right, are coming forward to take up their position, hints unmistakably that the respite will be but a short one. In fact, so efficiently did both these distinguished officers handle their guns, that, within fifteen minutes of their opening fire, the Kussians retired, with a loss, it is stated, of twelve killed and twenty-three wounded, while our own amounted but to five men wounded and three horses killed. Lord Eaglan bestows the highest praise on the spirit, coolness, and steadiness with which the Light Brigade behaved, as well as on the judicious manner in which they were handled by Lord Cardigan; and it was universally agreed that this short but brilliant encounter reflected the greatest credit on both arms of the service which were engaged in it.
BALAKLAVA— LOOKING TOWARDS THE SEA.
Balaklava is thus described by the amusing and scientific German traveller, Koch:—
" I had certainly been told a good deal about the peculiar position of this little town, but when we descended from the plateau, and the hollow, with its dark blue waters, lay expanded before us, it surpassed all we had ever seen, all we had ever heard. The basin is about a mile in diameter, and is surrounded, with the exception of a narrow gorge, by very precipitous and only partially wood-covered rocks, which have an elevation of some hundred feet. The arm of the sea occupies nearly the whole of the hollow, and, save on the side opposite to us, where the water comes up close to the rocks, is surrounded by a green velvety lawn. Here lies, too, the little town of Balaklava, composed of a few private houses and a number of shops. The agricultural inhabitants have settled on the slope, which we descended in order to be nearer the produce of their industry.
" The inhabitants are Greeks, who quitted Turkey in the reign of the great Catherine, and, having obtained special privileges, settled on the same spot, where, more than 2,000 years before, colonists from Asia Minor, Milesians, established themselves and founded the colony of Symbolon (Cembalo among the Italians of the Middle Ages)." The descendants of these Greeks were forced to quit the town rather abruptly, soon after its occupation by the English, in consequence of the most positive information having reached Lord Raglan that many of them were engaged in a conspii'acy to set fire to our shipping and stores. Dr. Koch continues: " The romantic acclivities, which are formed of a greyish-blue or light-red Jura rock, have their beauty augmented by the numerous ruins visible upon them. Here, certainly, stood the old castle by which the entrance to the straits was commanded. Traces are still found of an immense outer wall, and there are two towers in a respectable state of preservation, one of which is built right above the narrow entrance. A
12- THE EAST.
harbour more protected against storms and sudden attack it would be difficult to find."
Curiously enough, he adds, " It is, however, too small ever to acquire any importance."
Dr. Koch views with extreme indulgence a theory of Dubois de Montpereux, that this was the spot described by Homer in the tenth book of the Odyssey, in a passage thus translated by Pope: —
"Within a long recess a bay tliore lies, Edged round with cliffs, high pointing to the skies; The jutting shores, that swell on either side, Contract its mouth and break the rushing tide. Our eager sailors seize the fair retreat, And bound within the port their crowded fleet; For here, retired, the sinking billows sleep, And smiling calmness silvered o'er the deep. I only in the bay refused to moor, And fixed, without, my hawsers to the shore."