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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 248

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done five years ago. A princess is buried in the church, the same, they say, who built the edifice whose ruins we saw on the top of the mountain. Two of lier slaves are buried with her, one on either side. Fourteen steps take one to the top of the chnrch, and to a grotto in which it is said that the Turks found a large coffer full of gold. In the cloister is a small ruined chapel. The room used as a kitchen is thirty-six feet long and eighteen broad. The convent is ruled by a Father-Guardian, who has under him three priests and eleven monks. Within the cloister is a small garden with a few orange trees. I must not forget to say why the convent was built. The princess who is buried in it lived iu the building on the summit of the mountain for better protection against the violence of the Templars who at that time strove to be lords everywhere. Besides this source of disquiet it was her misfortune to be afflicted with a kind of ulcer or mange. A little dog, which she loved passionately, and which never left her, caught it, but as soon as it felt itself attacked by the disease, it went every day down the hill and remained away for an honr or two, and while so doing it got visibly better. It was watched and seen to bathe in a spring close by. The princess, seeing the effect on her little dog, resolved to try the remedy for herself, and with such success that in a few days she was freed from the disease and restored to her former health. To show hor gratitude to God she caused this convent to be built-for Greek monks, and called it after S. Chrysostom, under whose protection she placed it. It still keeps the name and the fountain its virtue, for every day several persons come to bathe there, and, bhey say, find a euro. About two hours before nightfall we resumed our journey, and passing in front of the mountain where I had found the petrified bones arrived at dark at a village called Yœnos, or S. Romanus frani a church of that name. I went to the houf*e «if a Greek priest and slept there. Onr supper was very frugal, for Greek clerics are generally so poor that they have scarcely the wherewithal to live. 'Hie next morning we journeyed towards the convent called De la Paix, said to have been built by the Templars. The road is carried with great difficulty across the mountain : at last one sees close to one the convent pleasantly situated in a wood, orange trees, olives, palms and other fruit trees surround it, and above them all towers a very tall cypress. In the distance is seen the village of Sternia, and close by it, on the shore, a fine old castle. Some mountains lie in the background. The entrance gate is remarkably high, quite the height of eight men, and nine palms thick. It is a kind of fortress in itself, and is pretty well entire. Passing this gate yon turn to the left, and about twenty paces further on pass a second gate. On its cornices are carved in marble three different coats of arms. To the right of this gate you mount twenty-seven steps, nearly all ruinous. Descending again, y«ni go to the left, and see the remains of rooms. Next you cross a largo open space where are a few trees, and twenty-eight paces further on come to a building composed of four great arcades, to the left of which is a fine square apartment, now nnroofed; again you pass through another room and enter the cloister, a quadrangle of great beauty and dignity, and as fair and whole as if it were bnt just fiuished. Between the two first columns at the entrance of the garden there is a fine marble cistern. It is in the form of a tomb and carved around it is a wreath which a little child on either side holds up with both hands, one of the children is somewhat injured, and the other is headless, and in other parts the tomb is mutilated. Round it are six lions' heads, two on each of the longer sides, and one on the narrower. At each of the corners is the head of a young ox. all in low relief, and of fair execution. The passage in which the stone stands is Π2 feet long, and 48 wide. The vault EXCERPTA CYPRIA.

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