could watch the proceedings; the third apartment, or rather a covered court, encloses the Seyl-sybyll, ' flood of tears ' fountain, erected by Crim-Ghyrey in remembrance, and as a symbol of the tears he never ceased to shed after his loss of the lovely Maria, who, immortalised by Poushkin ' rather than by this monument, fell a victim to the jealousy of the Georgian beauty Zaryema, a previous favourite of the Khan, who atoned for the bloody deed with her own life the same night, for * she was lowered by the dumb guards of the harem into deep and turbulent waters.' The fountain is surmounted by a crescent and cross, and bears, according to Dubois, the following inscription:
' Glory to God on high! Baghtchasaral rejoices at the beneficent solicitude of the luminary Crim Ghyrey Khan. With a bountiful hand, he has quenched thirst in his country, and he still seeks to comfort it with other blessings; may God help him! With much toil and care he has made an excellent spring of water available. If such another fountain exists, let it be pointed out I We have seen the cities of Tcham (Damascus) and Bagdad, but nowhere have we
' Bahichysarejiity Fantarm. 'Fountain of BaEhtchasarai,' Satchynmya Pomhkyno Alexaoder Sei^eilch Poushkin, b. 1799 A. 1S37. Nicholas Gogol, the unrivalled portnyer of Russian life and manner^ writes of this most distinguished of Russian poets: 'At the name of Poushkin, the fiist purely Rus«an poet is presented to our imagination; none of our poets stand higher, nor is any other entitled to the designation of nalional pod, for that right belones eicluiively to Poushkin. In him the richness, strength and fleiildlity of our language is to be found as it were in a dictionary, but he has extended and eniaiged its limits. Poushkin is an extraordinary apparition, and in him we have probably the sole revelation of the spirit of Russia, at the full development that it may be eipecled to attain for even two hundred years to come. The spirit of the Russian language and the Russian character, is reflected in him as clearly anil distinctly as is a landscape in a mirror.' Poushkin, who traced his ancestry to a Prussian named Radshy, wbowenl to Russiain the time of Alexander (Nevsky),and wns, according to his biographer, 'a nan of quality,' was the great-grandson of Mannlbal (Ibrahim), the godson and favourite of Peter I., who has become known as Tkt Moor of Ftttr the Great. See Kusiiaii Rffmanif, Iranslalitms Jrom PMtsAiin, by Mrs. J. Buchon Telfer (nei MouraviefT), 1675. Poushkin fell in a duel fought at St. Peieisburg with the Baron Dantcs,
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seen a fountain like this. The author of this inscription is named Tcheikhy, The man consumed with thirst will read these words through the gushing water that flows from a pipe no larger than a finger, and what do they say to him? Come, drink of this limpid stream which flows from the purest of springs. // is health-giving'. The letters in the original, of the words in italics, reduced to cyphers, give the date 1 176 i.e. 1762 a.D.
The ghyoul-baghtcha, ' rose-garden,' in the centre court of the harem, is in a pitiable condition, as are all its courts, some being overlooked from the octagonal tower, used as a falconry, whence the sovereign, unperceived, followed the movements of the fair inmates.
We entered the mosque by an exterior staircase, that leads to the gallery formerly reserved exclusively for the Khan. The two domed niausoleums near the mosque, enclose the remains of many khans, ^nd of several of their wives, the tombs and Icystcs of the sovereigns being distinguished by the turbans which surmount the n. The mausoleums and the cemetery had been in use from the year 1480, previous to which date interments took place at Esky yourt, a suburb to the west of Baghtchasaral. Near the entrance to the burial-ground is a handsome monument to the last khan who died in his capital
Outside the orchard walls is an octagonal mausoleum with a dome, said to be the burial-place of the unfortunate Maria, whose body, she being a Christian, could not be suffered to lie amongst the faithful. Over the entrance is written: ' Burial-place of Dylary Bykey, the favourite wife of Crim-Ghyrey: died 1178 (1746 A.D.). She was a Christian.' There is a discrepancy between this date and that on the fountain, where no allusion is made to the Christian captive.
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