This view is taken from the Malakoff looking towards the south, and the portion of the ditch shown is that at the re-entering angle. At this place it is much wider than it is at the salient. The scarp was here supported by a few courses of stones and gabions, but it is all knocked into a very irregular-looking mound or slope from our successive bombardments. It was at this part of the Malakoff that our 21 -gun battery directed its fire, and one of these embrasures was noted for having a gun which kept up a fire during the whole siege. In the counterscarp is the entrance to a mine, and on the outside of the ditch are still the remains of the abattis. It is formed of small trees or large branches, with their points all turned out" wards, and a stake put through them so as to fix them firmly to the earth; each branch is placed close to another, thus forming a most serious obstacle in the way of an assault. Further down the ravine is the Gervais Battery, said to be named after the officer who made it. The ravine shown in the picture is the Otchakoff or Central Ravine: it commences upon the plateau, and forms the hollow between the right and left wings of the Light Division camp, and was their route to the trenches. It passes on its left the Piquet House and the Victoria Redoubt: on its right, further down, it separates the British right attack from the French right attack: its steep rocky sides form the base of the Mamelon: from this point it curves outwards from the Malakoff, and, continuing the curve right round to the rear of that work, the ravine forms the hollow in which.the docks were constructed, and at this point joins the sea. Up its left bank are seen in the drawing the long line of works connecting the Malakoff with the Redan, opposite the salient of which is indicated a small portion of the fifth parallel and the unfinished sap in advance of it. Away in the distance, to the south of the city, may be traced the Bastion du Mat and the Bastion Centrale; and the commanding position of the town batteries over all these works will at once be perceived in this drawing. The shattered buildings in the rear of the Redan are said to have been the hospitals previous to the siege. To the right of them, with a battery before it, is the front of the Marine Barracks, better known in camp as the " White Buildings." In the extreme distance is Kamiesch and Cape Kherson, with the lighthouse upon it.
This is the mine, the square openings into which are seen in the drawing of the ditch of this battery. Mr. Simpson, who descended into it, thus describes his impressions: —
" The darkness, the fleas, and the uncertainty as to what might bo beyond, did not incline me to push my travels very far into the interior of this most uninviting thoroughfare. It was dismal in the extreme, and smelt very disagreeably; and, however used one may get to dead Russians, it is not pleasant to stumble at every step over their festering remains amidst the mazes of a dark and intricate labyrinth, in which it is very easy to lose your way. As far as I saw, it seemed to be entirely supported by beams and pieces of wood placed perpendicularly to serve as pillars; and it communicated by small galleries with the Russian rifle-pits in advance. Wonderful stories are told of the extent to which the French and Russians mined against each other; but of the degree of truth to be attached to them I am not competent to speak."
BASTION DU MAT FROM THE BASTION CENTRALE.
This view of the Bastion du Mat is taken looking east from the salient of the Bastion Centrale. These two salients formed the points of attack by our Allies on the left: they were separated by a large hollow, through which passed the public road from Sebastopol to Kamiesch and Balaklava, and were connected across this hollow by a curtain, in the rear of which are numerous trenches to support it, and to afibrd covered ways of approach from the town to the works. In the distance are the Redan, the Malakoff", and Mamelon; and in their rear are the White Buildings: immediately under the White Buildings, but nearer in the picture, are the ruins of the Theatre; on the rising ground to the left of it are the Town Batteries.
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]