In his book The Crimea and Odessa, Journal of a Tour the traveller Karl Koch writes in 1844: ‘The great rock round which the road passes has been compared to a bear going to the sea with its little onces to quench his thirst, and has consequently received the appelation of the Aiou Dagh or Bear Mountain. It is exceedingly interesting in a geological point of view, as it is the centre of one of the most considerable eruptions of the whole of the southern coast. After the surface of the ground had been rent, the masses of greenstone formed in the interior were elevated, and have remained in that position many thousands of years. Wind and weather have indeed endeavoured to exert their influence in the course of this long period of time, but the hard rock has only so far altered on the surface, that the greyish-green and white streaks have changed to a blackish hue.’