description of the barracks—Hospitals, Slobodes—Colonel
Upton and anecdotes of Russian workmen—Sevastopol
in 1834—Reservoir of Sevastopol—Sievarna fort—The
citadel—Observations of Sir Howard Douglas on the siege—Military
stores—Arsenals of Russia—Manufactories of fire-arms—Cannon
foundries—Stores come to Sevastopol by the Don and the
Azof—The road by the Arabate and Perecop—Fortifying of Cape
Kazantip—Undefended state of Kertch up to May last—Public
gardens—Haxthausen on the object of Sevastopol and the Black Sea
Fleet—Chopin on the Anglo-French alliance—Conclusion 61
CHAPTER VII.
THE RUSSIAN NAVY.
Its origin under Peter the Great—Early victories of the
Varangians, or Normans, and Cossacks—Row-boats more useful in the
Baltic than large vessels—The navy under Catherine II.—English
instructors—Difficulty in manning the fleet—No mercantile
navy—Organization of the Russian fleet—No marines—Oak for
navy—Food of sailors—Russian vessels on foreign stations—Only one
Russian foreign merchant—Greek influence diminished in 1844—“The
Twelve Apostles”—“The Teredo Navalis”—The Affair of Sinope—The
Paixhans shell system—General observations 83
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
Large proportion of Russian population in the army—Military
organization—Peaceable natural disposition of Russian
people—Strong feelings when roused—Obedience to
orders—Anecdotes—Commercial disposition of the Russian
people—Their wish to mix with European nations—Education checked
by the Government—Military system of Peter the Great—His great
objects—Faults of our Government with respect to Russian
policy—The army, whence recruited—Great Russians—Poles—Little
Russians—Finns, Jews, &c.—Name “Ruski” or Russian—Its origin—The
conscription—Soldiers’ marriages—The Cantonists—Emperor’s
efforts to improve condition of common soldier generally
unsuccessful—Corporal punishment—Labour—“Indefinite
leave”—Division of empire for conscription—Amount of
population per cent. taken from 1840-1855—Expense of the
Russian soldier—Democratic system of army—The cross of St.
George—Classification of Russian army—Into 1st, Corps d’Armée, or
complete armies—2nd, Local Regular Troops—3rd, Irregulars—Don,
Black Sea, and Ural Cossacks—Value and number of Cossack
troops—Various Asiatic irregulars—General observations 96
CHAPTER IX.
INKERMAN, MANGOUP, AND THE HILLY COUNTRY OF THE CRIMEA.
The Bay of Sevastopol to Inkerman—Aktiar—Inkerman
Castle—Its history—Crypts—Fuller’s earth, or natural
soap—Tchorgouna—Tchouli, residence of Pallas—Crypts at
Karakoba—Mount Aithodor—Mangoup—Description and history—Gothic
architecture—Position of Mangoup—Interesting character of
surrounding country—The Tchatyr-Dagh and the Yailas 137
CHAPTER X.
THE HERACLEOTIC CHERSONESE.
The Heracleotic Chersonese—Origin of name—Defended by a
wall—Kherson—Its history and remains—House of Lamachus—The
predecessors of Vladimir and their relations with
Constantinople—Account of the siege by Vladimir, taken out of
Nestor—Vladimir’s Baptism—Springs of water—Kherson destroyed by
Lithuanians—The bays between Sevastopol and Cape Chersonese—Cape
Partheniké—The Tauric Diana—The monastery of St. George—Bustards
on the Chersonese 148
CHAPTER XI.
ON THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE CRIMEA.
The Cimmerii—The Tauri—Connexion of Greece with the Black
Sea—Digression on the Crypts of the Crimea—B.C. 600: the
Scythians—The Greek colonies, B.C. 650—Milesian emigration—Dorian
emigration—Trade of these early times—Mithridates, reigned
B.C. 120-63—A.D. 62: The Alans—A.D. 100-200: The Goths—A.D.
