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 177

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!Ôo CYPRUS IN 1879. [CHAH the of Famagousta ;t iti becomes importance with i u it, Cyprus is the key of a great position; without i the affair is a dead-lock. There is unfortunately a serious drawback in the extreme unhealthiness of this otherwise invaluabll situation, Famagousta, which would at present rendei it unfit for a military station. There are several] causes, all of which must be removed, before the* necessary sanitary change can be accomplished. Thef vast heaps of stones, all of which are of an extremely porous nature, have absorbed the accumulated filth of ages, and the large area now occupied by these] ruins must be a fertile source of noxious exhalations During the rainy season the surface water, carrying with it every impurity, furnishes a fresh supply el poison to be stored beneath these health-destroying] masses, which cannot possibly be cleansed otherwise than by their complete obliteration. It may be readil* understood that the high ramparts of the walls M a certain extent prevent a due circulation of air, whiB increases the danger of miasma from the ruin-covered and reeking area of the old Venetian city. Should the harbour works be commenced, all this now useles: and dangerous material will be available for con* structing the blocks of concrete required for the sea-wall, and the surface of the town will be entirely freed from the present nuisance without additiona expense. The few modern buildings should be com pulsorily purchased by the Government, and entirel) swept away, so that the area inclosed by the fortificatioi walls should represent a perfectly clean successioi of levels in the form of broad terraces, which woulc drain uniformly towards the sea. Upon these purifiée and well-drained plateaux the new town could tx

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