The portion of the defences of the rear of our position between Balaklava and Kadikoi was entrusted during the winter to a battalion of the Rifles, to the Marines who had been landed from the ships of war, and to the Highland Brigade, the whole under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell. Besides these, a certain number of Turks held part of the position; and if, after their conduct on the 25th of October, only doubtful reliance could be placed on their fighting qualifications, it cannot be denied that they rendered the most essential service by aiding in the construction of the admirable lines of Balaklava, whose strength was so evident that the Russians never attempted to assail them subsequently to that date. These Turks must not be confounded with the veterans of Omar Pasha, who made so gallant and successful a stand against the Russians on the Danube; the former being only raw levies, hastily gathered together at Constantinople, and few of whom, probably, had seen a shot fired before they landed in the Crimea.
The lines of defence, which may be traced from the foreground of the picture to the point where they disappear round the shoulder of the summit of the opposite hills, consisted of a high and solid embankment, with a deep ditch or trench in front of it, strengthened by batteries in all the most commanding situations. On the summit itself there is a redoubt, surrounded by the camps of the Rifles and Marines. Below these, on the left, may be observed a camp of Zouaves, and, still more to the left, the camp of the 79th Highlanders. At the foot of the next eminence, and on a detached hillock below it, on the left, is seen the camp of the 42nd Highlanders. On the top of the hillock to the right of this stands the chapel of St. Elias.
Below the hillocks, and between them and the trenches, are the tents of the Turks, and the curious mud-huts or caves in which they burrowed during the winter, but which were destroyed in the spring by Omar Pasha's orders, when he assumed the command. On the right of the second hillock, and just above the railway, which, with the road from Balaklava, is seen winding
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through the valley towards the front, are the tents and huts of the 71st Highlanders. The huts in the foreground form the camp of the 93rd Highlanders, on the right of which are some more Turkish tents.
The square building on the extreme right is the Head-quarters of Sir Colin Campbell, who is seen standing in the foreground, in conversation with Major Gordon, the officer in the sheepskin coat. The other officers composing the Staff may be thus distinguished. Lieutenant-Colonel Stirling is leaning on the gun nearest to the spectator, with a telescope in his hand; standing against the second gun is Capt. Mansfield, A.D.C.; next to him, in a sitting posture, Major Shadwell, A.Q.M.G.; and on his left Captain Maxwell.
The harbour and shii^ping at Balaklava, shut in by the hill on which are the Genoese forts, are visible in the distance.
PLATE XXVIII.
THE EAILWAY AT BALAKLAVA.
The history of this extraordinary undertaking is well known. When first suggested, it was regarded by many with suspicion and distrust, as a visionary and impracticable scheme, resulting from ignorance of the different exigencies of a country in a high state of civilisation, and which for forty years had enjoyed profound peace, from those of an invaded and far-distant land, on which the assailants could only maintain a precarious footing by mere force of arms. The Kussians, it was contended, would never permit such a work to be accomplished; its progress would be interrupted an,d delayed by frequent attacks, while those engaged in its construction would be constantly harassed and annoyed, and in all probability many of them carried into captivity. The country, too, was not adapted for the construction of a railroad — the gradients would be too steep, the soil too treacherous; while the heavy rains, which were known to deluge the Crimea at that season of the year, would either prevent its being made at all, or render it entirely useless when made.