376: The Huns—Second attack of the Huns—Justinian reigned,
A.D. 527-565—A.D. 679: The Khazars—A.D. 900-1000: The
Petchenegues—About 1204: The Comans—1226: The Tatars—The
Genoese—1473: Kaffa taken by the Turks—The Black Sea then shut up
to European nations—Mixture of races in present inhabitants of
Crimea 166
CHAPTER XII.
BALACLAVA AND VALLEY OF BAIDAR.
Balaclava—Karl Ritter’s views of the importance of
the Black Sea in very early times—Homer’s account of
Balaclava—The Cembalo of the Genoese—Tatar occupation of
it—Arnaouts—Tchorgouna—Mackenzie’s Farm—Valley of Baidar—Manners
of the Tatars—Woronzof road 182
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SOUTHERN COAST, AS FAR AS ALOUCHTA.
Pass of Phoros—First view of the Southern Coast—The
climate—Valley of Laspi—Mount Aia, or Cape Saritch—Modern
Laspi—Phoros to Kíkineis—Land slips—Liméne—Singular
appearance of Tatars—Aloupka—Prince Woronzof’s
palace—Gardens—Luxuriant vegetation—Craters—Account
of Prince Woronzof—Miskhor—Koureis, seat of Princess
Galitzin—Madame de Krudener and Comtesse Lamothe—Gaspra—Mount
A’ithodor—Imperial Oriánda—Ouchansóu—Yalta—The
mountain pass to Baktchéserai—Marsánda—Cyclopean
remains—Magaratch—Nikita—Botanical gardens—St.
Daniel—Oursouf—Ancient castle of Justinian—Cyclopean
remains—Mount Aioudágh, the ancient Kriumetôpon Prom—Village of
Partheníte—Great and Little Lambat—The Chaos—Numberless ancient
remains—The pass of Mount Castéle—The descent to Alouchta 197
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EASTERN COAST AND SOUDAK.
Alouchta—The Eastern and Western Coasts—Oulou Ouzéne,
the property of Mrs. Lang—Mdlle. Jacquemart—The Bay of
Soudak—Ruins of the triple fortress—The Kiz Koullé, or Girl’s
Tower—Ancient Soldaya—Its history—Remains—Vandalism of the
Russians—Ruined barracks—The Crimean Wine Company—The wines of
the Crimea—Prices of land in the Crimea—Road to Theodosia—Tatar
hospitality—Koktebel 220
CHAPTER XV.
FROM ALOUCHTA TO SIMPHERÓPOL, KARASOUBAZAR,
ESKI KRIM, AND THEODOSIA.
Valley of Alouchta—Obelisk—Valley of the Angar—Tavshan
Bazar—Fortified Gorge—Yenisála, a Greek Colony—Aian and the
source of the Salghír—Ascent of the Tchatyr-Dagh—Yaila—Snow
reservoirs—From Tchafki to Simpherópol—Excursion up valley
of Little Salghír to caves of Kisilkoba—Caverns—Simpherópol
to Karasóubazar—The Shireen family—Eski Krim—Theodosia, or
Kaffa—B.C. 700, Theodosia founded by Milesians—A.D. 250,
totally destroyed by the Huns—Desert for 1000 years—A.D. 1280,
Kaffa founded by Genoese on site of Theodosia—Short history of
it—A.D. 1475, taken by Turks—Its decline—Revival in seventeenth
century—1781, taken by Russians—Description of ruins—Their
destruction by the Russians—Position of Kaffa in commercial point
of view—Arabat—The wall of Asander—The approach to Kertch 236
CHAPTER XVI.
KERTCH.
