A Level Plateau About Eighteen Feet Above The Lowest Level Of The Plain
Shows The Original Surface.
The soil of the entire valley is calcareous,
and is eminently adapted for the cultivation of the vine and cereals.
As
the rain has percolated through the ground, it has become so thoroughly
impregnated with sulphate of lime that it has deposited a series of
strata some six or seven feet below the surface, which form a flaky
subterranean pavement. The ancients selected this shallow soil of a
higher level for a burial-ground, and they burrowed beneath the stratum
of stony deposit to form their tombs. One of the chief occupations of
modern Cypriotes appears to be the despoiling of the dead; thus the
entire sides of the plateau-face for a distance of about two miles are
burrowed into thousands of holes to a depth of ten and twelve feet in
search of hidden treasures. If the same amount of labour had been
expended in the tillage of the surface, the result would have been far
more profitable. A small proportion of the land upon the outskirts of
the town was cultivated, some had been recently ploughed, while in other
plots the wheat had appeared above the surface. Water is generally found
at eight or nine feet below the level, but this is of an inferior
description, and the town and environs are well supplied by an aqueduct
which conveys the water from powerful springs about seven miles to the
west of Larnaca, near Arpera.
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