The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-29 00:00:00

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half-an-hour during which the fire of the musketry
was incessant, the Russians began to retire, and
the batteries from the town then cast rapid volle3
of grape and shell against the Positions of the co-
vering parties of the batteries. The ground ap-
peared to be most warmly contested in the direc-
tion of the French advanced works, as the fire of
musketry continued for some time in that situation
after it had ceased altogether in the ravine where
it had first commenced. Upwards of an hour had
passed before the attack was sufficiently silenced for
the regiments to return to their camps.
The day is 113 W sunny, bright, and warm. It
appears as if we were again about to be favoured
with a duration of fine and favourable weather for
the siege operations.

THE BLACK SEA.

OFF SEBASTOPOL, Dec. 12.
Since the sortie of the two steamers from Sebas-
topol on the 6th inst. the Russian fleet has re-
mained quiet. It is, indeed, reported that move-
ments have been observed in the harbour, as if the
fleet was
-preparing to come out, that the vessels
had set their topgallantniasts, and that an unusual
degree of activity was prevailing, but hitherto no-
thing- has occurred, except the little affair of the
other .day.
A steamer, supposed to be the Vladimir, came
out under the cover of the batteries, while another
was hovering about close to the sunken vessels.
The first, unheeding the French frigate Megere,
which was cruising outside, went close in shore to
Strelitzka Bay, where another French steamer and
a mortar-vessel were lying, and began to blaze away
at the French left attack, directed against the
Quarantine Fort, and the loopholod and bastioned
wall which surrounds the town on the west side.
As soon as this was observed the Valorous and Ter-
rible got their steam np, but before they could well
come within reach of the Russiansteamer this latter
had retired under the batteries on the south Bide.
The Valorous, which has only come up lately, went
rather too far in pursuit, and the forts opened their
fire on her. A few shots struck her, but she suf-
fered no serious damage.
This sortie proved, if nothing else, at least that
there is a passage left for ships to come out between
the sunken vessels, so that if the Russians were de-
termined to attempt a sortie with their fleet they
could do it ; but the vessels are sunk so close to
each other that only one at a time could come out.
The range, however, of the forts would, on the
other hand, enable them to form under the cover
of their fire, and thus meet the combined fleets,
which, as you will easily believe, are eager for such
an encounter.

Heavy south and south-west winds are still the
prevailing feature in the weather, but they have
lost a good deal of their former fury.
The anchorage at the Katcha has been entirely
given up, and all the liners which lay there
after the departure of the three-deckers are
now anchored outside of the double bay of Char-
sonesus, where the Agamemnon rode out the
fearful gale of the 14th ult. Chersonesus-bay is
formed by two indentations in the coast running
nearly parallel to each other, and separated only
by a narrow tongue of land. It forms thus two
distinct bays, of which the one nearest to the cape,
called Karatch-bay, is now taken up by the Eng-
lish fleet, while the other, Kamiesh-bay, has
served from the beginning, as the landing-place of
the French. Karatch-bay, although not quite so
well protected as Kamiesh-bay, because the land
around is lower and the entrance more open, is still
infinitely superior to the Katcha as an anchorage,
for, with the exception of a north-westerly gale,
they have nothing to fear from wind and weather.
The holding ground is, however, very unequal.
In some places there is nothing to be found but
the bare rock, while in others you meet with shoals
in the middle of the bay. But the place has been
surveyed and buoys laid down, so that there is no-
thing to fear on that score, while the distance from
this bay to the entrance of Sebastopol is about the
same as from the Katcna, and thus the fleet can bo
up just as soon, if not sooner, should the Russians
attempt to come out.
A few days ago I went to the Monastery of St.
George and the village of Karani, where all the
remainine, inhabitants of the villages south of Sebas-
topol are kept. After the departure of the 73 per-
sons to Yalta there are still 380 men, women, and
children remaining. Having no means of subsist-
ence, they are fed by the allies, a supply of flour
found at Balaklava being partly applied for this
purpose. Karani is a snug little village on the
road from Balaklaya to the Monastery of St.
George. Its inhabitants, like the rest of the Greek
colonies in the south of the Crimea, although be-
longing to the Oriental church, are not incorpo-
rated with the Russian-Orthodox Church, but have
their •wn clergy. The other day a curious proof
of this was furnished by the priest of the village of
Karani himself. The dragoman attached to the
colonel of the French Gendarmerie, who is living
in the village, fell in love with a Greek girl,
and, without asking his superior's leave, in-
duced the priest of Karani to marry them.
Next day he presented himself, with his young
wife, to the colonel, who had him sent to Con-
stantinople to enjoy his honeymoon. The colonel
wanted likewise to give the priest some good
advice, but this latter, very likely too much
accustomed to Russian ways, thought it safest
to run, and he disappeared, leaving his flock
to get on as best it could. The French colonel now
proposed to have one of the Russian monks from
the monastery to perform service, but the people
declined, asserting that they were not of the same
rite.