Approach to Kertch—The Cimmerian Bosphorus—Russian conquest of
Kertch in 1771—Its rise since 1833—Its chance of becoming the
emporium of trade for the Sea of Azof—Russian authorities—Ancient
church—Kertch, the ancient Panticapæum—Acropolis—Arm-chair of
Mithridates—Allée of Tumuli on Theodosian road—The Tumulus a
sign of Milesian occupation—Contents of Tumuli on Theodosian
road—Etruscan vases at Kertch—Burial-places of the poor—Tomb
of the Pigmies—The Catacombs—The Tombs of the Kings—The
Golden Mountain—The rich discoveries at Kouloba—Description
of the contents of the Tomb—Pillaged by the people—Probably
that of Leucon I., or Paerisádes I.—The Museum—Myrmékium—Mud
volcanoes—Naphtha springs—Cape Akboroun—Nymphæum—Herring
fishery—Opouk, the ancient Kimmericum 255
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SEA OF AZOF.
The Sea of Azof—Its extent and boundaries—Its depth
continually diminishes—Its sweet water—Its rivers—Currents—The
Straits of Kertch—The Russian defences of it—The eastern
shores—Temróuk—Okhtor—Cape Obriv—The fishing-huts—Bay and new
town of Yeisk—Cape Tchimborsk—Mouths of Don—Bars of the Don—Old
town of Azof—Rostof—Its commercial importance—Shallowness
of water in Gulf of the Don—The Azof frozen in winter—Ruins
of ancient Tana—Taganrok founded by Peter the Great—Its
history—Its importance—Mariopol—Cape Bielo-Serái—Berdiansk—Its
foundation—Port is filling up—Lake Moloshenska—Peninsula of
Berútchi—Straits of Yénitchi 299
CHAPTER XVIII.
ON THE COMMERCE OF THE SEA OF AZOF.
Rostof, key to commercial system—A district of the Government
of Ekaterinoslaf—Its gradual rise since 1835—Articles of
export—Wheat—Linseed—Rye—Military stores sent by the Azof
to Sevastopol, &c.—Iron foundries of Lugan—Tallow—Breeds of
cattle—System of advances—Agencies of foreign merchants, chiefly
at Pavlosk—Advantages of Free Trade—Passage of goods by the Don
and the Volga—Dubofka and Katchálin—Hardships of the military
system—Intelligence of Russian merchants—True policy of Russia 312
APPENDIX.
(A.) List of the Russian Naval Force in the Black Sea, Jan. 1853 337
(B.) Suvórof’s Discourse under the Trigger 340
(C.) The Timber Trade of Northern and Southern Russia 346
(D.) Commerce of Ports of Crimea 350
(E.) On the advantage of establishing a Free Port on the Danube
at the St. George’s Mouth of the river 354
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CRIMEA, AND THE SHORES OF THE SEA OF AZOF.
CHAPTER I.
THE CRIMEA.
General description of the Crimea—Mountains—Rivers—Ancient
name—Boundaries—The Steppes to the north connected
with it—The roads—Bereslaf—Kherson; its foundation
and importance—Gloubóky—Perversion of names by the
Russians—Nicolaief, head-quarters of Black Sea fleet,
described—Odessa—Definition of New Russia—Limits of ancient
Scythia—The dominions of the Khans of the Crimea—The Zaporogue
Cossacks.
The peninsula of the Crimea is a southern portion of the Steppes of
Russia, raised by volcanic action out of nearly the centre of the Black
Sea. It is about 200 miles across in a direct line from Cape Karamroún
on the western side above Eupatoria to Cape Fanar, the furthest point
eastward on the Straits of Kertch, and 125 miles from Perecop to Cape
Kíkineis on the southern coast. It contains a population of about 200,000
inhabitants, and covers an area of 10,050 English square miles.
The Tauric range of mountains runs east and west along the southern coast
from Balaclava to Theodosia, and generally within a few hundred yards
of the shore, which, being protected by them from the northern winds,
enjoys a delicious climate, like that of southern Italy. But this mild
temperature is confined to the narrow strip of land along the coast which
is shut in by the mountains, and to the north of them the weather shows
severe alternations of heat and cold, and the snow in some seasons
covers the ground for a considerable time in winter. The mountains
themselves occupy a large space, and rise to a height of from 1000 to
5000 feet. They are generally flat-topped or dome-shaped, and hold within
their range high elevated plains called Yailas. Their summits reveal
granite and other primitive rocks, and on their northern sides lie, like
a mantle, the Steppes, which constitute all the northern portion, and
nearly two-thirds of the area, of the whole peninsula.
