From The Base Of The Barren Hill-Range A Fertile Plain Slopes Towards
The Sea For A Width Of About Four Miles, Having Received The Soil That
Has Been Washed From The Denuded Heights.
This rich surface is
cultivated with cereals, but there are considerable portions which are
covered with a dense mass of thistles, as the land is allowed to rest
for a couple of years after having been exhausted by several crops
without manuring.
On the lowlands of Cyprus nearly every plant or bush
is armed with thorns. I have generally observed that a thorny vegetation
is a proof of a burning climate with a slight rainfall. In the scorching
districts of the Soudan there is hardly a tree without thorns to the
tenth degree of north latitude, at which limit the rainfall is great and
the vegetation changes its character. The Cypriotes of both sexes wear
high boots to the knees as a protection from the countless thistles, and
not as an armour against snakes, as some writers have assumed. These
boots are peculiar in their construction; the soles are about an inch in
thickness, formed of several layers of leather, which are fastened
together by large-headed nails from beneath; these are directed in an
oblique line, so as to pass through the edge of the upper leather and
secure it to the sole exactly as the shoe of a horse is fitted to the
hoof. The nails are long and thin, and are riveted by turning the points
round and hammering them like a coil upon the leather; the heads of
these nails are nearly as large as a shilling, and the boots are
exceedingly clumsy; but they increase the height of the wearer by a full
inch.
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