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Opposite the church, on the square, are three arches resting on several columns of oriental granite, with the arms of Venice in the middle. The rest of the wall is covered with the arms of Venetian and Genoese families, who had borne rule in the city. Behind the arches is another part of the square, at the end of which are the ruins of the palace of the Commandants. The church of St Cross, the Greek cathedral, was selected, as being one of the best buildings, for a mosque, and thus escaped the fate of the rest. That of St Paul was one of the finest, but though it was not profaned by the Turks it was unhappily abandoned, and is falling day by day into ruin. It was built by a certain merchant, Simone Nostrano, with a portion of the gains which he made in a single voyage to Syria. This was in the fourteenth century, in the days of Pierre I, when through its commerce the island flourished greatly. This same King Pierre came to Florence in 1368, where he was received by the Republic, Giovanni Sostegni being Gonfaloniere, with the honours due to so great a prince. The Greeks have still a church dedicated to St George : the Latin Christians have none, for Mustafa Pasha would not allow them to hold either churches or houses in the city. The body of St Epiphanios, bishop of Salamis, was buried in Famagusta, but I do not know what became of it after the sack of the city. The citadel is in good repair. Criminals are confined there from Cyprus, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, who are specially banished here, as certain great lords of Constantinople—the ditch round it, which was filled from the sea, is now mostly cnoked up. On the east of the city are the ruins of the arsenal, where galleys were built, and close to the northern wall the foundry for cannon : this is intact, and the implements used about the furnaces are still there. On the square, almost close to the demolished palace of the Governor, is the armoury which is still full of arms of the times of the 66 The City of Famagtista [CH.

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