These steppes gradually incline downwards towards the north, and
hence received from the later Greeks the name of “ta climata,” or the
inclines.[8] The following are the principal rivers:—Eastward, the
Salghír, the Bulganak, the three Andols, the Tchoroksou, the Soubashi,
and the Karagos, which flow into the Shiváshe or great lagoon on the
east, improperly called the Putrid Sea; and on the westward, the western
Bulganak, the Alma, the Katcha, and the Belbek, which discharge their
waters into the long open bay at the head of which stands Eupatoria.
The peninsula of the Crimea was known to the Greeks under the name of the
Taurica Chersonesus, and in the middle ages was called Gothia. It is now
called either the Tauride (a version of its first appellation), or more
commonly Crimea, from the famous city of Eski Krim, near Theodosia, which
was built by the Tatars in the thirteenth century, and is now a ruin.
The Crimea is joined to the main land by the narrow isthmus of Perecop,
on each side of which there is a very shallow sea. To the north of it the
dreary plains of Russia extend interminably, on the west to Bessarabia
and the Ukraine, and on the east to Tatary and Siberia. There has in all
times been a connexion between the Steppes to the north of Perecop and
the peninsula of the Crimea itself, and they have both generally been in
the possession of the same people. A portion of the Steppes, bounded by
Bereslaf, Alexandropol, and Mariopol, are now included in the Russian
government of the Tauride. As the character of the Steppes is very
peculiar, and they form, as I have said, about two-thirds even of the
whole peninsula of the Crimea, I have thrown together in the next chapter
some general observations upon them.
I will now say a few words about the road between Perecop and Odessa, and
the principal towns through which it passes. The whole distance is 352
miles,[9] and there are post-horses along the road, which runs entirely
through the Steppes. Road, however, properly speaking, there is none; for
even outside the gates of Odessa the traveller follows the track of those
that have preceded him, and in dry weather bowls rapidly along, but is
arrested by the slightest fall of rain. I left Odessa, in the year 1843,
in the commencement of August, in a light britska drawn by three horses,
and in consequence of a slight shower of rain in the morning I was
stopped half-way in the rich loam of the Steppes, and was obliged to pass
the night there, and send on to the next station for three fresh horses
to pull my carriage through the heavy ground.
The road from Perecop to Bereslaf, on the banks of the Dniepr, runs 52½
miles across a perfectly flat country, where the soil is not fertile.
The latter town is situated on the right bank of the Dniepr, which is
precipitous and very much higher than the left bank, which is shelving,
and this peculiarity is found in all the rivers of the south of Russia.
