Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/620

586 Soudak and Theodosia, 1 3,500 acres yielding annually about 3,050,000 gallons of wine, sold new at 4s. lOd. to 5s. 6d. the vedro (2 - 8 6 gallons). A small proportion is exported. Orchards are interspersed with the vineyards, but the best apples are the produce of the valleys of the Alma, Belbeck, Katcha, and Salghyr, the estimated value of the supply seat yearly into Russia being 150,000. The more common indigenous trees and shrubs are the Tauric pine, juniper, yew, oak, beech, which is abundant and attains a large size, elm, wych elm, maple, ash, poplar, and fir ; the last grows well on the highlands and on the south slopes, where it reaches a great height ; the Babylonian willow and tamarind grow thickly by the side of streams ; there is also the hide sumach (Rhus coriaria), hawthorn, honey-suckle, barbariss, and the dog-rose, which becomes quite a tree, bearing white, pink, and yellow blossoms. The wild fruit- bearing trees are the mountain ash, kyzyl, a small red plum, tho apple, pear, and vine ; it is said that the wild olive is occasionally to be found. In the gardens of the south coast large numbers of plants have been acclimatized, and trees of all kinds grow to perfection, especially the cypress and magnolia. Wild flowers, such as the white and violet crocus and sweet-scented violet, appear as early as February, lilies of the valley and white and sweet peas being plentiful in May, and in summer the woods are filled with peonies, Asfthodelus taurica, veronica, geranium, and orchids. In the highlands the vegetation is always vigorous. In July they are covered with Tkymus, Sideritis, Galium, Myosotis, and Odontarrhena, Gentiana cruciata, and Symphytwrn tzuricum. In the gardens are cultivated the following fruits : melons, karpouz, " water-melon," large, of excellent flavour, and greatly consumed ; strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and currants ; pomegranates, pears, figs, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, mulberries, quinces, walnuts, almonds, hazel-nuts, and chesnuts ; also many sorts of vegetables. Animal.- . Wolves, foxes, weazels, and hares are about the steppe and in the mountains, where are also the Persian and roe deer ; while the steppe is infested with the souslyk (Sper- mopldlus). The forests of Tchadyr-dagh are preserved for the crown, but permission to shoot, from June 29 (July 11), may be obtained. Domesticated animals include double-humped camels, buffaloes, beeves, and several kinds of sheep, one sort being distinguished by short curly hair of a bluish-grey colour ; the merino sheep was introduced in 1804, and the breed is well maintained. The horses are small, hardy, and intelligent, but uncouth in appearance. The birds consist of eagles, vultures, hawks, ospreys, storks, herons, and some other birds of prey ; partridges, which on the steppe are strong on the wing by the end of July ; the ordinary, double, and jack snipe, quails, pigeons, bustards, Ewans, geese, bitterns, and wildfowl of every description, especially on the Sivash and north-west coast ; also crows, owls, thrushes, blackbirds, king-fishers, <fcc. Serpents that are harmless, lizards, and frogs are abundant. The scorpion, mentioned by Pallas, is now very rare, but tarantula spiders and scolopendra, both noxious, frequently make their appearance in dwellings. Caterpillars and the mole cricket (Gryllo Vulpa vulgaris) are very destructive in gardens. Bees are abundant, and produce excellent honey and a great deal of wax. In the rivers are taken trout, roach, dace, and cray-fish, and at their estuaries the sturgeon ia sometimes found, and the salmon is speared. A great variety of fish haunt the coast, such as red and grey mullet, herring, mackerel, turbot, soles (at Eupatoria), plaice, whiting, bream, haddock, pilchard, soudak (the pike perch), whitebait, eels, and a variety of shell-fish, crabs, &c., but no lobsters. Inbahi The Tatar population, the largest in the peninsula, tants. amounted in 1874 to 127,682, according to the census taken a few months after tho promulgation of the oukaz on the new system of general conscription, in which the Tatars were included. There are also Russians, Armenians, Gypsies, Greeks, Jews, and some Germans. The Nogai of the steppe have long since disappeared as natives, and are replaced by Tatars of almost pure Turkish descent, and speaking a language closely assimilating the Turkish. The Tatars on the south coast are a mixed race, largely alloyed with Greek, Italian, and Ottoman blood, and greatly despised by the former ; but all are Mahometans, and strict observers of the Koran. The Tatars are extremely indolent, and never think of learning a trade ; they busy themselves about their fields and gardens from the end of May to about the third week in August, but remain quite idle throughout the rest of the year. They are most hospitable to strangers, every Tatar of means keeping an 6da, or house of call for travellers, the first duty of a Tatar being the exercise of hospitality, on which he prides himself. Their cottages are constructed, when possible, on the slopes of rising ground, the rock forming the back of the habitation, which is usually whitewashed and kept scrupulously clean, ensconced by fruit trees and verdure. The Tatars are very abstemious, drinking milk and bouza, a fermented liquor made of millet ; koumyss, " mare s milk," is much employed by them medicinally. The men wear baggy trowsers, a short embroidered jacket, and a cap of lamb skin; the women colour their nails, eyebrows, and frequently their hair, made up into numerous thin plaits, with kna, a mineral dye, and wear loose trowsers tightened at the ancles, a loose coat, and a red cap ornamented with numerous coins ; they tie a kerchief round the waist, the opposite corners hanging down behind. The females, more especially on the south coast, have quite given up wearing the yashmak, " veil," since the occupation of the country by the allies in 1854-56. The mourzas, " nobles," live in retirement, shunning intercourse with Christians, but their women are not kept in seclusion , every village has its molla, who is also the " elder," and responsible to the authorities. The Armenians and Greeks hold the trade, as do also the Jews who are Karaims, " readers " of the Holy Scriptures, adhering strictly to the text of the Old Testament, and rejecting all oral traditions and rabbinical writings, keeping themselves quite apart from the Talmudists, to whom they are most odious. There are about 5000 Karaims in the peninsula. Russians and Germans are chiefly engaged in agriculture, while the gypsies are the artificers. The Russian language is very general throughout the peninsula. Sympheropol, the chief town and seat of government Tov (population, 17,000), is situated on the Salghyr, where was Ak-mesjyd, the second capital of tho khanate. Like all Russian towns, it has fine broad streets at right angles to each other, and the usual whitewashed churches with green domes. Baghtchasarai and Kara-sou-bazar were given up by Catherine II. to the exclusive occupation of the Tatars, and have remained purely Oriental towns. Baghtchasarai, "garden palace," was the capital of the khans after the destruction of Solkhat, now Esky-Crim ; their palace is preserved to this day. Kertch, at the east end of the peninsula, is a fairly thriving port of transit for produce from ports in the Sea of Azoff, and imports into Russia of cattle and horses from the plains of the Kouban and of Circassia. It is a military station of some impor tant, the entrance to the straits of Kertch, or Ycny-Kaleh, the ancient Cimmerian Bosphorus, being protected by the formidable Pavlovsky fortress, a combination of masked batteries and covered ways over an extent of two miles., Theodosia, formerly Caffa, where a small export and import trade is carried on, thrives as a favourite watering-place. Sevastopol, in the superb harbour that bears its name,

created a military port and fortress by Catherine II., was