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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 340

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a little rivulet; the country was covered with Cistiis and Mastic; among these we heard the frequent call of the Francoline. Having crossed the rivulet, we entered into a wild mountainous country, and stopped to dine .it a Turkish fountain, five hours from Limesol. After dinne]- we soon entered into a more cultivated district : the sides of the hills were planted with vineyards; little brooks watered the vales below, which were sown with corn, yet green. The mountains of Troados covered with the Pinus pinea stretched themselves out, and terminated the vale. I observed the Styrax tree freement in the hedges, and the Anagyris fcetida in the outskirts of the villages. At sunset we arrived at the convent of the Holy Cross : this is regarded as the second monastery in the island, and was probably moro flourishing under the pious care of Maria Theresa. It is situated in a Greek village, where we observed an appearance of greater affluence than in most of those wo had yet seen. Mountains arc indeed generally the last retreats of liberty. April 30. At seven we set off from the convent of the Holy Cross for Troados. Our l'oad led us through a steep tract of conn try, well wooded. The Pinus pinea, the Quercns ileXj aud Arbutus audraehne covered the higher part of the mountain ; in the vales below grew the plane, the Cretan Maple, the black poplar, the white willow, and the alder. After two hours of very difficult road we arrived at the convent of Troados; a Greek Papas, whom we had taken as a guide to conduct us to the snow on the summit of the mountain, brought ns to this miserable cloister. As we were now told it was impossible to reach the snow, and return, we passed our day with much disappoint nient at the convent. I picked np but few plants : Smyrniivm perfoliatum, Imperatoria ostrnthium, Alyssum campestre, Cheiranthus cyprins; and among the rocks, Euphorbia myrsinites, and Tnrritis glabra. We discovered the jay b)r hoarse screams, hopping among the branches of the Pinns pinea ; and we shot the Parus atei*, picking the buds of the fruit trees below the convent ; and the Muscicapa atricapilla busily employed in catching the flies. May 1. Having taken a goatherd for our guide,'üt seven we began our ascent from the convent. After two hours' climbing with our mules over steep .lud dangerous precipices, wo arrived at the summit, where we found a small quantity of snow lying olì the north-east side: the pine tree and the Cypress grew on the heights with the Cretan Rerbery. The mountain, composed of grünstem, with large pieces of hornblend, and but slightly covered with.cadili, disappointed my botanical expectations. A species of F innari*, an Arabie, A. purpurea, with the Crocus vermis growing near the snow, were almost all the plante I observed on the mountain. "We now descended rapidly over rocks of serpentine veined with amia nth, and in three hours arrived at the bottom. The trunks of the old pine trees were covered with the Lichen purpuraceus. We now entered the vale of Sonlea, the most beautiful we had yet seen in the island; well watered and richly cultivated. Green meadows contrasted with the corn now ripe, hamlets shaded with mulberry-trees, and healthy peasantry busily employed with their harvest, and the care of their silk-worms, enlivened tho scenery. Having travelled two hours in this delightful vale, 1 stopped at a Greek village. My guide conducted me to the house of the Papas; a bed was prepared for me in the vacant part of a chamber where silk-worms were kept. In a little morass, in passing through the vale, I had picked up Ijobelia setacea, and Pingnicnla crystallina. My draughtsman stopping to sketch these plants was the cause of my losing my companion, who slept at a neighbouring monastery. May 2. We left the village at six; the eonutry now became more barren; the hills were covered with the Cistns e reti eus, from which they collect the Ladanum. (" La dammi is extracted from a species of rock-rose, and gathered in Greece, in the islands of the Archipelago, 33(1 EXCERPTA CYPRIA.

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