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 202

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wheeled conveyances having been obtained, the workmen have discovered a superior stone as they proceeded into the bowels of the quarry. They have accordingly neglected much of the nearer portion, and have excavated a large square, always pushing forward towards the west, which is now terminated by a worked perpendicular face and a series of steps incomplete, precisely as it remained when the last chisel relinquished the labour. This quality of rock in all parts of Cyprus is cavernous, and the natural caves have suggested to the ancients an artificial extension both for dwellings and for cemeteries. The rock is easily worked by the mason's pick, and near the town I observed an old fort-ditch which had been originally excavated for the double object of quarrying building stone at the same time that it served the purpose of defence. There would be no great difficulty in connecting the ancient quarry with the harbour by cutting a canal through the soft rock and extending the depth of the ancient excavations. It is well known to all quarrymen that the stone should be placed in a building according to the position in which it lay when forming the original rock. Within the fortress of Kyrenia there are many examples of neglect, where the masons have either inverted or placed the stones sideways, in which 'case the action of the weather has completely honeycombed and reduced the material to an appearance of decayed coral. I observed instances of similar neglect with the same results in portions of the fortress of Famagousta. The tombs are easily distinguished from the cavedwellings with which the rocks are perforated, as they are merely chambers of a few feet square sufficient

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