Excepting the small craft that are occasion.illy seen makii^for the coast of the Caucasus with cai^oes of salt from the Crimea, there is little stirring off the Russian shores in the Black Sea. Some salt lakes in the peninsula are private property, and are let either on long lease or by the year, upon the agreement that one copeck is paid for every poud of salt produced during the season; the income derived from these private salt lakes amounts to about 1,000,000 roubles annually. Lakes that are the property of the crown, and are worked by artificial means, are let on advantageous terms, twentyfive such lakes yielding on an average 5,000,000 pouds yearly; but the self-producing lakes, divided into lots, which were formerly by Google let by the Crown, at one copeck per poud obtained, are now let to the highest bidder, and realise from five to ten copecks pcr^d, according to the quality of the salt; these yield 10,000,000 pauds yearly, so that 1 5,000,000 poitds of salt is the usual supply under favourable circumstances. The whole of this produce finds its way into Russia and Transcaucasia, with the exception of a certain quantity that is smuggled into Turkey with the greatest effrontery. From 5,000,000 to 7,000,000 /owt/j- is transported by land through Perecop, Tchongar, and Ghenytchesk, in carts drawn by oxen; the rest is shipped at Saryboulatt, Ak-Mcsjyd, Eupatoria, Kertch, and Theodosia, and discharged at Odessa, Nicolaleff", Kherson, Berdiansk, Rostofl', Taganrc^, and the ports of the Caucasus. Salt entering Russia is excised at thirty copecks per poud (local consumption, which is insignificant, not being taxed), and the entire revenue accruing to the Imperial Government from the salt lakes in the Crimea is estimated at 12,500,000 roubles, of which, 1,500,000 roubles is paid in the government of the Taurida alone, where much salt is consumed in the curing of hides and the salting of fish.
One morning after breakfast we were entertained to a little excitement, which broke in pleasantly upon the monotony of the voyage. Among the passengers was a little Frenchman with a prodigious salsifis, who had amused hi ' self from the hour of his embarkation by anathematising the late Emperor of the French, exalting notre Frame, eulogising her progress under republican and democratic institutions, and prophesying retribution and confusion to Germany, and the Prussians in particular. He was in the middle of one of his accustomed outbursts, which afforded general amusement, when a passenger silently opened the piano and commenced to play; but he had scarcely executed three or by Google
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The Frenchman's statement proved to be correct; for the sot' disant Prussian's mother was actually a second-class passenger, while he himself, who certainly had nothing of the frank and sturdy German about him, was enjoying the superior comforts of the after saloon.
We landed for a few hours at Kertch, where a military band was playing on the boulevard, crowded with fashionably dressed ladies and numerous officers in uniform. The well-lighted tables at the restaurant were all occupied by visitors, enjoying by Google their zakoiskas and suppers, under the bright star-lit sky of a warm evening in August
At 1 1 in the forenoon of the next day we received passeiH gers from Taganrog, and steamed out of the straits for Theodosia, where the vessel was secured to the quay at 6 p.m.
The quarters we found were in tolerably clean condition. At the Moskovskaya Gastynnytza, 'Moscow hdtel,' the good old Russian custom is observed, of supplying one sheet only to a bed,
Theodosia is far from being a Tatar city, nor has it been Russianised; irregularly built, with roughly paved streets, an absence of footways, and loggie for shops, there is much of the Italian provincial town in its appearance. Greeks, Jews, and Armenians in great numbers hold the trade, but their more successful competitors are at Kertch. Theodosia has become a favourite resort as a watering-place, and attracts during the season from 3,000 to 5.000 visitors, yet there is no good inn, and lodging-houses are wretched. It is said that the population numbers lo,coo, but there was a time when Caffa enclosed 17,000 houses within its double walls of defence, inhabited by Christians of the Latin, Greek, and Armenian Churches; while the Israelites of two sects, who were obliged to live in the suburbs according to the custom of the times, occupied 4,000 houses.' Caffa was then the great emporium on the shores of the Black Sea, and an intermediate station between Europe and the countries in the East
Guillebert de Lannoy, who went on a mission to the Holy Land upon the invitation of Henry V. of England, relates that he tarried nine days at Caffa, where he was received with distinction