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 151

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the wreck of the stranded steamer in the bay Volokalida. We were camped on the verge of th| height that we had ascended by the precipitous pat from the lower valley. A s the country was a ma of dry fire-wood we collected a large quantity, ar piled two heaps, one for the camel-owners and thl servants, and another before the door of our owlj tent to make a cheerful blaze at night, which is luxury of the bivouac seldom to be enjoyed in othe portions of this island. While we were thus engage an arrival took place, and several people suddenly appeared upon the summit of the pass within a fell yards of our tent. An old woman formed one of Û party, and a handsome but rather dirty-looking priea led the way on a remarkably powerful mule. Upc seeing us he very courteously dismounted, and I once invited him to the tent. It appeared that thi was the actual head of the monastery and the lor of all the promontory who was thus unexpectedlj introduced. Cigarettes, coffee, and a little goc cognac quickly cheered the good and dusty pries (who had travelled that day from some place beyonc Rizo-Carpas), and we established a mutual confidence that induced him to give me all the information his neighbourhood. I had observed hundreds of cattle, goats, sheep, ar many horses, donkeys, &c , wandering about the shrut covered surface during my walk, and I was now informed that all these animals were the property of the monastery. These tame creatures are the objects described in some books upon Cyprus as " the wild oxen and horses of the Carpas district, the descendants of original domestic animals "! The monastery of Cape St. Andrea forms an exception to all others in

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