Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/77

 OF THI': ALMA. 47 Harbour on tlic east, and on the west towards tlic chap. deep ravine which divides the main town from its ' outskirts on the west of the Artillery Bay. Of the streets in the town two were spacious, The streets. and in these stood the principal buildings of the place. The rest of the streets were more narrow and uni)av('d. The highest spot in the town was the one ThoN^vai where stood the Kaval Libraiy. On the top of ''"'*'^" the building there was an observatory which (designed as it had been for recreation rather than. for State purposes) men used to call the ' belvedere.' This Naval Library was the place to which officers were accustomed to go when they sought to meet one another ; and it was from that build- ing that one of the most momentous changes in the progress of the strife was destined to be first descried. In the times immediately preceding the inva- sion the numbers collected within the town and its suburbs had been in general about 42,000, but roruiatinn 35,000 of these belonged to the fleet or the army. "Wiien Count Pozzo di Borgo, in 1828, warned his Government against the eventuality of an attack upon Sebastopol by an English fleet,* his words, H would seem, were not written in vain ; and during the years which followed, the works judged to be needed for the seaward defence of Sebastopol were carried on upon a vast scale. Edition.
 * Scf; 'Invasion of the Crimea,' vol. ii. p. 22i of CaLinct