The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

KAFFA—KERTCH. 451often commanding magnificent views of the sea, the hills, valle3 r s, and surroundingwoodlands. Near Cape St. Theodore are the chateaux of Alupka, Oriandz,Nikitski Sad, and the imperial retreat of Livadia, all enclosed by parks in whichflourish the rarest plants, all rich in malachites, costly marbles, statues, andother objects of art. The little town of Yalta, encircled by an amphitheatre ofwooded hills, overlooks the somewhat inconvenient roadstead, where men-of-warand numerous private yachts often lie at anchor.Kaffa, the old Milesian colony of Theodosia, still maintains its rank as acity. It stands on a bay sheltered from the west and south winds by a headlandforming the eastern extremity of the Taurida highlands, and at the narrowest pointof the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Kertch with the Crimea. Purchasedin the thirteenth century by the Genoese, it became for a time the chief emporiumof the Black Sea, and the entrepot of all the trade with the Eastern world. Butin 1477 it fell into the hands of the Osmanli, who converted it into a heap of ruins.Later on it revived, chiefly through the slave trade, and became the great mart forthe disposal of the captives made by the Tatars in Little Russia. As many as30,000 male and female slaves were at times offered for sale in its bazaars, and, whenseized by the Russians in 1783, it had a population of 85,000. The emigration of theTurks and Tatars has reduced that number to little over 9,000, but Kaffa, towhich the Russians have restored its original name of Theodosia, in the modifiedform of Feodosiya, is now much frequented by bathers from all parts of the Crimeaand the mainland. Although the outport of the Kara-su agricultural district, itstrade is unimportant, its exports amounting to about £115,000, and its imports tolittle over £10,000.Kertch, on a westei'n inlet of the Strait of Yeni-Kaleh, the " CimmerianBosphorus," is even an older, and historically a more important place than Kaffa. Itis the Panticapseum founded some twenty -five centuries ago by the Milesians,which, after the defeat of Mithridates, became the capital of the kingdom of theBosphorus, and which was also known by the name of Bosphorus. Ruined duringthe migrations of the Eastern races, it gradually revived, and under the Genoesebecame a great commercial centre. As the natural guardian of the straits, it wasconverted by the Russians into a fortress, which, after being burnt by the alliesduring the Crimean war, was temporarily abandoned. It was soon, however, rebuilt,with additional works and floating batteries stretching nearly across the bay, andat the last census it was found to be the largest and most commercial city inTaurida. On the slope of Mount Mithridates, and approached by a gigantic flightof steps, stands a museum of antiquities, including numerous objects found in theneighbouring tumuli and catacombs. One of the mounds, known as the " tomb ofMithridates," occupies the site of the old acropolis of Panticapaeuni, on the summitof the hill.The town of Yeni-Kaleh (in Turkish, " Newcastle ") forms administrativelya part of Kertch, although lying nearly 8 miles farther east, at a point commandingthe narrowest part of the strait. It consists of little more than a number ofGovernment buildings, marking the site of the old Greek colony of Parthenion.