The tomb was almost square, measuring 15 feet from east to west, and 14 feet from north to south, and the entrance-door was not in the centre of the wall. The walls were built of hewn stones, each 3 feet long and 2 feet high. Five rows of stones raised it to 7 feet 8 inches, and then began the spring of the Egyptian arch, formed by seven rows of advancing stones, the front row advancing 5 inches and the upper rows 6 or 8 inches, so that at the top there only remained a space 2 feet square, filled by a single stone: the tomb was thus 16 feet high. At 10 feet 10 inches above the pavement began the wooden ceiling, which had fallen, when the beams which supported it gave way. The floor had a stone pavement, and the principal place was occupied by a sarcophagus formed of a case of yew wood, 8 feet 9 inches long and 10 inches high, and was joined by thick beams, on which the outward planks were fitted. The side facing the interior of the tomb was open, and the interior was divided into two parts by a plank. In one of the compartments, larger than the other and nearest to the wall, was extended the body of a man of great stature. The thigh bone was 17½ inches long, and the skull extremely thick. On his brow were the remains of a mitra, or Persian cap, of which the top is more narrow than the base. Two plates of gold ornamented the top and the bottom: the one below was 1½ inches broad, ornamented with festoons and griffins, the emblem of Panticapæum, and was of less careful workmanship than the upper plate, ornamented with figures, leaves, and arabesques. Around the neck was a grand necklace in massive gold, of beautiful workmanship, in the form of an open ring, and twisted like a cord, with the extremities passing one over the other. At each end was a Scythian on horseback, and the extremities were for a distance of 2 inches enameled with blue and green. Similar ones have frequently been found of copper, and rarely of any other metal, in the tombs of the north, and, among others, in those of the ancient Lithuanians.

The arms were extended on each side of the body, and on the right arm, above the elbow, was a circle or bracelet in gold, an inch broad, and adorned with reliefs. Below the elbows were two other bracelets in electrum,⁠[245] 1½ inches broad. A third pair of open bracelets in fine gold encircled the wrists, and finished in Persian winged sphinxes, the claws of which held the thick thread of gold which served to close the bracelet when it was passed on the wrist. The workmanship was very fine, and their thickness about half an inch. At the feet of the king were a multitude of little sharp flints piled up. In Scythian mourning it was a custom to tear the face and the rest of the body with such instruments, and they were then placed in the tombs as a mark of grief; some bodies found in a tumulus near Simpherópol were covered with them. In the narrower compartment of the sarcophagus were placed the gods and arms of the king—first there was his iron sword, the handle of which, covered with leaves of gold, was adorned with figures of hares and foxes embossed on the gold. Beside the sword lay the Tcherkess or Cossack whip (called nogaik), adorned with a leaf of gold, and above it was the shield in fine gold. The thickness of the latter was about that of a five-franc piece, and its shape showed that it was principally a protection for the shoulder, and fitted to the arm. It was 8½ inches long and 7½ broad, and its weight was 1½ lbs. of fine gold. The umbo or centre of the shield was surrounded by a simple circular fillet, and one with the egg pattern, leaving an interval of 3½ lines, on which were chiselled dolphins and other fishes. The rest of the shield was divided into twelve compartments by a fillet, and was covered with masques imitating the head of Medusa, alternating with faces with pointed beards, and flies and heads of seahorses.

The bow and its wooden case⁠[246] were reduced to dust, and there only remained the plate, in electrum, which ornamented the quiver. It was adorned with embossed work, representing a wild goat seized by a tiger, and a deer attacked in front by the griffin of Panticapæum, and behind by the lion of Phanagoria. The deer was the emblem of the town of Diana, which was Kherson. A seahorse filled the wider part of the plate, and a masque the other extremity. Above the tail of the tiger was written the Greek word ΠΟΡΝΑΧΟ, engraven on the metal. Some suppose this to mean Pharnáces the son of Mithridates, whose tomb this may be, but Dubois considers it the name of the artist, which, under the more recent form, ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟϹ, frequently recurs in the inscriptions of Sindika, now Anapa.