Besides the French detachment, a part of the
English Commissariat is quartered in the village.
You cannot doubt this ; as soon as you approach,
wretched mules adrift, others lying dead on the
ground, broken carts and wheels speak plainly
enough for themselves. Of course, there must be
scarcity in the means of transport. The broken carts
von may easily believe soon find other owners, and
I have heard French soldiers say, " Is it not better
that we should burn them rather than leave
them rotting in the mud ?" In the French Com-
missariat the mules are regularly picketed, lard ca-
valry or artillery horses, and counted every day, if
a cart is wanted it is left to the goodwill of a
lazy Maltese or Bulgarian to replace it; the conse-
quence is that the French Commissariat and ambu-
lance mules are strong and healthy, while Englisi
Commissariat mules are vanishing without anybody
asking what has become of them. Until lately the
mules belonging to the English Commissariat were
dispersed in the whole village of Karani ; now the
village is divided in two parts—one occupied by
the French detachment, the other by the English
Commissariat. You may imagine how things must
have gone when I tell you that the French had to
make a representation about the shameful sluggish.
ness in the English Commissariat at Karani.
Since the departure of the first transport of Greek
villagers to Yalta several others have expressed
their wish to follow their example ; but, of course,
one cannot have a steamer ready for every
single individual ; but, if they should wish it en
masse, I suppose they will get a steamer again. It
will be a relief, for it will be so many less men to
feed.

There are some Greek families likewise in the
Monastery of St. George. This monastery, chosen
with the usual cleverness which monks of all coun-
tries and ages display in the choice of their dwelling
places, is situated on the precipitous side of a lit-
tle bay running in from Cape Feolente ; it seems
evidently an institution getting into fashion, for
everywhere you see traces of new, half-finished
buildings, while even those which are completed
seem quite new. There are now 15 monks re-
maining ; 12 others are with the Russian army,
where they do business as chaplains. The monas-
tery is guarded by a body of Zouaves under a ger-
jeant, and there was some intention of converting
it into an hospital, but the gale of the 14th has un-
roofed nearly all the houses and even torn down
the iron plates from the church roof, so that the re-
pairings would give quite as much trouble as the
building of a wooden shed for the same purpose.
During the gale the Zouaves, as well as all the rest
of the inmates, had to retire to the " hespitium,"
an out-building erected for the accommodation of
pious pilgrims who come to drink the delicious
waters of the St. George's Well, of miraculous
power, and implore the chivalrous saint's proteb-
tien. For an ordinary traveller the beauty of the
spot would be quite sufficient reward. Even now,
tinges
aces, huge rocks,
,- it is one of the loveliest spots
wa litthho u
itsgh
imaginable,
whiteaces,
he vi
tear yt
e thing
rrwears the bleak autumnal
and dark woods
overlooking the wide expanse of the Engine. It
is a place.as if made for silent contemplation, and,
even while the fury of
neighbourhood, the loud reports of the heavy siege
guns scarcely ever penetrate to this retired spot.
Among the new arrivals at the fleet is th
Curacoa, 30, screw, which joined two days ago.

Tai Noon PIGEON.—A circumstance has just oc-
curred in the neighbourhood of Canterbury which af-
fords irrefragabla proof of the destructive capabilities
of the wood pigeon. One of these birds was shot last
week in Clowes's-wood, in the parish of St. Stephen,
and, upon examining its crop, it was found to contain
no less than,937 grains of wheat, besides 94 tares, show.
ing that it had found good quarters and had availed its
self of, the advantages afforded. We may probably
next year be in a position to record the produce of the
grain thus discovered, as Mr. Bedwell, of Breton-court,
has sown it distinct from his other crops, in order to
ascertain the quantity of corn capable of being pro.
duced from the consumption of a single wood pigeon
South-Eastern Gazette,

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