From Cape Kersonesus, the apex of the triangle, the land of this little peninsula rises inland till it reaches some high cliffs of fossiliferous limestone which immediately overhang the valley, and the river which, I have said, constitutes its boundaries. The mountain chain which, I stated above, stretches along the coast, strikes inland when it reaches Balaklava, and runs for some distance in a northerly direction, then sweeps round to the north side of the grand harbour of Sebastopol, and dips into the sea. This mountain barrier. CHARACTER OF THK (KIM;y precipitous on the side facing the plateau, piventing,!.!. \\- M-Ken/ic's farm, an almost perpendicular t' chalk of KMJi) foot to the summit. This range is penetrated by various deep valleys, some of which give passage to copious streams.
It will he thus understood that " the plateau of Sevastopol," as it was often called, upon which the British and French troops were encamped, and which was the scene of so much suffering and herolly excluded from the shelter of the mountains, which, in fact, did not approach within miles, but were sufficiently elevated above it, and adequately near, to allow the enemy who held them to overlook our whole position an advantage which he turned to good account. From these circumstances, the unprotected position of the cam]) to the north and east, and its complete exposure to the sea on the west and south, will become at once evident. It is of consequence to keep this in mind, as it had a material hearing on the climate..
The elevation of the plateau above the sea level was not great, bein.ir hut them into the deeper indentations and valleys which mark the surface of the plateau, and: especially the s-.il irencrally kept and tcnacious.
Along the sides of the numerous ravines which broke the surface in their course towards the sea, tinrocks cropped out in rough masses, and strewed thr hollows with detached fragments. The valley on which the harbour of Balaklava opens, and which 1 described above as crossing the base of the plateau, consists of schists on the side next Balaklava, and further on towards the Tchernaya of limestone. This valley is about four miles and a half long by two broad, and is divided from the valley of the Tchernaya by the Fedoukine heights chalky elevations of some 400 or 500 feet, on which one division of the French army was stationed, and along the base of which the battle of the Tchernaya was fought.
The river, which is not of any size, flows close below these heights over a bed of marl and pebbles. Beyond it. a plain, averaging about three miles in breadth, stretches to the foot of the M'Kenzie heights. The line which marks the mean temperature of the Crimea in January corresponds to that of Iceland (32), while its July line bisects Madrid (72 The mean for the whole year corresponds to that of the Isle of Wight (about which is five degrees further north in latitude. There are in the Crimea two regions which possess very distinct and dissimilar climates. I refer to the narrow belt of sea-coast which is inclosed on its northern side by the Tauric chain, and of which I made mention before, and the much greater division of the peninsula which, excluded from the embrace of these mountains, lies totally unsheltered from the cold winds that blow so unrelentingly at certain seasons.
In this latter division lies the plateau of Sebastopol. PHYSICAL ( IIAIIACTKK <>F T1IK (KIM! About 100 miles of coast nowh my considerable breadth, but at many points a mere stripe is thoroughly protected by the mountain ran ire which borders it. This chain throws the dreaded north and east winds which desolate the inland plains far beyond the limit res for it a purely insular cliii: little varying, and of the most delicious mildness. This region is the Baia3 of Russia, and contains the mapiiticeiit summer residences of her nobility. At Balaklava the mountains cease to follow -t. but throwing one spur into the sea run north towards the interior, where I het'oiv traced them. It is this spur which so completely closes in these Elysian fields to the Sebastopol side, and which also enabled the enemy, from the difficulty of the passes, to maintain their ground, while the allied armies were kept outside on the ban- plateau, exposed to the uninitiated fury of the winter's storm.