Cyprus, As I Saw It In 1879 By Sir Samuel White Baker





















































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Sitting down to rest upon the solid rock upon the left of this castle
entrance, I observed that it was - Page 223
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Sitting Down To Rest Upon The Solid Rock Upon The Left Of This Castle Entrance, I Observed That It Was Composed Of White Marble.

The exterior had a greyish coating from the action of the weather, but this could be scraped off with a knife, which exposed the white marble beneath.

I remarked that the cement of the masonry was mixed with small fragments of the same material, and subsequently I discovered blocks of this substance in the immediate neighbourhood of Kyrenia.

There was a peculiarity in the walls and towers of the fortress of St. Hilarion: the stones were of such small dimensions that few exceeded forty or fifty pounds in weight, except those which formed the principal halls or other buildings upon the secure plateaux within the outer works. The masons had apparently depended upon the extreme tenacity and hardness of their cement, which bound the mass into a solid block. Upon a close examination I discovered the reason. As the towers and many of the walls were built upon the extreme edge of various precipices, it would have been impossible to have erected a scaffolding on the outside, in the absence of which it would have been difficult to have raised heavy weights; the builders were therefore obliged to limit the size of stones to the power of individuals, who would be obliged to supply the material by the simple handing of single stones as the work proceeded. By this crude system the mason would stand upon his own wall and receive the stones as his work grew in height.

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