The cart was started «^arlj% with orders to halt at Baidar till we arrived, and the party were trotting along the WoronzofT-road towards Kamara by eleven o'clock. The day was most fiirourable — a clear sky. genial sun, and light southerly wind. I met the 4th Hussars (French) on their march in from their cantonments about Baidar, where they have been long exposed to most trying work on outpost duty, and in the ordinarj' occupation of light cavalry in war time. They are fine soldierly fellows, and are quite ready as they sit to ride either to the Groat Wall of China or St. Petersburg. Each man carries a portion of tlie cooking utensils of his mess, forage for his horse, blankets, and necessaries for the march, and seems heavilj"^ charged, but on examination he will be found to weigh a couple of stone less than an English Hussar — otherwise, indeed, his small horse, however high tempered, could not carry him.
The Sardinians are also on the move, and are sending in baggage to Balaklava. The large village of sheds and sutlers' shops which is placed on the road at the redukhine heights, and which is called Woronzoff, is in considerable excitement at the prospect of losing its customers, notwithstanding that the Eussians Hock in to supply their place. The French camp here is built like that of their neighbours the Sardinians, very much on the Tartar or Russian plan, and the huts are semi-subterranean. They present in appearance a strong contrast to the regular rows of high wooden huts belonging to the Highland Division opposite, at Kamara, but the money saved to France and Sardinia bj' the ingenviity and exertions of their soldiers in hutting themselves must have been very considerable in amount.
To counteract the mesquin look of these huts, our allies — more especially the French — have planted the ground with young firs and evergreens, brought a considerable distance from the hillsides of Baidar, so that, after all, their camp is more pleasant to look at than that of the English. They have also made gardens, which promise to bear fruit, flowers, and vegetables for Tartars and Muscovites, and they have turned a large portion of ground by th;> banks of the Tchernaya, and close to the Traktir-bridge, ir.io a succession of gardens, each appropriated to different companies of the regiments encamped in the neighbom-hood. Sic vos non vobLi. As we enter the gorge which leads into the valley of Varnutka we met some Tartar families, men and TARTAR YOUNGSTERS.
Ai-J children, on the road, looking out possibly for some place to squat on. These poor ci-eatures are menaced with a forced return to their nomadic habits of centuries ago. Civilization has corrupted them. The youngsters run alongside j-our horse, crying out, if you are English, " I say, Johnny, piaster, (give me piaster, Johnny! ") if you are French, "Doe dong (intended for dites done), dounez-moi piastre," — a lirighteyed, handsome race when young, with fine teeth and cleaicomplexions; and venerable looking when old, owing to their marked features and long beards, but in manhood sly, avaricious, sh}"-, and suspicious. The Russians give bad accounts of them, and say they are not to be trusted, that they are revengeful and ill-disposed — the slaveowner's account of his nigger.
Most of the fruit trees in the pretty valley of Miskomia and Varnutka have been cut down for fuel. Crossing the ridge which separates this valley from that of Baidar, we pass the gutted and half-ruined chateau dii Petroflsk3^ For a long time this charming little villa supplied French and English cavalry and outposts with delicious wine from its cellars, and was spared from ruin; but bit by bit things were taken away, and at last a general spoliation was made of all the place contained — the furniture was smashed to atoms, the doors broken, the windows carried away. One officer attached tct the light cavalry regiment quartered there took away a handsome china service, and most of these dangerous visitors brought off some memento of their visits.