Among these arms was found one boot in bronze, and the fellow was on the right of the king, opposite the head. In the same compartment, and near the head of the king, were found, in the exterior angle, five statuettes in electrum. One figure represented two Scythians embracing one another, and tightly holding a horn, probably filled with hydromel. The horn is like those which all the statues, or babas, so often found in one part of Southern Russia, hold with both hands. Another figure holds a purse in its right hand, and a strange instrument in the left, and is like a Celtic Mercury. There was likewise the Scythian Hercules among these divinities. Their costume recalled the Slavonic and Tatar dress, and particularly the tunic of sheepskin, which the Tatars call toun or teretoun, the Russians touloup, and the Poles kozuch, which was the Scythian garment found in the most ancient monuments. The fleece is turned inwards, or the garment is only edged with fur, and it is found of all lengths, from the short Tatar tunic, and the Slavonic katskaveika, to the long sheepskin gown of the Russian peasant. These different kinds are all visible in the different dresses of the figures of this tomb, where may be recognized the real Lithuanian sermedje and the Tcherkess tchok.

Thus was arranged the sarcophagus of the king, and around it, on the pavement, were the objects which completed the furniture of the tomb, in which nothing had been forgotten which could contribute to the material wants of life. At his feet a kind hand had placed three large cauldrons of molten bronze. Two were oval or oblong, and one was spherical, and all reposed on a cylindrical foot, of which the base spread out into three hooks to fix it on the soil. These three vases had been often on the fire and used for cooking; there was a thick coat of suet still on them, and the interior was filled with mutton bones.⁠[247]

There was another oblong vase, near the door, filled in the same manner. After the kitchen of the king came his provision of wine, and his drinking-cups. The wine was contained in four clay amphoræ, placed upright against the wall on the right. On the handle of one was inscribed ΘΑΣΙ, and below ΑΡΕΤΩΝ, and in the midst was a fish. These then were filled with wine of Thasos, which, to judge by the quantity of amphoræ found in the tombs, bearing this name, was the favourite kind of wine. Two large crateres were naturally placed near the amphoræ, because the Scythians always drank wine mixed with water. The first, the nearest to the door, was of silver, nearly eighteen inches in diameter, and contained four drinking cups in silver, two of which were of beautiful workmanship, particularly the one which terminates below in the head of a ram. The second crater in bronze contained also four silver drinking cups, the largest of which is ornamented with chiseled work gilt, on which may be recognised the birds and fish of the Black Sea and the Cimmerian Bosphorus. On the right is a duck plunging and seizing a fish; under it swims a labra and a sturgeon, and further on a cormorant with extended wings is seizing while flying a small fish. On another is a combat of a wild boar about to yield under the claws of a lion.

On the right is a toura⁠[248] of the Caucasus, brought to the ground by two griffins of Panticapæum. On the left the deer of Kherson suffers the same fate, being torn by a lion, while a female leopard, with open mouth, is about to seize it by the throat. In the part which the wild-boar, the deer, and the toura play in the midst of griffins and lions, there is a manifest design. The lion of Phanagoria and the griffin of Panticapæum are not always represented as victorious without intention, while the deer of Kherson, the toura of the Caucasus, and the wild-boar of the Kuban, are always vanquished by them.

Beyond the drinking-cups were the arsenal of the king, composed of two lances and several bundles of arrows, laid along the wall. The last had triangular points in bronze, with three barbs, to prevent their being drawn out of the flesh, and are similar to those found in Scythian monuments in Southern Russia. Between the arrows and the sarcophagus there appeared a second skeleton, laid on the pavement, and much covered with earth, but adorned so richly that it was impossible not to recognise the wife of the king, who thus accompanied him to his last resting-place. She was laid in the same direction as the king, and wore on her forehead a mitre like him, with a plate in electrum terminating it, which showed a skilful workman. Four women, in Greek costume, sit in the midst of garlands of lotuses, the stalks of which form seats and backs. Four masques of lions formed on each side the means by which the plate was attached to the mitre. On the bottom the mitre was bordered by a diadem of gold, adorned all round with small enameled rosettes. The queen bore on her neck, like the king, a grand necklace with the ends moveable, and, instead of horsemen, the extremities were formed of couchant lions. She had on besides another necklace of gold filigree, to which were suspended small chains, supporting little bottles of fine gold. Five medallions of exquisite workmanship, and different sizes, descended on her bosom, and they were fastened together by small chains and bottles. These were enameled blue and green, like other objects that have been mentioned. The two largest of these medallions represented Greek Minervas, but evidently worked at Panticapæum, because of the chiseled griffins on the wings of her helmet. The attributes of Minerva, besides the owl and the winged Pegasus, are the serpents of Medusa, which ought to ornament her shield, a winged sphinx like that on the bracelets of the king, and a row of deer’s heads on the viser of the helmet. The arabesque which surrounds the helmet is also enameled.

