View PDF version of this page

British officials moved their quarters from Famagousta to the healthy village of Derinia, about three miles distant, during our stay near Varoschia. The new station is to the south-west of the port, and completely beyond the influence of the marshes, the elevation being about 250 feet above the sea. Should this locality become a permanently healthy settlement, the sanitary difficulty of our position will be considerably modified, as the troops might be quartered at Derinia in time of peace, and even during war they would be immediately within call. A lake exists about three miles inland from Famagousta, which is between four and five miles in circumference ; the water is fresh, but exceedingly shallow and impure, the edges covered with high reeds, which extend for several hundred yards from i the shore. This lake swarms with varieties of waterfowl, which can only be shot by wading and waiting concealed in the high cover of rushes and tamarisk, as , they are exceedingly wary. Commander Hammond, of H.M.S. Torch, bagged thirty-five ducks to his own gun upon one occasion, by thus challenging the fever and remaining hip-deep in the muddy water for some hours. I did not feel disposed to risk the chances of malaria, as the effluvium from the mud was sufficiently offensive even when walking round the margin, and I already felt some warning symptoms of the heavy atmosphere of Famagousta, which might, if neglected, have terminated in ague. I shot a fine specimen of the glossy ibis, and I otherwise contented myself with , watching the variety of ducks, coots, teal, and other water-fowl through my glass, as they enjoyed themselves in flocks upon the surface of the lake at a great distance.

View PDF version of this page