In This Simple Manner We Passed Our Time At Trooditissa; My Amusements
Were My Small Garden, Writing An Account Of Cyprus, And Strolling Over
The Mountains:
The latter occupation being most unprofitable, as I
destroyed all my boots upon the horrible surface of loose stones, in
which there was little geological interest, as they were all gneiss and
syenite, cracked and starred during a process of subaquean cooling.
The
deplorable aspect of the otherwise beautiful mountains was occasioned by
the wholesale and wilful destruction of pine-trees, which is the
Cypriote's baneful characteristic, and as this is one of the most
important subjects in the modern history of the island, I shall devote
the following special chapter entirely to the question of "Woods and
Forests."
CHAPTER XIII.
WOODS AND FORESTS.
The climate of Cyprus is extreme in temperature during the months of
June, July, August, and until the close of September; throughout the
greater portion of the island the treeless surface absorbs the sun's
rays, and during the night radiates the heat thus obtained, which raises
the thermometer to 90 degrees before sunrise: while at noon it
occasionally marks 100 degrees beneath the shade. A treeless country
must either be extremely hot or cold, according to the latitude; and
without a certain proportion of forest there will be an absence of
equilibrium in temperature. Most persons will have observed the effect
of heat radiation from rocks, or even from the walls of a building that
have been exposed to a summer's sun during the long day.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 361 of 524
Words from 98267 to 98522
of 143016
