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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 277 View PDF version of this page Larnaca instead of Limasol. A t the former por there is not a tree to throw a shade, and the miserable aspect of the surrounding country must have had a| most depressing effect upon the nervous system of!; officers and men, while at Limasol. the country is agreeable and the shady caroubs exist almost to the sea-shore, in numbers that would have sheltered ar army of three times the force represented. I cannot conceive of more deliberate cruelty inflicted upon all grades than an unnecessary exposure to the burning summer sun of Cyprus in bell-tents, when shady trees existed in so convenient a locality as Limasol. If the root of the offence could be traced it would probablj be discovered that the advice had been given by some persons interested in the possession of property at Larnaca, where rents of houses rose from nil to fabulous amount upon the disembarkation of the
troops. Altogether this military enterprise of occupation was effected with the usual British confusion and lack of arrangement.
The commissariat of course broke down, although special ' pains had been taken • to supply the troops with luxuries that to a simple mind are inconceivable ; thus copper warming-pans in great numbers were sent out ! As the thermometer was above ioo° Fahr., these fiery furnaces were hardly appreciated. It is a reflection upon the want of resource exhibited by the authorities that these peculiar utensils were not sent out as regimental stew-pans, as there was a dearth of cooking-pots, and the warming-pans might have added materially to the comforts of the insides, instead of the outsides of the men, by reducing the gutta-percha-like texture of Cyprian bullocks into a savoury stew. Another comfort thoughtfully supplied by some more than
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