HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 109

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Pedias, which, although dry at the present time, periodically floods the country and converts the valley into an extensive lake. It was about twenty miles across this broad flat to the important town of Trichomo, and the ruins of Salamis were discernible with the telescope about midway, close to the seashore. There was an extent of several miles of marsh around the heights of Kuklia, in some portions oti which cotton was cultivated in considerable quantities, but I was surprised at the inferiority of the quality, and at the apparent weakness of the plants where the water-supply was plentiful. On closer examination I observed great carelessness in the absence of drainage ; • the plants were allowed to perish in stagnant water, which soured the land. Upon a longer acquaintance with M. Mattel's farm, I found the same fault generally. Many portions of valuable land were chilled and rendered fruitless by too much water, which remained in the ground for want of the most simple drains. I shot plenty of snipe in the fields of barley, although they were not supposed to be under irrigation. M. Mattei is well known as the largest landed proprietor in Cyprus, and the representative of agricultural progress ; but his bailiff at Kuklia could hardly have expected a prize at an exhibition, although every facility exists for creating a perfect model-farm. The springs which supply the water-power were discovered in three different positions about three miles distant. The usual chains of wells (already described) were sunk, and at a convenient spot they converged into a single line, until a lower level introduced the channel to the surface. The water was then received into a stone aqueduct, and led with great judgment in a half circle beneath the higher ground which was

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