At the foot of the skeleton was discovered a magnificent vase in electrum, resembling in form and size those in the second crater, which stands on a foot. It probably contained perfumes, particularly as some of the little bottles usually called lacrymatories were found, as in the other tombs. The exquisite chiselings upon it are of the greatest interest for art and history. (See Plate.) Four groups of figures succeed each other as episodes in the same history, in which the personage playing the principal part reappears three times. In the first group, beginning from left to right, he is seated, the two hands and the head leaning on the lance, listening attentively to the report of a warrior. The king is known by the royal band round his head, perhaps the very one which is placed in the tomb. His costume is completely Scythian: he has the narrow trousers, the boots, and the tchok which has been described. The warrior who makes the report is also a Scythian, kneeling before him, dressed as on the Etruscan vases, and armed with lance and buckler. Neither the one nor the other has the warlike quiver; their hair is long, and spread over their shoulders; but the bearer of the despatch has no diadem; he wears only the bachelik of the Caucasus, or the Phrygian bonnet, or rather the Lithuanian bonnet, which has for many centuries remained the same. The next figure turns its back to the messenger, and, kneeling on one knee, is much occupied in bending a bow, which may be that of the king, for this warrior has his own by his side. They are preparing for war. This war then takes place; and next are depicted the fruits of it, for the king has been badly wounded. He is recognised in the half sitting, half kneeling, figure, from whom the Scythian magus is extracting a tooth from the left side of the jaw. On examining the skull of the king, deposited in the museum, it may be seen that the lower jaw presents the marks of a wound, with a fracture which has carried away several teeth; for the two large teeth are wanting, and a third, shorter than the others, has been attacked by a disease which has made the jaw swell.

A fourth episode represents the king wounded in the leg; a warrior is fomenting it with bandages. In this place the trousers and a part of the tchok are covered with something that looks like embroidery. These are the little golden and electrum scales sewn on the garments. Strabo says that the Aorses, on the banks of the Tanais, wear gold on their garments.⁠[249] These little scales are embossed, pierced with holes at the sides to sew them on, and represent an infinity of subjects. This tomb furnishes some very rich examples of them.

On attentively examining the interior when it was first opened, it was perceived that at the foot of the walls were heaped up an infinity of these little plates. The walls showed signs of having had pegs of wood fixed in them, to which were suspended the rich wardrobe of these great personages. The clothes had fallen, and nothing was found but a mass of dust, mixed with these little plates, which were carefully collected. The greater number were in the form of triangles or roses, of different sizes, without any relief; on others were fine heads of women or divinities, and figures of griffins, lions, hares, foxes, and other animals. One of them, with the figure of a woman upon it, proves that if the men of that period wore the Caucasian dress, the same was the case with the women, whose long veil or tchadra seems just the same as that which the Caucasian women still wear. The robe is flowing. One of the women bears in her hand a goblet, and in the other a key. Another little plate represents two Scythian archers, back to back, ready to shoot their arrows. Two others represent Scythian hunters on horseback, pursuing a hare. In the left hand they hold the reins, and in the right the javelin.

By the side of the body of the queen were found two golden bracelets with bas-reliefs in two ranges, that is to say, six figures on each bracelet, the breadth of which is three and half inches. Around the head were disposed six knives, with handles of ivory, the blades of which were like surgical instruments. A seventh knife had a handle of gold, and reliefs upon it. A bronze mirror, with a handle of gold, ornamented with a griffin pursuing a deer, in relief, was also one of the objects which surrounded the queen.

According to the Scythian customs, the queen must have been strangled before being placed in the tomb of her husband; and the same cruel laws required the presence of the king’s servant. He was found accordingly stretched across the tomb, along the southern wall, and round him were many plates of gold. His helmet and greaves, in silver, very much oxidised, were laid with the bones of a horse in an excavation two feet square, which occupied the south-east corner of the tomb. Among the things which were taken out of the cavern were several highly-worked pieces of wood, which belonged to musical instruments, the only thing wanting to complete the whole establishment. Several of the pieces showed designs executed with an engraver’s point, of exquisite workmanship. There was a chariot, a woman holding a helmet in her hand, a slave with a large bowl giving drink to a horse, some women seated, and other designs.

