The Road
Had Been As Rough As Could Be Imagined, And We Now Descended The Last
Steep Incline From The Heights, Which Led Into The Plain Below.
The salt
lake, which adds an important amount to the revenue of Cyprus, lay
beneath us upon the right, in the heart of the peninsula of Akrotiri;
immediately below were the ruins of ancient Curium, but to us
invisible.
. . .
We arrived at the town of Episkopi. Captain Savile thus describes it:--
"A pleasantly situated village, standing on the
Episkopi or Lycos river, and very abundantly supplied
with water. The houses are surrounded with
fruitful gardens, and there are fields of grain and
cotton in the vicinity. The inhabitants have however
very small holdings, and are, as a rule, miserably
poor. In former days Episkopi was a rich city, and
contained in the Venetian times large manufactories;
of its ancient greatness now remain the ruins of an
aqueduct, immense storehouses or vaults, and several
ruined Greek churches. The spurs from Mount
Troodos extend nearly down to the shore, and the
road follows the coast-line, traversing a very beautiful
country; the ground in spring is covered with flowers
and aromatic herbs, and the ravines are filled with a
luxuriant growth of cypresses, wild-olives, and flowering
shrubs."
There was nothing to induce a delay in Episkopi, but an addition may be
made to the above description in stating that the river which has
fertilised the spot and made it famous originates in the Troodos range.
Later on, during the summer months, I often rested at the faintly
dripping source of its first mountain affluent near the top of Troodos,
which by degrees acquires strength from the Olympus drainage to form an
important stream.
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