CHAP. XXII,

Salvia
Hablitziana.

Return to
Akmetchet.

Upon the rocks behind the house of Mr. Hablitz, we found the identical plant which Pallas distinguished by the name of his friend, Salvia Hablitziana, growing in great abundance. Hitherto no account of it has been published; and as an engraved representation will best answer the purpose of description, one is here given from the original drawing by Geissler of Leipsic, which Pallas presented to me for that purpose. Mr. Hablitz first observed it on the spot whence we derived our specimens, and sent the seed to Pallas in Petersburg. The plant is however still uncommonly rare. It is a perennial, which may be sown in common garden soil in the open air, and increases annually in size, until it becomes a fine tall shrub of very great beauty. We afterwards brought it to the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, where it also succeeded, although it has never attained the size to which it grows in Russia. In the Crimea the blossom is larger and in greater abundance than appears by the Engraving; this was taken from a Petersburg specimen.

From Tchorgona we returned again to Shulu, and from thence to Kara Ilaes, where we passed the night in the palace of a Tartar Nobleman; and, being couched upon a sort of sofa called the Divân, surrounding the principal apartment, were covered by bugs and fleas of the most enormous size, which came upon us like ants from an ant-hill. The next day we drove pleasantly to Akmetchet, and once more shared the comforts of the Professor's hospitable mansion; regretting only the fever with which he was afflicted in consequence of an excursion, otherwise considered by us the most agreeable journey we had ever made.

CHAP.

Journey to Koslof-Result of the Expedition-Return to Akmetchet
-Marshal Biberstein - Departure from Akmetchet - -Perecop
Salt Harvest Nagay Tartars-Rana variabilis-General
Survey of the Crimea-Country North of the Isthmus-Facility
of travelling in Russia- Banditti of the Ukraine-Anecdote of
a desperate Robber-Intrepid Conduct of a Courier-Caravans
Biroslaf- Preparation for receiving the Grand Duke-
Cherson-Burial of Potemkin-Recent Disposal of his Body-
Particulars of the Death of Howard- Order of his Funeral-
Tomb of Howard -Nicholaef.

WE left Akmetchet for Koslof, on the twenty-eighth CHAP. XXIII. of September, in the hope of obtaining a passage to

Journey to
Koslof.

Constanti

CHAP. XXIII. Constantinople, on board a Turkish brigantine, Captain. Osman Rees. By whatever port of the Russian Empire our escape might be effected, we knew it would be attended with considerable hazard. We had no passport from Government to that effect, and we had every reason to be convinced that none would be granted. However, after waiting many months in vain expectation of a release, from the oppressive tyranny then exercised over Englishmen by every Russian they encountered, female interest in Petersburg accomplished our delivery. A forged order from the Sovereign was executed and sent to us, by means of which, in spite of the vigilance of the police, we contrived to leave the country. It is necessary to state this circumstance, least any of those, by whom we had been so hospitably entertained, should hereafter be considered accessary to our flight. Koslof was fixed upon, as the place least liable to those researches from spies and custom-house officers, which might impede our departure; and, having crossed the steppes which led to it, we arrived there in the middle of the night. Such a tremendous storm of thunder, lightning, wind, hail, and rain, came on before we reached the place, that the horses refused to proceed, and we were compelled to halt, opposing our backs to its fury, until the violence of the tempest subsided'.

As

(1) The consequence of sleeping in this situation, exposed to the miasmata of salt-marshes which cause a somnolency it is impossible to resist, brought on again with renovated force the quartan fever I had so long combated. Mr. Cripps was also attacked, but with a different effect; a sore throat, attended by cutaneous eruptions covering his whole body, and from which he was soon relieved, was all the conse

quence

As soon as morning dawned, we had our baggage sealed at the custom-house, and agreed for our passage, at the enormous rate of two hundred and fifty roubles; this was deemed by us a moderate sum, as the original demand had been six hundred. The common rate of a passenger from Koslof to Constantinople, is not more than ten; but it was evident the Turks, suspecting the nature of our situation, wished to make a booty of us. When all was settled, the inspector of the customs, to our great dismay, accompanied by several officers, came to assure us, that the town would not be responsible for our safety, if we ventured to embark in the brigantine; this they described as so deeply laden, that she was already nine inches below her proper poise in the water. The Captain had moreover two shallops of merchandize to take on board, and sixty-four passengers. Some Armenians had already removed their property from the vessel; and we were assured she was so old and rotten, that her seams would open if exposed to any tempestuous weather. The Captain, a bearded Turk, like the mariners of his country, was a sincere predestinarian; which circumstance added to his avarice, rendered him perfectly indifferent as to the event. As commander of the only ship in the harbour bound for Constantinople, he had been induced to stow the

cargoes

quence to him of the vapours to which he had been exposed. These observations cannot be reconciled to the account Pallas afterwards published of the exhalations from the stagnant lakes near Koslof; as he says, (vol. II. p. 489.) they contribute greatly to the salubrity of the town, and that intermitting fevers are less frequent there, than at other places.

CHAP. XXIII.

CHAP. XXIII. cargoes of two ships into his single vessel. This often happens with Turkish merchantmen in the Black Sea, and is one of the causes of the numerous disasters which befal them. To prove the extent of the risk they will adventure, we heard upon our return to Akmetchet, that Captain Rees had filled the cabin we were to have occupied, with four hundred cantars of honey; and a friend of ours was offered a thousand roubles to obtain the governor's acquiescence in an additional counterband cargo, of two thousand bulls' hides, the exportation of which, at that time, was strictly prohibited.

Koslof' takes its name from a Tartar compound Güs l'ove, the origin of which cannot be distinctly ascertained. Güs signifies an Eye, and Ove a Hut. The Russians, with their usual ignorance of antient geography, bestowed upon it the name of Eupatorium. It has been already shewn that Eupatorium stood in the Minor Peninsula of the Heracleotæ, near the city of Chersonesus. As to the present state of the place itself, it is one of those wretched remnants of the

once

(1) “ At Koslof, or Eupatoria, I remember nothing interesting; but, in the desert near it, we saw some parties of the Nagay Tartars, and had an opportunity of examining their Kibitkas, which are shaped something like a brakin, consisting of a frame of wood, covered with felt, and placed upon wheels. They are smaller and more clumsy than the tents of the Kalmucks, and do not, like them, take to pieces. In the Crimea, they are more used for the occasional habitation of the shepherd, than for regular dwellings. We saw a great many buffaloes and camels; several of the latter we met drawing in the two-wheeled carts, described before, a service for which I should have thought them not so well adapted as for bearing burdens; and although a chariot of camels" is mentioned by Isaiah, I do not remember having heard of such a practice elsewhere. The plain of Koslof is hardly elevated above the sea, and fresh water is very scarce and bad." Heber's MS. Journal.