If all the objects which adorned the inside of the tomb bear the stamp of Scythian ideas and the customs and usages of that nation, the same cannot be said of the ornaments and pictures of the sarcophagus of yew wood, which presents in perfect preservation paintings on wood, which have resisted upwards of twenty centuries. These paintings covered the pannels of the sarcophagus. The principal subject is entirely Greek, and proves that if they buried a king surrounded by Scythian luxury, Greek artists were employed at his interment. Two Victories, mounted on chariots, turned one against the other, filled the extremity of the picture, of which seven Greek figures, in different positions, occupied the centre, three women and four men. A goose and a swan are mixed with these figures, all represented as very agitated, running, gesticulating, with expressions of joy, which is justified by the approach of the two triumphal cars. The chariots are drawn by four white horses, two of which are spotted. On the frieze, which surrounded the pannel above, the artist has represented warriors drawing the bow.

When the tomb was opened, the savans deputed for the purpose were busy in making a plan and putting down the position of each object which they found. This occupied the whole day, while two soldiers guarded the entrance. These gentlemen in the evening thought their work was finished, but for greater precaution the sentinels kept at their post, with orders to let no one pass. The crowd which visited the tomb during the night from curiosity was so great, that the sentinels could not keep it back. The people penetrated into the tomb, examined everything, and then were discovered the little plates of gold which covered the pavement.

While they were thus occupied in examining and disputing about the smallest spoils, some persons perceived that the tomb resounded as if there was something hollow underneath. Raising the stones of the hollow square in the corner, they discovered a second tomb below much richer than the first, and from this the masses of gold were drawn which for several years afterwards were in circulation at Kertch. There was not a Greek woman there who did not retain some relic of this great discovery, especially in the form of ear-rings. It was said that no less than 120 lbs. weight of gold jewellery were extracted from these tombs, of which the Government obtained about 15 lbs., and the rest was dispersed. In this pillage the people acted in the most barbarous manner: they tore the objects from one another, and chopped up the most precious with the hatchet. Such was the fate of the golden shield of the lower tomb, part of which the Government bought back piece by piece for the weight of the gold. On one of the pieces recovered there is a Greek woman, like a Fury, with her long hair blown by a tempest, bearing in her hands a lance and torch: wolves, of which one carries a labrus in its mouth, surround her and complete the picture of this terrible divinity. The tomb is probably anterior in date to the reign of Mithridates, both from the style of the ornaments and various minor circumstances. The letter 𐅃 (P) is often repeated on the reliefs, and is written with one side shorter than the other, a form which quite disappears before the time of Mithridates the Great. It is so written on the great vase in electrum, which is of extraordinary enigmatical shape, representing a deer lying down, while on its sides are chiselled a griffin, a ram, like the one of Jupiter Ammon, a lion, and a dog turning its head, all of which appear on the most ancient medals of Panticapæum. Again the two medallions of Minerva, with her attributes, of exquisite workmanship, must have been made at a time when the kings of the Bosphorus were proud of their alliance with Athens, and of being citizens of that city, as were Leucon, Paerisádes I., and Eúmeles. At a later period the connexion ceased between the Bosphorus and Athens. There is, besides, no sign of the influence of Rome in any part of the tomb. Its construction is very ancient, and the idea of propping the ceiling with posts is not found in any more recent tombs.

The Scythian costume also was much in vogue under the Leuconides, as most of the figures on the vases wear it. We might indeed expect at that period to find the Scythian manners and costumes by the side of the Greek worship. The Scythians who had invaded Central Asia, destroyed by the stratagem of Cyaxares in 605 B.C., returned in small number, hoping to re-enter upon the territory which they had abandoned on the shores of the Bosphorus; but they were opposed by the children of their wives and their slaves, during the long absence of their husbands. Repulsed on every side, they renounced the idea of crossing the Cimmerian Bosphorus; and making the circuit of the Sea of Azof, they thought to force the rebels in their retreat in the peninsula of Kertch. They passed the Isthmus of Perecop and the Crimea; but their slaves were beforehand with them, and raised a rampart of earth from the Sea of Azof to the Tauric chain. The Scythians in despair are said to have then had recourse to their whips, when from old recollections the slaves ran away, and the Scythians re-entered on the possession of their domains, which their Sindic slaves cultivated for them. The Sindes of the peninsula of Kertch were then the ancient inhabitants of the peninsula and of the island of Taman, a race mixed with Mæotes and the remains of the Kimmerian population, while the aristocrats of the country were the Scythians, who levied tributes upon them.

