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CHAPTER XXV. ACCOUNT OF THE PLAGUE OF A.D. 1760 IN THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS. THE contentment inspired by my short and prosperous voyage from Leghorn to Cyprus was turned to bitterness on the very day of .my arrival, February 3, 1760, on hearing the disagreeable news that the island was attacked by the plague. The Salines and Larnaca were still free but in great alarm, for in Nicosia the mortality increased every day, and the spread of the disease throughout the island, and first of all in the seaports, as most thickly populated, seemed inevitable. Every consul, merchant and other Europeans were careful with whom they associated. Some had cut themselves off from all persons whatever : some were preparing to shut themselves up in their houses, before the plague spread further, and so to accustom themselves to a voluntary prison until God were pleased to take the curse off the land. I was far more timorous when I saw the scourge so near me, than when I watched its ravages from afar. However the next day I was bound to land, and was warned by a European gentleman to be very careful not to touch any person, nor any thing which was susceptible of the infection, although he assured me that neither in the town of Salines, nor in Larnaca, was there any case of plague, but that the frequent communication with Nicosia made everyone anxious. As I set out, as in duty bound, for the consul's house,

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