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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 245

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halted in a deep glen between exceedingly steep hills, through which a torrent-bed had cut its coursej directly to the sea. In this secluded spot, far from! all villages or inhabitants, we arranged to encamp upon a flat and inviting plot of turf, which in CyprusJ is rarely met with. Some tolerable elms and other! trees formed a dense shade in a deep and narrowj portion of the glen beneath the over-hanging cliffs.J and a beautiful spring of water issued from the rockJ received in a stone cistern beneath. A n arch oq masonry inclosed the spring, which some kind personj had thus carefully arranged for the public good ; thisj : was richly clothed with maiden-hair ferns. The surplus water, after overflowing the stone basin, formed a faint stream, which trickled over the rocks^ between cliffs only a few feet apart, until it emerged, from this narrow cleft and joined the sea. I walked down this natural alley to the beach and bathed, tel the astonishment of my guide Iiani and another. Cypriote, who rushed to the top of the cliff as though "; they thought I contemplated suicide ; these people having a natural horror of cold water. The name oi| this secluded glen was Symboli. On the following morning we started for Polisj fourteen miles by an easy route along the coast. The'j mountains upon our left were very precipitous, and I exhibited the same character of complete wilderness which had marked them for the last two marches ; the only difference apparent was an increase in the remaining pines, which fairly clothed their summits and ravines. The sea was perfectly calm, and fol the first time during our stay in Cyprus we observed many shoals of fish playing upon the surface close to the beach. Tw o cormorants were in the bay, and

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