Bereslaf owes its importance to its situation at a point where the
Dniepr is crossed by a wooden bridge. In the Greek period it was called
Miletopol, and in later times it belonged to the Zaporogue Cossacks till
their conquest by the Russians.[10]
From Bereslaf to Kherson is 47 miles, and the road runs along the bank
of the Dniepr. The town of Kherson is the capital of the government
of the same name, which is bounded by the governments of the Tauride,
Ekaterinoslaf, Kief, and Podolia, touching also at some points on
Moldavia, Bessarabia, and the Black Sea. The north and north-west
parts of the government of Kherson are very fertile, and produce
great quantities of wheat; although the soil becomes dry and sandy on
approaching the Black Sea. Before its conquest by the Russians this was
the country of the Nogai Tatars, who were also called Precopian Tatars,
but none of their tribes now remain to the westward of the Dniepr. The
population of the government of Kherson now amounts to between 300,000
and 400,000, and is composed of Russians, Armenians, Jews, Germans, and
Bulgarians. The town of Kherson is situated on the north bank of the
Dniepr,[11] which here spreads out into a wide kind of lagoon, 11 miles
in breadth. This is filled with low islands, which are often covered
with water, and render the passage difficult and dangerous. The town
was founded in the desert in 1778, by Catherine II., and was the first
commercial port which the Russians established on the Black Sea. This
was four years after the Treaty of Kainardji, by which the Black Sea was
opened for the first time to any European nation, after having been shut
up for 300 years, since the conquest of Constantinople.[12]
Kherson is situated at about 50 miles from the sea, and the water is too
shallow to allow large vessels to approach it. These load and discharge
their cargoes at Gloubóky, which is many miles below Kherson and the
mouths of the Dniepr. Kherson continued to increase till the foundation
of Odessa, eighteen years afterwards, in 1796. It was both the commercial
and naval centre of the Russians when they first reached the Black Sea
in their conquests; but, as the commercial affairs were transplanted to
Odessa, so their naval arsenal, with the admiralty and the dockyards,
were removed to Nicolaief a few years earlier.[13] The name of Kherson
was given to the new town because it was erroneously supposed to stand
on the site of the ancient Greek colony of that name, the ruins of which
are to be seen close to Sevastopol, and similar mistakes are common in
the case of many other Russian towns founded about the same time. Thus
Sevastopol itself bears the name of the old Greek city on the shores of
Abkhazia; the ruins of the real Eupatoria are at a long distance from the
place which now bears its name; and nothing but a Tatar village of the
name of Hadjibey ever stood on those steppes where Odessa is supposed to
renew the memory of the ancient Odessus.
Nicolaief is the only town of the slightest importance on the dreary
road from Kherson to Odessa, and is 40 miles from the former, and 77
miles from the latter place.[14] It stands in the open Steppe, at the
confluence of the Boug and the Ingoul, on the left bank of the former
river, and 22 miles from its mouth. The Boug is here a noble stream, a
mile and a half broad,[15] and so deep that the largest men-of-war can
ascend and descend after taking out their guns. Its right bank is deep
and precipitous, and the left bank low and shelving, a peculiarity, as
I have before remarked, of all the rivers of Southern Russia. This was
likewise found to be the case at the Alma. This town was founded in 1791,
and intended to replace Kherson as the head-quarters of the Russian fleet
in the Black Sea. It is simply a naval arsenal, and contains a population
of 10,000 or 12,000 persons, entirely occupied in the government
establishments. There are here immense storehouses and dockyards, in
which all the Russian fleet in the Black Sea is built.[16] The timber for
ship-building comes chiefly down the Dniepr to Kherson, and from thence
to Nicolaief. All the vessels constructed here are transported empty down
the river to Gloubóky or Otchákow, and proceed from thence to the Black
Sea on wooden frames called camels, because of a sandbank near Kilboroún,
and they take in their cannon and tackle at Sevastopol. The town is
quite undefended except by a wall, which has been built not for military
but police purposes, to prevent peculation and smuggling, by allowing
no ingress or egress without permission. There is no good water[17] at
Nicolaief, as that of the rivers is often brackish, as is also that which
is obtained from wells, but an excellent spring has been found at some
distance from the town, the water of which has now been introduced and
fills a large reservoir, which holds a sufficient quantity for a much
larger population than now inhabits Nicolaief.[18]
From Nicolaief to Odessa the country is very desert and uncultivated;
for the old Tatar population has disappeared, and new settlers have
not arrived in sufficient numbers to occupy their place. It is only at
the last stage from Odessa that the country bears at all the aspect of
civilization.
