Silently and gravely they watch the ravages of the fierce element, and listen to the earthquake shocks which tell of shattered -forts and crumbling palaces, or, gazing on the scene of desolation and destruction around them, take to their hearts the terrible lesson of war, the stern moral of victory. For the peculiar fate of Sebastopol gave no scope for the wild crimes which mostly attend the capture of a place by storm; and, fortunately for humanity, the excited passions of the soldiery, deprived of aught to feed their unholy flame, were soon replaced by the gentler feelings of brotherhood and pity, and the calmer moods of reflection which arise in the lull of action.
This view gives only a portion of the interior of the Malakoft". The extent of the work, and its vast accumulation of parapets and traverses in all directions for the purposes of shelter, each alone rendered it impossible tp embrace the whole in one drawing. The Round Tower, so conspicuous
198 THE SEAT or WAR
an object at the commencement of the siege, is here still visible: but it was cut down lower and lower by each bombardment, till at last nothing of it was visible above the level of the earthen defences.
PLATE LXVin.
KAMIESCH.
Kamiesch was to the French at once the Balaklava and the Kadikoi of the English. Here they had established their base of operations; and within this deep and sheltered bay was assembled the vast crowd of transports required to supply the ever-growing wants of an immense army, in the several branches of provisions, clothing, siege-train, and munitions of war. Here also was the town, consisting of interminable rows of wooden houses, in which the sutlers of the army retailed their wares. Cabarets, cafes, and restaurants occurred at frequent intervals, interspersed with shops rejoicing in the highsounding titles of Bazaar de I'Armee, Grande Maison, and a hundred others equally inviting and no less sonorous. Less favoured by nature than Balaklava in the advantages of surrounding scenery and actual position, Kamiesch atoned for the absence of the picturesque by presenting a scene of animation and gaiety in striking contrast with the sober, business-like aspect of its rival port, which, from a very early period of the siege, was monopolised for government purposes. Amidst its slim, fragile houses, which looked as if the first puff of wind would blow them into the sea, a motley population, gathered from the four corners of the earth, swarmed and flitted and buzzed and settled like a cloud of flies on a hot summer's day. Turks, Greeks, Jews, Italians, French, and English; soldiers, sailors, and marines; Zouaves and vivandieres; officers on horseback and on foot; transport captains and amateurs; generals and privates, met here on common ground and realised for a brief space the true spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
The variety of costume, the confused jargon of a dozen different languages, the vehemence of oriental and southern gesticulation, and the bustle of uninterrupted traffic, combined to present a scene of which some slight conception may be formed by imagining the frolic mummers of a hal masqiui turned loose amid the wonders of a country fair. The peculiar reputation of the resident portion of the community had procured for this improvised town the proud and singularly appropriate titles of Friponrille and Coquinrille, by one of which it was universally designated by our Allies; names equally applicable to our own bazaar at Kadikoi, and infinitely more expressive than those of Donnybrook or Vanity Fair, with which that refugium 2>eccatorum was christened.
Besides the bay and town of Kamiesch, this sketch embraces the bay of Kazatch, the principal station of the British fleet in these waters, and the Lighthouse at Cape Chersonese,
,' INTEEIOR OF FORT NICHOLAS. 199
PLATE LXIX.
INTERIOR OF FORT NICHOLAS.
The prudent jealousy of the Russian Government in excluding foreigners from Sebastopol has rendered it extremely difficult to obtain any reliable information as to the exact nature of the defences of the place. Of these, by far the most important were those destined to repel an attack by sea, as the approach of an enemy from the land side would appear to have been a contingency scarcely at all contemplated.
The following information in reference to the seaward forts has been selected from various sources; and, though far more scanty and meagre than could have been desired, its accuracy may be depended on; and it may perhaps be considered both interesting and useful en attendant the fuller and more satisfactory particulars which we may anticipate from the recent occupation of the town by the Allies.