On the heights of Ayudag are the remains of an ancient fortification with thick walls of "wild stone" but little else. "And is it surprising?" Keppen asks. "One must remember that this place has not been inhabited since 1475. And from that time no fewer than 360 times the spring sun has warmed the mountain tops and in the depths of the earth new growth has begun again. And 360 times autumn storms have torn the leaves from trees and ripped the grasses, each year creating a new layer to cover the traces of human bustle!"(170) Keppen scoured the mountain for the ruins of the monastery of Constantine and Elena, which Pallas had described, but his efforts were in vain. The Tatars who were with him showed him the place a white marble cross-inscribed pillar had stood before it was removed, 8 years earlier, to Gurzuf. (There had been a green marble column at the same spot; Prince Potemkin sent it to Kherson to be incorporated into a church there.)(171-172)