Odessa, situated on a barren Steppe, is the second commercial port in the
Russian empire. It was the last town founded by the Empress Catherine
II. in 1796, a few months before her death; and although its situation
is not the best that could have been chosen, still its position as a
débouché for the Polish provinces, and its privileges as a free port,
have made it rapidly increase up to the present time. Odessa is the
residence of the Governor-General of New Russia, and the real capital of
all Southern Russia—that is to say, the largest money centre, and the
town to which all look up as the richest and most refined in the empire
after Petersburg and Moscow. New Russia comprehends the governments of
Kherson, Ekaterinoslaf, and the Tauride, or the vast territory which has
been conquered from nomade nations within the last century, and is as
yet thinly peopled with fixed inhabitants. All these countries have the
same interests, and require special attention, and for these reasons the
governors of them do not correspond with the ministers at Petersburg, as
is the case with the other governments of the Russian empire, but are
referred to the Governor-General of New Russia,[19] who resides among
them at Odessa, and can naturally pay a more immediate attention to their
wants than distant ministers.
New Russia, as the name denotes, has been recently acquired. This
country, with Bessarabia, nearly agrees with the limits of ancient
Scythia in the time of Herodotus, who describes it as extending from
the Ister (Danube) to the Tanais (Don), and as being watered by eight
rivers, of which the Tanais was the last. Scythia, then, appears to have
been bounded by the Danube on the south-west. To the north the whole
of the Boug ran through Scythia; and beyond the Don, to the east, the
Scythian population ended, and the Sauromatæ occupied the Steppes between
the Caspian and Black Sea. The latter people are supposed by some to be
the same as the Sarmatæ, or Sarmatians, the ancestors of the Poles. The
southern part of Scythia, between Kherson and Perecop, was inhabited by
a fixed population, called the Agricultural Scythians; and the Royal
Scythians were to the east, near the Don; and the Nomade Scythians along
the whole country to the north. From the third to the sixth century, when
the barbarians pressed forwards to occupy the defenceless provinces of
the Roman empire, these plains were the high road of nations, and were
occupied by a succession of nomade peoples during the whole period of the
Byzantine empire, until they fell into the hands of the Tatars and the
Ukraine Cossacks, called Zaporogues, from whom the Russians conquered
them in the latter half of the last century. Several Nogai Tatar tribes
regularly divided the whole of the southern portion of it, from the
Dniestr to the Don, and all were under the dominion of the Khan of the
Crimea, and constituted the largest portion of his territory. At the end
of the seventeenth century these Tatars were known in Europe by the name
of the Precopian Tatars, or the Tatars of Perecop.[20]
The nearest regular nations to these on the north were the Poles and the
Russians, of which the Poles were three centuries ago the more important
and powerful people; but both were then much smaller nations and occupied
far less territory than they now do. Between them and the Tatars there
was an immense tract of waste land called the Ukraine, which in Russian
means the march, or border land. Upon this a fugitive population of all
sorts settled themselves, and took as their head-quarters the rapids of
the Dniepr, where that river for about 70 miles falls over a succession
of vast granite blocks, which impede the navigation of the river, and
have caused the formation of numerous islands, difficult of access.
From this cause the mixed population who took refuge there were called
Zaporogues, or the people who lived at the falls, from two Russian words,
“za,” at, “porohi,” the falls; and they were also called Cossacks, or
Kazaks, as the word is pronounced in Russian and Tatar. This is an
appellation of uncertain origin, and known over a vast extent of country
on the confines of Europe and Asia. The Zaporogues were called Kazak, and
so were the people who lived on the Don, and these two communities were
of decided Russian origin. This name was also well known among Asiatic
nations, for the Tcherkess in early times were called Kazaks, and Wood
found it in use as far as the banks of the Oxus. It is not considered as
a complimentary term, and the Cossacks of the Don call themselves the
Donskoi, or the people of the Don, and consider the other as a reproach.
