View PDF version of this page

from the want of rain, the roots are actually withinj a few feet of the desired supply. Th e cattle-wheel* of Cyprus are very inferior to the sakyeeah of EgypfiJ but are arranged upon a similar principle, by a chai of earthenware pots or jars upon a rope and who which, revolving above a deep cistern, ascend from tf depth below, and deliver the water into a trough o> reservoir upon the surface. From the general reservoi small watercourses conduct the stream to any sp desired. This is the most ancient system of artificiai irrigation by machinery, and it is better adapted f the requirements of this country than any expensiv European inventions. A s I shall devote a chapte specially to the all-important question of irrigation^ I shall postpone further remarks upon the cattle-whee1 but the farm in question which formed a solitary gree oasis in the vast expanse of withered surface was sufficient example of the necessity, and of the fruitfi result of this simple and inexpensive method. It is mere question of outlay, and the government mus assist the cultivators by loans for the special erectio of water-wheels. But of this more hereafter. At about six miles from Dali we struck the road between Larnaca and Lefkosia (or Nicosia). Th newly-established mail-coach with four horses passe us, with only one passenger. W e met it again on th following day, with a solitary unit ; and it appeared] that the four horses on many occasions had no otheri weight behind them than the driver and the letters.l With this instance of inertia before their eyes, certaini lunatics (or wise contractors) suggested the necessity of a railway for twenty-eight miles to connect the twoi capitals ! The mail had an ephemeral existence, andi after running fruitlessly to and fro for a few months,

View PDF version of this page