It was among this Sinde people, governed by Scythians, that the Milesians came to found the colonies of Panticapæum, Nymphæum, Theodosia, Phanagoria, Kepos, and others, sixty years after the return of the Scythians. These colonies depended at first directly on the metropolis, paying a tribute for their establishment on foreign soil. Their commerce and industry enriched them and increased their population, and they then took up an independent position, and thus Panticapæum was governed by its proper archianactides, who remained at the head of the municipality from 480 to 438 B.C. But by the side of those magistrates there existed in the Bosphorus of Europe, as well as in that of Asia, an indigenous Scythian or Mætic power, whose ambition it was to conquer the Greek towns. In 437 B.C. a certain Spartocus seized on Panticapæum, and replaced the archianactides. Not to offend the Greeks, whom a royal title would have frightened, he called himself archon of the Bosphorus (i. e. Panticapæum and Phanagoria), while he took the title of king of the countries which surrounded the colonies, and which were his patrimony. The colonies preserved their municipal forms (which resembled the Swiss municipalities and the imperial towns in Germany) during 402 years, until Asander took the title of king of the Bosphorus in 36 B.C. Under the first Archon and his successor Seleucus, the rampart of the Golden Mountain was the limit of the territory of Panticapæum and Nymphæum; and the latter colony was in the power of Athens. The treachery of a certain Gelo, the maternal grandfather of Demosthenes, opened the gates of Nymphæum to Spartocus II., B.C. 410, and the Athenians were dispossessed.⁠[250]

Satyrus I. (B.C. 407), son of Spartocus II., was nevertheless a great friend of Athens. He increased the kingdom on the Asiatic side, and, having been killed at the siege of Theodosia, Strabo says that the tumulus of Koukóuoba was raised in his honour.

Leucon I., son of Satyrus (reigned 393-353 B.C.), was made a citizen of Athens, and took Theodosia, to which he left its municipal administration.

Paerisádes I. (349 B.C.) son of Leucon, increased the power of the Bosphorus, by his successful wars in the Crimea and in Asia; and one part of the Tauric chain and the valleys of the Caucasus obeyed him. There is a medal of Kherson, with his effigy on one side and a Diana on the other, that makes it probable that he also took Kherson, although there is no mention of this fact in history.⁠[251]

Diodorus relates the tragic history of three sons of Paerisádes—Satyrus, Eúmeles, and Prýtanas—who all died a violent death. Satyrus, the eldest, trying to appease the revolt of Eúmeles in Asia, was wounded in the arm, and died the next night. The body, it is said, was brought to Panticapæum, and buried with magnificence in the tomb of his ancestors. Thus we have mention of a family burial-place.

Dubois thinks that the king found in the tomb was either Leucon or Paerisádes I., on account of the allegories on the reliefs. Unfortunately the contents of the lower tomb were never investigated, so that the only thing that can be considered certain is that they belonged to the dynasty of the Leuconides, from the emblems, the allegorical scenes, the form of the letters, and the architecture.

The value and abundance of the remains of antiquity found at Kertch naturally required a Museum, which has been built by the government on the Hill of Mithridates. It is an exact copy of the Temple of Theseus at Athens, with a flight of steps leading up to it, and has a good effect overlooking the sea. Situated, as is Kertch, on the confines of Scythia, the Caucasus, the Sauromatæ, and other nations little known, it would require a very experienced antiquarian to arrange the contents of the museum; but, unfortunately, none such are to be found there, and its precious contents are thrown pell-mell, and daily plundered. When Dubois visited the Museum in 1832, there were three very curious skulls in it, with remarkably high foreheads, found in a very ancient tumulus near Yenicáleh, which probably belonged to the ancient Kimmerians. The only perfect skull had disappeared a few months afterwards, having been sold by the conservator for 100 francs to a stranger, who fortunately destined it for the museum of Munich, where it will be preserved.

The quarantine is about three miles distant from Kertch, and within its boundary are the ruins of Myrmékium, the highest part of which is on a little promontory overlooking the sea. Here, to hoist a flagstaff, some sailors made a hole in the rock, and were surprised to find the mast suddenly run down a considerable distance. On examining the ground they found that there was a tomb underneath, which had, however, been opened, and nothing remained in it but a very fine sarcophagus, ornamented with bas-reliefs, which had been dragged towards the entrance, and then left mutilated.

