The Allied Camp on toe Tchernaya, August 14. Since I last wi-ote, part ol' the reinforcements which the Russians were expecting have arrived, — at least, positive intelligence has been received of the arrival of a division of Grenadiers. In consequence of this intelligence we are more than ever on the alert; but as these newly arrived troops are concentrated, at least for the present, in and about Sebastopol, if there is an attack at all, it seems to be intended rather against our works in front than the Tchernaya line. It was, nevertheless, thought prudent to keep a part at least of the army on the Tchernaya under arms during the last two nights, and ready for any sudden emergency. Moreover, the Sardinians made yesterday morning a reconnaissance over the plateau on the other side of the Tchernaya and on the banks of the Tchouliou, but without encountering any trace of the enemy.
The distance, however, from Sebastopol over the Mackenzie ridge is so small that troops could come in one night from it to the Tchernaya. The English cavalry, which was encamped in the valley of Baidar, yesterday received sudden orders to return, but the French are still there, collecting hay and making excursions to the villas on the sea-side towards Aloupka. These beautiful summer residences of the Russian nobility have long been spared our visits, but they could not altogether escape their fate. The Turkish ti'oops, with the exception of l>ashi-Bazouks and Arnauts, of whom there are none here, are not much given to roam about; so while they were in tlie neighbourhood of Baidar the countryhouses on the sea-side alongtheWoronzoff-road escaped altogetlier. The Turks contented themselves with exploring tlie immediate neighbourhood.
Baidar itself and the other villages in the valley afford little in the shape of booty. Moreover, the Turks in general make it a point not to plunder their co-religionists. and the inhabitants of the valley are mostly Mahommedans. But they found out a little country-house on the sea-shore, called Laspi, where an old French doctor, who had been esta- "blished for many yeai's in Russia, was living with his famUy; and one fine morning a complaint was made to the French General-in-Chief by his countryman that five Turkish soldiei's had come to pay a visit to Laspi. They were received and fed like guests, but before going away they asked for mad jar (Hungarian ducats, the best known foreign money among the Tui'ks). The old doctor, who of course understood nothing of their language but the word madjar, thought it was nothing more than a polite inquiry about his nationality; and, wishing to rectify the supposed mistake of his guests, he pointed to the French cockade which he had, by a wise precaution, fixed on his cap, in order not to be mistaken for a Russian, saying at the same time " Fran^ais, Fran^ais." But when one of the soldiers took hold of his watch and chain, and when the others began to search the ladies, he was soon aware that it was he, and not the Turks, who had made the mistake.
A blow with the butt-end of a musket left him no doubt that resistance was useless, and the soldiers departed after having carried away, according to his account, objects to the value of about 2()0^. General Pelissier, on the complaint of the French doctor, addressed a complaint to the Turkish head-quarters, in order to have things investigated and the guilty punished. The answer was that the Turks had the strictest orders not to plunder, and that any supposition to the contrary was an insult to their character; that the marauders could not have been Turkish soldiers; and that the dress and flint muskets, which exist only in the Turkish army, must have been borrowed or taken in order to make believe that they were Turkish soldiers — and thus the aftair remained.
The old doctor retired to Baidar, and the ladies went over to the Russians. But this was an isolated case. Since the French and English cavalry have occupied the valley, the visits to the countiyhouses have become much more systematic. The Russians, having entirely withdrawn from the coast up to Yalta, having only isolated Cossack pati'ols about, the whole row of countryhouses on the shore has been opened to enterprising individuals, and every morning you could see arabas and pack-horses coming over the Woronzoff-road into Baidar, loaded with the most heterogeneous objects; chairs, beds, crockery, carpets,