Mount Megabi is then in front, with the village and
vineyards of Aoutka at its foot ; and Orianda and Cape
Aithodor may be seen behind it. On the right looking
down upon Yalta, a great promontory of the Tauric chain,
called Mount Topr^, about four thousand feet high,
divides the valley into two parts, and at its foot is the
little village of Derekoi, hidden by the trees. The right
branch of the valley is called Ai Vassili ; and a village
whence it takes its name is situated at the foot of Mount
Lapata."" To judge by the steep rough aspect of this
mountain one would not imagine that down its sides is
one of the principal roads leading from Baktcheserai to
the coast. The road as far as Ai Vassili follows the
course of a rivulet, and the surrounding country has the
appearance of a natural English park, with magnificent
trees and cascades. At Ai Vassili the gardens are filled
with date plum trees, ash, turpentine trees, figs, and
walnuts. Around the village and above it are seen the
sandstone and the schists, and the oak and the elm cover
the ground, but at the height of one thousand feet the
limestone is reached, and the Tauric pine takes the place
of other trees, and grows to a great size. It lasts over
the first layers of the limestone for about seven hundred
feet, and is succeeded by the beech and wich elm.
Above these is the naked summit of the mountain, and
then on passing a narrow gorge in the rocks, the traveller
emerges on one of the mountain plains, called Tailas.
