There Was No Water
Except In Small Pools That Had Been Scraped In The Sand For The Benefit
Of The Travelling Animals.
Having watered our mules and remounted, we
ascended the steep banks of the stream and continued towards the sea,
feeling a sensible difference in the temperature since we had descended
from the heights.
The country was exceedingly pretty, as it sloped gently downwards for
three or four miles, the surface ornamented with caroub-trees, until we
at length reached the sea-beach and crossed the sandy mouth of the
river's bed. The crops of cereals were perished by drought in the
absence of irrigation; but upon continuing our route parallel with the
beach we observed an immediate improvement, as the water was conducted
by artificial channels to the various fields. This arrangement had been
effected by erecting a temporary dam in the river's bed far among the
mountains, and thus leading the stream into the conduit for many miles.
Small brooks intersected our path along the coast, and in several places
I remarked the ruins of ancient aqueducts. . . . There was nothing of
peculiar interest upon this route; the land inclined upwards from the
sea for six or seven miles to the foot of the mountain range, all of
which was either cultivated with cereals or was covered with caroub-
trees and olives. Many villages were dotted over the surface; these were
green with mulberry and various fruit-trees. With the sea upon our
right, and the waves dashing briskly upon the rocky shore, the scene was
agreeable; but the sun was hot, and we were not sorry to see the distant
minarets of Ktima after a ride of seventeen miles from Arodes.
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