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.
 
 
 
 
uses Google technology and indexes only and selectively internet - libraries having books with free public access
 
  Previous Next  

SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 150

View PDF version of this page

varieties of cypress in this island ; the second has been erroneously called a " cedar " by some travellers, land by others "juniper. " This tree is generally met with, at altitudes varying from three to six thousand feet, upon the Trôôdos range ; it seldom exceeds a 'height of thirty feet, but attains a girth of six or even .seven. The wood is by no means hard, and possesses a powerful fragrance, closely resembling that of cedar (or of cedar and sandal-wood combined), which may have 'given rise to the error named. It splits with facility, and the peculiar grain and brownish-red colour, combined with the aroma, would render it valuable for the cabinetmaker in constructing the insides of drawers, as insects 'are believed to dislike the smell. The foliage of this ' species exactly resembles that of the Cupresstis horizofttalis. Th e cedar may possibly have existed at a ι former period and have been destroyed, but I should tbe inclined to doubt the theory, as it would surely have I been succeeded by a younger growth from the cones, ι that must have rooted in the ground like all those conifers which still would flourish were they spared by the Cypriote's axe. The native name for the cypress is Kypresès, which closely resembles the name of the island according to their pronunciation Kypris. The chittim-wood of Scripture, which was so much ' esteemed, may have been the highly aromatic cypress to which I have alluded. After a ramble of many hours down to the monastery upon the rocky shore, along the point, and then returning through the woods over the highest portions ι of the promontory, I reached our camp, which commanded a view of the entire southern coast with its innumerable rocky coves far beyond telescopic distance. From this elevation I could distinguish with my glass

View PDF version of this page


  Previous First Next