The general opinion however among modern travellers appears to be, that these singular excavations were the work of monks or persecuted Christians, Arians probably, under the Byzantine Empire. The caves consist of chambers with Gothic windows cut out of the solid stone, of churches, chapels, monasteries, and sepulchres, aU executed with the most elaborate care and skUl. In these strange and inaccessible retreats it is conjectured that the schismatic inhabitants of the Chersonese sought and obtained refuge from the persecutions of the dominant and intolerant Greek Church. The largest chapel, the front of which is seen in the drawing immediately under the ruins, presents all the features of Byzantine architecture, and is about twenty-four feet long by twelve broad. Sarcophagi, usually quite empty, have been found in many of the cells: these latter are often connected with each other, and are approached by stairs cut in the living rock. Such are the caves of Inkermann: — the origin of
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the ruined fortress, which crowns the cliff out of which they are hewn, is buried in obscurer doubt and in a remoter antiquity. By some it is believed to have been raised by the Greeks, others assert that it was a Genoese stronghold, while Dr. Grant assumes with confidence that it was the work of Diophantes, the General of Mithridates, and called by him Ctenos, or Eupatoria. However this may be, the absence of any reliable tradition as to its date, seems to favour the hypothesis which throws that date the farthest back. On the opposite side of the valley is a portion of the aqueduct, which fills the docks of Sebastopol with the waters of the Tchernaya. This aqueduct or canal is twelve miles long, and pierces the cliff at the point where it is lost to sight by a magnificently constructed tunnel, three hundred yards in length. At the back of the arches is a deep ravine or quarry, from whence the materials for building the City of Sebastopol were drawn, with the advantage of water-carriage for them the whole way. Skirting the quarry, the Inkermann road traverses the foreground; here our outlying pickets are posted, the smoke from their fires curling round the cliff on the right. Above them is the advanced French picket of Zouaves. On the high cliff above the picket is a four-gun battery, from which the Russians fire into the camp of the Second Division, and annoy our outlying pickets. The foregrounds of this view, of that representing the head of the harbour, and of the view of Sebastopol from the East, are in each case at the rear of the Russian position at the battle of Inkermann.
The portion of the defences of the rear of our position between Balaklava and Kadikoi was entrusted during the winter to a battalion of the Rifles, to the Marines who had been landed from the ships of war, and to the Highland Brigade, the whole under the command of LieutenantGeneral Sir Colin Campbell. Besides these a certain number of Turks held part of the position, and if, after their conduct on the 25th of October, only doubtful reliance could be placed on theu' fighting qualifications, it cannot be denied that they rendered the most essential service by aiding in the construction of the admirable lines of Balaklava, whose strength was so evident, that the Russians never attempted to assail them subsequently to that date. These Turks must not be confounded with the veterans of Omer Pasha, who made so gallant and successful a stand against the Russians on the Danube; the former being only raw levies, hastily gathered together at Constantinople, and few of whom probably had seen a shot fired before they landed in the Crimea.
The lines of defence, which may be traced from the foreground of the picture to the point where they disappear round the shoulder of the summit of the opposite hiUs, consisted of a high and solid embankment, with a deep ditch or trench in front of it, strengthened by batteries in all the most commanding situations. On the summit itself there is a redoubt, surrounded by the camps of the Rifles and Marines. Below these, on the left, may be observed a camp of Zouaves, and, still more to the left, the camp of the 79th Highlanders. At the foot of the next eminence, and on a detached hillock below it, on the left, is seen the camp of the 42nd Highlanders. On the top of the hiUock to the right of this stands the chapel of St. Elias.