The Zaporogue Cossacks then inhabited the march between the Tatars and
the Poles and Russians, and thus resembled the border people of England
and Scotland. In the reign of Sigismund I., King of Poland, the last of
the race of Jagellon, who died in 1572, the Cossacks were first taken
into pay and armed against the Tatars, and a Polish officer was appointed
their governor; and in the reign of Stephen Batory, which began three
years after the death of Sigismund, they were regularly brought under
military discipline. Much that is fabulous has been related of this
people, and they have been described as a nation who admitted no women to
live among them, as the Amazons near the Sea of Azof banished all men;
and imagination had embellished their history as early as the seventeenth
century.[21] “They were, however,” says Chevalier, who wrote a history of
the Cossack war, which was published at Paris in 1663, “only a military
body, and not a nation, as some have imagined. We cannot compare them
better than to the Franc archers established in France by Charles VII.
They made periodical naval expeditions against the Turks, and have even
advanced within two leagues of Constantinople. Their rendezvous was
the islands of the Dniepr, and when winter approached they returned to
their homes. They generally mustered 5000 or 6000 men: their boats were
sixty feet long, with ten or twelve oars on each side, but this must be
understood only of their war-boats.”
In short, they were pirates after the manner of our forefathers, the
Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Danes.
The father of John Sobieski commanded the Cossacks, and gives the
following account of them:—
“They are chiefly of Russian origin, though many criminal refugees
from Poland, Germany, and other countries are to be found among them.
They profess the religion of the Greek Church; and have their fixed
residence in their naturally fortified places, watered by the Dniepr.
Their business is war, and when they are shut up, as it were, in their
nest,[22] they consider it illegal to neglect athletic sports for any
other pursuits. They live sparingly by hunting and fishing, and they
support their wives and families by plunder. They are governed by a
prefect, whose sceptre is a reed, and who is chosen in a tumultuous
manner. He has absolute power of life and death, and has four counsellors
to assist him. The Poles have given them the town of Trychtymirow in
Kiovia. Long habit has fitted them for maritime warfare. They use boats,
in the side of which they can occasionally fasten flat bundles of reeds
to buoy them up and resist the violence of the waves and winds. With
these boats they sail with great rapidity, and very often take the laden
Turkish vessels. Not many of them use lances (framlis), but they are all
furnished with arquebuses (sclopetis); and in this kind of warfare the
kings of Poland can match the infantry of all the monarchs of the world.
They fortify their camp with waggons ranged in several rows; this they
call ‘tabor,’ and make them their last refuge from an overbearing enemy.
The Poles were obliged to furnish them with arms, provisions, and forage
for their horses.”
Such were the men whom Batory enlisted in the Polish service. In the
year 1556 he divided them into six regiments, and appointed superior
and subordinate officers over them. They were then only infantry, says
Chevalier, but Batory joined to them 2000 horse, and in a short time
they consisted chiefly of cavalry. Their chief was called the hetman,
or ataman; and the king presented him with a flag, a horse-tail, a
staff, and a mirror, as ensigns of authority.[23] The Cossacks played an
important part in all the wars that desolated these countries till they
were subdued, in the last century, by Catherine II., and transplanted to
the banks of the Kuban to keep in check the Circassians. They then lost
the name of Zaporogues, and took that of Tchernomorski[24] Cossacks,
or Cossacks of the Black Sea, under which they are now fighting in the
Russian armies before Sevastopol.
The authority of the khans of Crimea[25] extended beyond Odessa to the
Dniestr,[26] which was in former times the limits of Moldavia, whose
prince paid them tribute. To the north the Tatars were separated from
the kingdom of Poland by the country of the Ukraine; and the Zaporogue
Cossacks were organized by the Polish monarchs as a kind of military
colonists to check their depredations. The Tatar sway was also extended
along all the Steppes as far as the Don Cossacks, and then again beyond
them to Circassia, and the power of the khans of Crimea long survived
that of their brethren in Great Tatary. But when once the Russian people
had begun to shake off their shameful servitude to the Tatars, which it
is doubtful whether any other European nation placed in their position
could have avoided, each generation saw them increase in power, till they
had conquered Zaporogues, Poles, Don Cossacks, and Tatars, and turned
these nations into obedient subjects and instruments for the further
extension of their enormous empire.