Alushta, in the time of the Genoese, was a very populous place, and in the Byzantine period, the seat of a bishop. It possessed a large fortress, built by the Emperor Justinian, and its fame dated from several centuries before Christ. The modern Alushta, however, lies in the midst of the ruins of its former greatness, like an Arab village amongst the remains of an Egyptian temple. At the side of the town stands a large building in the Asiatic style, for the reception of travellers, where, with the exception of thick coffee, nothing is to be procured but hot water for making tea, which the traveller is expected to bring with him. One other luxury, indeed, we were able to obtain, namely — a sea bath, after which we luxuriated in the delicious sunshine which laughed over the whole region. Towards noon the Tshatir Dagh began, as the Tartars say, to put his cap on ; the very same expression which is used by the Swiss, when a mountain top becomes covered vnth clouds. As the road to Simferopol is tolerably good, and does not boast any of those uatmal beauties which a traveller is bound to see, I was not sorrj to throw myself into a carriage, exhausted as I was with long ridingand sleepless nights. It is hard to decide, however, whether a Tartar horse or a Russian carriage is the most fatiguing.
One of our party, nevertheless, was determined to take this opportunity of ascending the Tshatir-Dagh, as he did not expect to have another chance for such a pleasure between here and St. Petersburg, and set off according-ly, with a store of bread, tea, sugar, and lemons, a cloak, and a Greek guide. We, in the mean time, prepared for a visit to the celebrated Sultan Mehemet Mirza Krimtayeff, the richest Tartar nobleman of the country, a man descended from a family distinguished at the court of the Khans, and whose lands stretch as far as Perekop, the isthnms that connects the Crimea with the main land. He has built a spacious house, and furnished it with every convenience ; with divans and carpets, for Tartars, and tables and chairs, for Europeans, in which every traveller is at liberty to pass the night. There are likewise attendants, who provide for the comfort of the guests, and furnish them with every thing they may require.
The hospitable old man was imfortunately absent at the time of our visit, but we were most kindly received by his son, a person of much courtesy and refinement, and of a very dignified deportment. His complexion was very fair, his hair coal black, and his features delicate, and he wore the costume of Tartars of rank — a close caftan of blue cloth, bordered with silver. He conducted us over the house, which was handsomely fitted up in the Tartar fashion, with cushions and carpets from Constantinople, besides the more uncommon luxury of tables. It was surrounded with large orchards of the Krimtayeff apple, so celebrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and from which a considerable revenue is derived. It happened to be the season for gathering, and every body was engaged in plucking the rosy fruit, vast piles of which lay heaped up in bams in different parts of the garden. We also witnessed here the process of preparing the favourite syrup, called by the Tartars, " beckmess," which they make from the inferior kinds of apples. A large, round, deep pan is kept constantly boiling in the barns, where the apples are laid up in store, and such as are not thought good enough to keep are cut into pieces, and thrown into it. Here they boil to a kind of paste, wliich is stirred and cleared of the scum and the worthless parts, till nothing is left but a thin juice, at first light-coloured, but which afterwards becomes brown and thick, tasting very much Hke treacle. A cup, containing this " beckmess," is usually to be seen at a Tartar repast, and it serves their housewives instead of sugar. It is often sold in large quantities from tlie Tartar orchards.
From the gardens we passed into the meadows, to view the herds of buffalos, but here also we found only the sons at home. The old ones were nowhere to be found, but only about tliirty or forty calves, whose countenances had already assumed the vulgar, stupid, indolent, and pldegmatic expression o"f their papas, and who had adopted, like them, the pleasant custom of rolling themselves in the mud. They were all lying up to their necks in a deep ditch.
Over a cup of coffee and a pipe the young Mirza Krimtayeff related to us many anecdotes of Tartar affairs, especially of those of the families of the former sultans. The fortune of the last descendant of the ancient