Yenicáleh is at the point of the peninsula, about seven miles from Kertch to the north-east, and its castle was built by the Turks to command the passage of the Bosphorus: it is inhabited by a few Greeks, who are occupied in the fishery for turbot. Two ranges of hills, with coral-rag peaks, cross the peninsula of Kertch, and terminate at the Bosphorus—the one at Yenicáleh, and the other a little higher up; on one is built the castle of Yenicáleh, and on the other the lighthouse. Between them was formerly a bay, which is now a salt lake, closed by a bar of sand.

Higher up the valley, ranged in an amphitheatre, are many different kinds of springs, and the celebrated mud volcanoes. The springs and the mud volcanoes have their principal seat in the formations of the foliated clay and the white chalk; and starting from the west, near the Khouter Khronevi, the series begins by a sulphurous spring rising at the foot of a limestone peak, and the sulphur is seen floating on the water. There are other springs in the neighbourhood, which seem to take their origin in the midst of a black, bituminous, brilliant mud, which when stirred sends forth a strong smell of hydrogenetted sulphur. The cattle are very fond of this water. To the east are pure springs, which supply the aqueduct of Yenicáleh; and near the lighthouse are the springs of naphtha and the mud volcanoes. These have continually been in activity for a very long period of time. The principal crater, which seems the patriarch of all this volcanic formation, is a tumulus completely isolated, of 500 feet in diameter and 35 feet in height. Its summit presents a depression of 6 feet, filled by a pond of mud and water, 70 feet long and 35 feet wide. The mud is grey and thick, and gives out a strong smell of sulphur and bitumen. Here and there on the thick mud are liquid spots, whence bubbles of hydrogen gas rise, of a foot in diameter, and sometimes they burst into fire, and the volcano is in a blaze. When this violent commotion happens, the mud flows on all sides over the borders; but in ordinary times it escapes in a little steam. Naphtha springs, of 14° temperature, rise at 150 paces from the crater, in the midst of a fine black mud, from a stream of water which passes near the tumulus. They have a very strange appearance, and seem like the chimneys of the infernal regions, as the crust of the soil is pierced with black holes surmounted by little cones, from whence the mud and gas bubble up together. The whole soil around trembles when walked upon, and one fears to sink into the bowels of the earth.

To complete our view of the peninsula of Kertch, I will now follow the coast line to the south of Kertch by Nymphæum and Kimmericum to Theodosia.

At Cape Akboroun, or the white cape, there are two groups of tumuli. One group has seven of enormous size. The other extends along a ridge which joins the southern spur of the Golden Mountain. Near the last there is a high cliff, with a depression beyond it, which has the appearance of an immense theatre overlooking the sea. This was the site of the old quarantine, and was originally covered with vineyards, whence it received its old Greek name of Ambeláki, from ampelos, a vine. There is here a rich mine of phosphated iron, where the fossils published by M. de Verneuil are found in great quantities. From the colour of the soil, this cape is called Kamish Boroun, the blue cape, in opposition to Ak Boroun, the white cape.

Between the iron mine and a country house of the same name as the cape are the ruins of Dia, which occupied the extreme southern point of the entrance of the ancient gulf of Nymphæum, now the Lake of Tchourbach, for the flow of the current of the Bosphorus has closed the entrance of the gulf, and no less than four lakes bordered with sand occupy its site. Their formation is recent, and up to 1830 merchant vessels of Kertch used to come and winter in the northernmost lake. Since then a bar of sand has closed the port; for, owing to the zigzag shape of the Bosphorus, it may be seen that the long bar of sand, called that of the South, in increasing, has driven the current to the European coast, and against the southern point of the bay of Nymphæum, which presented itself like a spur to catch the sand.

The ancient town of Nymphæum occupied exactly this southern point; but to visit it, it is necessary to go round the gulf, at the end of which is the village of Tchourbach, and the country-house of M. Gourief. There is salt on the lake, but its naphthous nature prevents its being used for salting purposes; and in the whole peninsula there is only the salt of Tchokrak which is perfectly pure.

