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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 342

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May 12. We went on shore, and after waiting tliree hours at Iftinia for horses, set off at eleven on an excursion to Fontana Amorosa. Riding three hours through a fine cultivated com country we crossed a rivulet and dined under an olive tree; among the com I had observed the Bupleurum semi compositum and Ruta linifolia. After dinner our road led us over a rough steep mountain whose sides were cultivated with corn ; we then traversed a stony plain, and in three hours* time arrived at a large Greek village. We now descended towards the beach, having a view of the distant coast of Caramania, The Cistns inonspeliensis was frequent on different parts of the road : the leaves of this species are used by the Cypriots as a substitute for the mulberry leaf: we met frequently with peasants conveying home horse loads of this plant for their silk-worms. After riding for some time in the dark, we arrived at A V v.the Agha of the village, a venerable man, received us with much politeness, and having spread DÌ, ^ & ^ ^ ^ceinilkj he left us and retired to his harem. May Loi A. „ — e^. Fontana Amorosa, which our guides informed us was little more than an hour distant from i u». Wp descended towards the coast, and having turned a considerable mountain, arrived m four hon. ^ &t a gmall aprÌTlg. tllia we were informed was the famous Fontana Amorosa, which had so ë*-,„Pat]y exc,teti our curiosity. Among the stones of a ruined village we observed the Lacerta stei.- ijj0 tne game whieh Touniefort had found among the ruins of Delos; and on the sides of the mountti-.^m j gathered the Centanrea behen, and the Cynara ncaulis, and the Thapsia foeniculifolia ; and tu'"*»v)dei. the shade of some trees hanging over a rivulet the Osmnnda cypria. Our guides, who.''a* jiad contrived to mislead us, after eight hours brought us back to Poli; they now refused to sc*,^ forward for Bafo, alleging their horses were tired. The Agha of Poli was absent when we came back, and a black slavo supposing us hungry brought a bundle of beanstalks, and threw them down before ns, saying there was something to eat. As we had promised our captain to return we continued our journey with our guides. The little owl, Strix passerina, hooted mournfully among the rocks, aud at sunset we were left in an unknown and dangerous country. We arrived at a Greek village abont an hour from Poli in the dusk of the evening; and the Papas baring furnished us with a guide, we travelled all night, aud reached the shore of Bafo at daybreak. We find in Cyprus a much smaller number of quadrupeds than we shonld expect from the size of the island. The domestic animals, if we except the camel, are nearly the same as those of Crete, and the other Greek islands; and its mid quadrupeds, when compared with the neighbouring coast of Asia, are very few. It possesses neither the lynx, nor the wolf, nor the jackal, inhabitants of the opposite coast of Caramania ; and the weasel tribe is wholly wanting, of which we find some species in Crete. The wild boar inhabits Cape Gatto, and the Gazelle the higher parts of Mount Troados. Hares are scarce, and seem to confine them-selves to the mountainous tracts of the island. The hedgehog, I was also informed, was an inhabitant. The large bat was mentioned, but I only found the common species. Asses, [ heard on good authority, were found in a wild state at Carpaso, and that it was permitted to any person to hunt them ; but that when caught they were of little value, it being almost impossible, from their natural obstinacy, to domesticate thein. The naturalist, disappointed in finding so small a number of quadrupeds, is surprised on observing the great variety of birds which migrate to Cyprus at different seasons of the year. The birds of the thrush tribe, inhabitants of the northern climates, visit it only during the depth of winter. At the first appearance of spring they retire to the higher mountains of Caramauia, where, the snow preserving a constant humidity, they find food and a proper habitation. Great numbers of Grail.*© pass over in the spring from Egypt and Syria ; these EXCERPTA CYPRIA.

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