HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 195

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arrangements they had suffered severely from feverj by which, although only four had actually succumbed* and now lay in the lonely little cemetery close to OUR tents, the regiment had been demoralised, and was withdrawn from this lonely position completely feversmitten. I made close inquiries among the natives, and all agreed that the past year, having been unusually wet, had been exceptionally unhealthy, and the inïï habitants had suffered almost to the same degree as the Europeans. It was painfully clear that when the rainfall was sufficiently plentiful to produce abundant harvests it at the same time ensured a crop of fevers. We remained ten days in our Kyrenia camp, aiM we were both sorry to leave, as the neighbourhood is exceedingly beautiful and full of interest ; there is certainly no portion of Cyprus that can equal it in the picturesque, or in the extreme richness of genuine forest-trees and foliage. The town is small and most irregular : an oli Turkish graveyard forms a boundary upon the out skirts opposite the fort, precisely similar in position to that of Famagousta. Within 300 paces of this point are the principal houses, mostly well built of stone and surrounded by high-walled gardens fruitful in oranges, lemons, almonds, apricots, figs, and the fruits commonly known throughout the island. The houses are generally one story above the ground-floor, with a wide balcony that forms an open face to the first-floor of live or six arches, which support the roof upon that side. This is a convenient plan for vT climate, as it admits fresh air to all the rooms whic open into the balcony ; in fact it is an open landing ! the staircase. A few date-palms ornament the gardens,!

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