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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 472 View PDF version of this page H. XX.] C ONCLUSION.
455
cold spring to the great walnut-tree. My little garden tias flourished and produced largely ; the melons were of excellent flavour ; the tomatoes and other vegetables swere good, including a species of esculent amaranthus which is a substitute for spinach. I employed a man and his son to open the path for 2f miles, from the -monastery to the military route to Troodos, which much improved the communication, and somewhat Relieved our solitude by increasing the visits of our friends. If any stranger should now arrive from iEngland at Trooditissa he would appreciate the calm and cool asylum contrasting with the heat of ' the lower country ; but should he arrive even one :short month after our departure, I fear the picture will have changed. Throngs of mules will have defiled our clean courtyard, and will be stabled within our shady retreat beneath the walnut-tree, which will remain unswept. Thefilthy habits of the people, now restrained only by strong remonstrance, will be too apparent. The old monks, Néophitos and Woomonos,
(who are dear old people when clean) will cease to wash, and the place and people will certainly relapse into the primaeval state of dirt and holiness in which wefirst discovered it.
We leave in friendship with all, and during our sojourn at Trooditissa of more than three months, no quarrels, or even trifling disagreements, have occurred between the servants or the people. The temporary storm occasioned by the abrupt departure of Christina was quickly lulled by the arrival of the middle-agedmaid of all work of seventy-five, who has performed all her arduous duties with admirable patience. Our own servants have been most satisfactory since their first engagement upon our arrival in Cyprus in January
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