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SALAMIS IN THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS.
BY ALEXANDER PALMA DI CESNOLÀ, F.S.A.,
page 12

company, en route to Messrs. Moss and Co., Liverpool, who, in their turn, delivered them safely in London. My life in Larnaka was very solitary, and I received very few friends. My time was taken up in sorting the antiquities, and arrangingand studying them. I was, and am, greatly obliged for many explanations given by my dear friend, Mr. Demetrius Piérides, a great antiquary and numismatist, who is thoroughly acquainted with Cypriote monuments, which he has studied indefatigably for about half a century. He is an honourable gentleman, whose presence adorns the island of Cyprus. The reader will see that the kindness of Mr. Piérides towards me was not limited to the time that I spent in Cyprus, but that it continues now; for in reading this book it will be observed how kindly he has aided me in many things. I thankfully remember, too, the kindness of H. E. the Bishop of Larnaka, of the Archimandrite himself, and of the Venerable Dr. Valsamacchi, and the goodness of others, who were the only friends I received during this winter. In March 1877, I visited Paphos, and while on the way thither spent many hours in the ruins of ancient Marium, visiting the spot where the learned German, Dr. Sigismondi, met his death while examining a tomb. These ruins were one hour's distance from Limassol, and half-way between Larnaka and Paphos. I received kind hospitality from M. Teodoro Peristiani, a learned lawyer from the University of Paris. This gentleman was in every instance most obliging towards me. During my stay in Limassol I visited two collections of Cypriote antiquities, one belonging to a native, and the other to Dr. Gastan, but I could not succeed in buying either of them. The first of these collections comprised many objects that I liked, especially three pieces of a patera, with Phœnician inscriptions; but I could not obtain it, on account of the great price set upon it by the owner, and because I thought the inscription was not of one patera, but of three different specimens put together as one; and in spite of some savants in Paris, who said it was but one inscription, I retain my opinion. I stayed at the Lusignan Castle, in Colosso, and received very kind attentions from M. Lobianco, proprietor of a large estate in Limassol. At Paphos I remained ten days, and dug in several places, where I found some fine gold objects and vases of a particular form, which are found only in this locality. I obtained at a village near Paphos-Nova a beautiful Cypriote inscription of three lines, and I there bought four other inscribed stones. Paphos is an excellent locality for digging in the ruins; but it is an extremely expensive place, and diflicult toexplore, because the ruins have been buried and re-buried by earthquakes, so that it requires many men and very deep shafts to reach them. In April 1877 I returned to my country house, and extended my diggings to Risò-Carpazzo. I remained in this line of mountains until July 1877, and collected there many very rare relics in gold, glass, vases, and inscriptions. It was at this time I found a square well, partly of brick and stone, which was full of fractured statuettes of a new form, and mixed with earth. I put together of these about two hundred statuettes; the reader will find illustrations of some of these in this book. This well was about two miles distant from Salamis. The statuettes probably belonged to a temple of the latter town, and were placed in this well in the early part of our era. The statuettes were found thus: first those of very ordinary and rough work; in the centre were those of much better art; and in the lowest stratum they exhibited most beautiful art. No news came to me from Salamis, but I knew that the man who was excavating there for me was keeping his promise, and working hard in our joint interest. On my return from Carpazzo I saw him, and bought from him some very good ancient Greek glass, such as is called Phœnician in Cyprus. He said to me, " No toinb yet; but I hope very soon to have news to bring you." In August I went again to Limassol; but only passed the ruins of Kurium, and began digging with ten men in the same spot in which one of my predecessors found a treasure, which is now in the New York Museum. I recovered many relics, principally in gold or silver,—fibulas, rings, ear-rings, and a beautiful necklace. After a fortnight's work, I was advised by a friendly Turkish officer and others in the village, that people in the coffee-houses were beginning to speak adversely to my operations, while one of the proprietors thought it would be better to inform the Kaimakan or Chief of the Province of Limassol, with a view to stopping my work. On hearing this, I decided to leave the place for a time, and went back to Larnaka. I left only one man to continue the work at Kurium. After a month this man returned with many very good objects in silver and bronze, and twenty or more fine ear-rings. I must say that in this circumstance, as during all my digging in the island, I was most obliged to the Turkish authorities. If I have succeeded in gleaning the Lawrence-

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