Cyprus, As I Saw It In 1879 By Sir Samuel White Baker





















































 -  With an empty bag, but with a
new impression of the country since my view of the landscape in the - Page 52
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With An Empty Bag, But With A New Impression Of The Country Since My View Of The Landscape In The

North, I turned homewards, and reached camp late in the afternoon, my spaniels having no doubt a low opinion of

Cyprus sport, and of the unfair advantages taken by the ever-running red-legged partridges.

On 16th February a painful conviction was established that Cyprus was unfitted for wheeled carriages and springs. Although the plain appeared flat and without natural obstacles, the ground had been completely traversed by deep trenches for the purpose of checking and conducting surface water to the fields in the event of a heavy shower. Our course should have been directly across the plain to intersect the road from Lefkosia to Famagousta, but a glance at the intervening country showed the impossibility of moving the vans through the miles of green crops which were nourished by innumerable watercourses, each of which must be levelled before we could advance. It was therefore necessary to retrace our steps to within a mile and a half of Lefkosia, to the point where the main route branched to Famagousta. This was a great waste of time, but there was no other way of avoiding the difficulty. Accordingly we started, and after a few miles we cut across country to the high road, while the vans slowly crawled along the uneven way until they reached the turning-point. We halted at a very desolate spot, where sheep were housed in large numbers. Several spacious pens were surrounded with thorns, reminding me of the cattle zareebas of Africa, and a small flat-topped building, built of stone and mud, formed the usual accommodation for man and beast. A well of clear but brackish water supplied this rude establishment, which was surrounded by a boundless extent of undulating ground, more or less cultivated with cereals, which, although only a few inches above the surface, looked weak and perishing.

The vans did not arrive until late; in the meanwhile we had sat outside the building in the cold air, fearing to venture beneath the roof, owing to the swarms of fleas which are sure to be "at home" in all the miserable dwellings of this island. At length the gipsy-van, which had been in sight for a full hour, drew up on the flat surface in front of the shepherd's hut, and real comfort was at once at hand. Although the space within was limited, the furniture was so carefully arranged that we had plenty of room to move about. The fall-slab table was usually down, and was only required for writing; the chest of drawers was American walnut: a good solid and well-seasoned wood, which did not provoke the temper like English furniture by the drawers sticking when in the act of opening, and leaving you in a hopeless position with a detached handle in either hand. This good American chest was only three feet two inches high, therefore it formed a convenient toilette-table beneath a window, which, curtained with muslin and crimson cloth, had an exceedingly snug appearance; and a cushioned seat upon either side upon the lid of a locker combined comfort with convenience.

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