Following a little rivulet which runs into the lake of Tchourbach, the rocks increase in height, and an ancient road leads to the summit of one of them, on which are the ruins of a large square castle, surrounded by a wall almost buried under the turf. There was a deep ditch outside, and there are no tumuli round it, but many tombs cut in the rock. It is about eight miles from Kertch, and may be the Tyrictaca of Ptolemy. Nymphæum is four miles from Tchourbach, and the road, which appears to be the ancient Greek road, leads to it amidst coral-rag peaks and a profusion of tumuli.

On the angle between the ancient gulf and the Bosphorus was situated the town, built on a kind of platform. The rampart is easily traced, and the faubourgs were around the metropolis. There are large masses of ruins everywhere, and the soil is several feet deep in broken pottery, much of which is Etruscan. At about one-third of a mile from the town the tumuli begin, and encircle it in great numbers; but nothing valuable has been found here, as at Panticapæum. The excellent port, of which Strabo speaks, is of course filled up, but three roads leading down to it from the town may still be seen. A small colony of Russians is established at the foot of the Acropolis, on the side of the Bosphorus; and here are wells of excellent water, which date from the time of Nymphæum. The colony is employed in the herring fishery, as masses of these fish come close to the shore: at a single haul 50,000 have sometimes been caught. In 1833 the government brought here from Holland a master-salter to teach the art of salting and curing them. According to his account the herrings of the Black Sea are not inferior to those of Holland; but those of Kamish Boroun are fatter and more delicate than those of the Danube. The fishery lasts from 15th October to the 15th of March, and as many as two millions of herrings are yearly caught here.⁠[252] Very possibly the Greeks also carried on this commerce, for their mother country drew from the Bosphorus their largest supplies of salt-fish.

Nymphæum was founded at the same time as Panticapæum, and fell into the power of the Athenians in the time of Pericles. It was betrayed into the hands of the Bosphorians in B.C. 410. In the time of Mithridates it was still a strong place, where he lodged the greater part of his army which he destined for his grand expedition by the Danube and the Alps against the Romans. Nymphæum afterwards rapidly decayed, and in the time of Pliny existed only as a name.

Takil-boroun, the promontory at the entrance of the Black Sea, where there is the lighthouse, was probably the site of Akra, another Greek town, mentioned by Strabo.

At thirty miles from Kertch, on the coast of the Black Sea, is Opouk, a Tatar village at the extremity of the fine roadstead which is defended by Cape Elkenkáleh from the north and east winds. Here a volcanic effort has raised the horizontal tertiary limestone of the peninsula of Kertch, and lifted the fragments to different heights, without very much disturbing their horizontal position. The largest is the hill of Opouk, about two-thirds of a mile long. The surface is raised about fifty feet above a chaotic mass of rocks below, which descend like steps to the sea, forming on one side Cape Elkenkáleh, which closes the western entrance to the bay of Opouk, and on the other side a similar cape which marks the entrance of another ancient gulf, now closed by a bar of sand. Here in very ancient times a numerous population was established, taking advantage of the strong and advantageous position, where the rocks advanced like a magnificent mole between two fine ports. Although the eastern one is filled up, the western one still affords a safe and convenient anchorage for vessels of war, which are here completely sheltered from northern and westerly winds. At a short distance from the shore are two rocky islands, called Karavi, and by these the place is identified as the ancient Kimmericum.⁠[253] Like all the towns of the peninsula of Kertch, it was almost desert in the time of Strabo, and at a later period was called Kibernicus. The south-east extremity of the rock was the acropolis, cut off from the plain by a wall 200 feet long and 9 feet thick. The corner of this wall touched on a construction of extreme solidity. The walls of it, about 50 feet square and 12 feet thick, and a ditch cut in the living rock, separated it from the exterior town. There are ruins and grottoes all around, and there is a block cut into the form of a pedestal, on which stood the statue of a divinity. There is likewise a well cut in the rock, and a great deal of pottery. A great gate communicated from the acropolis to the town. The most populous part was that to the south-east, and numberless remains of houses may here be traced. There were also exterior fortifications, and a polygonal wall defended the whole of the peninsula between the bay and the gulf, embracing a space of about four square miles. Thus there were two castles and two ports, and probably villas and gardens, within the circuit of the wall. An excellent fountain of water, which never fails, is the only thing which interrupts the solitude that reigns in this vast assemblage of ruins. There is not a single tumulus to be seen, probably because, as has been observed, Kimmericum was not a Milesian city. The Genoese are supposed to have carried away the remains of Kimmericum, in order to build Caffa.⁠[254] Opouk is twenty miles from the post station of Arghin.