The Sides Were Covered With The
Usual Prickly Plants, But The Edges Of The Stream Were Thickly Bushed
With Oleanders Which Afforded Excellent Covert For Game.
In travelling through Cyprus there is a depressing aspect in the general
decay and ruin of former works.
I strolled with my dogs for some miles
along the river banks, and examined the strong masonry remains of many
old water-mills. I found a well-constructed aqueduct of wonderfully hard
cement at the bottom of a cliff close to the present bed of the river:
this must at a former period have passed below the bed, and the
deepening of the stream has exposed and washed away the ancient work.
There was no game beyond a few wild red-legged partridges, although the
appearance of the country had raised my expectations.
On the following morning I rambled with the dogs for many hours over the
range of hills which bounds the plain upon the north, and from which the
river issues. These are completely denuded of soil, and present a
glaring surface of hardened chalk, in the crevices of which the usual
prickly plants can alone exist. Some of the hill-tops exposed a smooth
natural pavement where the rain had washed away all soluble portions and
left the bare foundation cracked in small divisions as though
artificially inlaid. Now and then a wretched specimen of the Pinus
Maritima, about six feet high, was to be seen vainly endeavouring to
find nourishment in the clefts of the barren rocks. I do not believe the
tales of forests having formerly existed upon the greater portion of
Cyprus: it would certainly be impossible for any species of tree to
thrive upon the extensive range of hills near Arpera, which are
absolutely valueless.
In many places the surface glistened with ice-like sheets of gypsum,
which cropped out of the cold white marls and produced a wintry
appearance that increased the desolation. I walked for some hours over
successive ranges of the same hopeless character. Great numbers of hawks
and several varieties of eagles were hunting above the hill-tops, and
sufficiently explained the scarcity of game. The red-legged partridges
found little protection in the scant cover afforded by the withered
plants, and I saw one captured and carried off by an eagle, who was
immediately chased by two others of the same species, in the vain hope
that he would give up his prize; he soared high in air with the
partridge hanging from his claws. On the same day I saw another capture,
and there can be little doubt that the partridge forms the usual food of
these large birds of prey. The British government has already protected
the game by establishing a close season and by a tax upon all guns; but
there will be little benefit from the new law unless a reward shall be
offered for the destruction of the birds of prey which swarm in every
portion of the island--eagles, falcons, kites, hawks, ravens, crows, and
last, but in cunning and destructive propensity not the least, the
"magpies." These birds exist in such numbers that unless steps are taken
to destroy them it will be hopeless to expect any increase of game.
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