The Style Of This Fortress Suggests A Date Anterior To Famagousta, As It
Is Devoid Of Cavaliers And Depends For Its Defence Upon The Simple
Flanking Fire Of The Four Towers And The Great Height And Thickness Of
The Walls.
It is supplied with fresh water by an aqueduct, and is
provided with immense reservoirs of masonry to contain a sufficient
quantity during a prolonged siege, when the outer aqueduct might be
destroyed by the enemy.
There are extensive subterranean caves and
dungeons, but these have not yet been explored. Above this fine old
specimen of Venetian fortifications, upon the high platform of the tower
facing the harbour, was a flag-staff, upon which a small bundle of rags
fluttered in the strong wind, as though they, had been arranged to
frighten the jackdaws from building within the crevices of masonry. It
appeared that this miserable remnant of tattered bunting had once
represented a British Union Jack! and the colourless, poverty-stricken
thing flapped and cracked as it tore itself into the finest threads of
misery in the gale, too truly representing the result of our ambiguous
position according to the terms of the Cyprian occupation. I felt
ashamed that such an exhibition should meet the eye of any foreign ship
upon entering the harbour of Kyrenia, and I was informed "that it was
the only flag that was possessed by the authorities." As all the revenue
of the island was handed over to the Porte excepting a bagatelle
insufficient for the requirements of the country, the really overworked
and energetic servants of the Crown were absolutely obliged to practise
a most rigid economy, commencing with their own salaries, equally
vexatious to themselves and unworthy of our high position.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 203 of 524
Words from 55291 to 55579
of 143016
