"There can be no doubt that the remains here represented are those of a church, the plan of which, running east and west, can be clearly seen; the arch on the right must have formed one of the transepts. The external front has fallen down, but in parts, towards the outside, the arches, and in some places the mouldings upon them, can be easily traced. One of the sidechambers still bears evidence of having been decorated with paintings. These caverns are in the hands of the French, who have built up walls in the openings, and left loop-holes in them, from which they keep up a constant fire on the Russians, who are similarly fortified in the caves on the opposite side of the river. One of these loop-holed walls has been thrown up where the front of the church formerly stood, and the Chasseurs de Vincennes keep sentry at the spot. In the view, looking out of the church, the Inkermann West Lighthouse is almost visible; it is on the southern extremity of the most distant ridge of land. Across the flat ground is the road which passes the head of the harbour; the stream running by it is the Tchernaya." Dr. Koch visited a crypt on this side of the river which he was informed had been a church, but does not seem to have found any traces of sculpture or other ornaments,— a fact which he accounts for from the quality of the stone, which he states to be the same soft marl out of which a portion of the tunnel of the aqueduct is excavated, and which would therefore soon yield to the destroying influences of time. It is probable, however, that he never saw the subject of this drawing, and only entered another portion of the caverns.
The extreme contrasts of light and shade in this sketch will not fail to strike the reader, as well as the peculiar effect of the bold forms of the rock blending insensibly with the work of man, and thrown out and relieved against the deep blue of the sky beyond.
PLATE XXXIV.
A HOT DAY IN THE BATTERIES.
This view gives a vivid idea of the interior of a Battery during one of the active periods of the bombardment.
It is a scene of bustle and excitement, strongly contrasting with the quiet
THE EAST.
days of which we have ah'eacly had an illustration. The Battery teems with Ufe and energy. On every side men and officers are seen busily employed in laying, loading, and firing the stupendous guns with which the work is armed. Vast clouds of thick white smoke, issuing from their muzzles, announce in rapid succession the departure of some swift-winged messenger of death. Answering puffs start from the whole line of the enemy's defences from right to left.
Shells are bursting in every direction, and the tremendous contest is urged with equal ardour and determination on either side. The wind blows the smoke away from the town, and Sebastopol, with its magnificent public buildings, its proud forts, its placid harbour, and its numerous fleet, is distinctly visible as the sulphurous cloud rolls sullenly away to leeward. The view is taken from the left of the Twenty-one Gun Battery, just at the entrance to it from the Woronzoff Koad, which runs at the bottom of the hollow on the left.
In the foreground are one 13-inch and two 10-inch mortars, and to their right the siege-train guns, and those of the Naval Brigade. In front of the battery extends our second parallel, and in the hollow beyond is a third or fourth line of trenches. The reader will easily recognise the Redan in the great mass of batteries and embrasures towards the centre, nor will he have forgotten the appearance of the Barrack Battery on his left, or the Malakoff on the right. The barracks. Forts Saint Paul and Saint Nicholas, and the other great buildings of the town, have been so frequently pointed out, that any fresh indication of their relative positions would be superfluous. The bit of water visible at the end of the Woronzoff Road is the head of the Dockyard Creek.
PLATE XXXV.
A HOT NIGHT IN THE BATTERIES.
This vivid portrayal of the appearance of a battery at night, during one of the severe bombardments, is taken from a portion of the Greenhill Battery, or left attack.
The gun in the foreground, which is being charged, is No. 7 gun; No. 6 is the next, which the captain of the gun is in the act of laying; No. 5 is the siege-train gun, which has just been discharged. Next to this is a little hut constructed against the traverse by the men to shelter themselves from the weather during the " quiet " days or nights, as they may happen to be.
In the battery on the right are a Sapper and some men carrying sandbags and gabions to repair any injuries which may have been done to the embrasures.