The Mithridates is 500 feet high, and beautiful flights of stone steps and winding paths lead up its sides, forming the only walks of the towns’ people.  This hill must formerly have been used by the ancients as a burial-place, for everywhere, if the earth is only scraped away, small narrow sarcophagi, consisting of four stone slabs, are found.  The view from the top is extensive, but tame; on three sides a treeless steppe, whose monotony is broken only by innumerable tumuli; and on the fourth side, the sea.  The sight of that is everywhere fine, and here the more so, as one sea joins another, namely, the Black Sea and the Sea of Asoph.

There was a tolerable number of ships in the roads, but very far short of four or six hundred, as the statements in the newspapers gave out, and as I had hoped to see.

On my return, I visited the Museum, which consists of a single apartment.  It contains a few curiosities from the tumuli, but everything handsome and costly that was found was taken to the Museum at St. Petersburgh.  The remains of sculptures, bas-reliefs, sarcophagi, and epitaphs are very much decayed.  What remains of the statues indicates a high state of art.  The most important thing in the Museum is a sarcophagus of white marble, which, although much dilapidated, is still very beautiful.  The exterior is full with fine reliefs, especially on one side, where a figure, in the form of an angel, is represented holding two garlands of fruit together over its head.  On the lid of the sarcophagus are two figures in a reclining posture.  The heads are wanting; but all the other parts, the bodies, their position, and the draping of the garments, are executed in a masterly manner.

Another sarcophagus of wood, shows great perfection in the carving and turning of the wood.

A collection of earthen jars, water jugs and lamps, called to my mind those in the museum at Naples.  The jars, burnt and painted brown, have a form similar to those discovered at Herculaneum and Pompeii.  The water jugs are furnished with two ears, and are so pointed at the bottom, that they will not stand unless rested against something.  This form of vessel is still used in Persia.  Among other glass-ware, there were some flasks which consisted almost entirely of long necks, bracelets, rings and necklaces of gold; some small four-cornered embossed sheets, which were worn either on the head or chest, and some crowns, made of laurel wreaths, were very elegant.  There were chains and cauldrons in copper, and ugly grotesque faces and ornaments of various kinds, which were probably fixed on the exterior of the houses.  I saw some coins which were remarkably well stamped.

I had now to visit the tumuli.  I sought long and in vain for a guide:  very few strangers come to this place, and there are consequently no regular guides.  At last there was nothing left for me but to apply to the Austrian Vice-consul, Herr Nicolits.  This gentleman was not only willing to comply with my wish, but was even so obliging as to accompany me himself.