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had, with the forces of the Sultan of Cairo, unjustly occupied her Kingdom, which did not belong to him, and further held her husband, Louis of Savoy, besieged within the fortress of Nicosia. Many honours were paid to her by the Republic, and she visited the church of St Miniato, where the Cardinal of Lisbon, brother of her first husband, was interred." The Abbé Mecalti also in his Chronological History of Florence says that Queen Carlotta was welcomed with great honour in the house of Cosimo de' Medici, Pater Patriae. After the fall of Nicosia in 1570 the fort of Cerines surrendered without resistance to the troops of Selim. In the time of the Venetians it had a Commandant, and a Captain with 50 soldiers : now, under the Turks, it has a Disdar or Commandant, without soldiers. Among the cannon which arm it, most of which bear the arms of Venice, I was told there are some fine culverins. On the sea side there are several guns planted at the sea level. The Sultan, having a vast empire, is obliged to send Pashas to govern its various provinces, who have much the same authority as the Roman Proconsuls. But through fear that these may rebel against the Ottoman power he takes little trouble to repair the strongholds which are remote from the capital; and further, to put all idea of rising out of their heads, he keeps the forts without warlike supplies. In this very castle, where there was an ample supply of necessaries, the Disdar, who in 1765 put himself at the head of one party of the rebels, was able to hold out for several months. The intervention of a Pasha, with troops from the mainland, was -necessary to bring him to reason. The castle is now in some places out of repair ; and it is even said that the Sultan has given orders for its destruction, which have not been carried out. Close to the fort is a harbour, or rather a basin, just large enough for two or three small vessels. It is the point of embarkation for Caramania; the passage is made in seven or 52 The Town and Fortress of Cerines [CH.

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