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ι j V Τπκ MESSARIA. 89 ) ment would persuade them to quit the comfortable vehicle, which they supposed had been specially cleared for their convenience ; the doors were accord ingly shut, and they were locked up. W e now passed ropes beneath the van, and secured the ends to the bottom of the wheels, which rested upon the ground ; the other ends were thrown over the cap-roof and manned, while the rest of the party endeavoured to raise the van bodily. All working together, we righted it immediately, the astonished dogs were liberated, and we soon replaced the contents. I sent a messenger to Arshia to purchase if possible a piece of wood sufficiently long to form a pole, and in the meantime I employed my tools and myself in splicing the broken pole sufficiently to enable us to creep a little nearer to the village, as we were far from water. It was nearly dark by the time I had completed my work, and the bullocks were once more fastened to the van. In this way we approached within a quarter of , a mile of the village and halted for the night. I made a capital pole from the stem of a young fir-tree which I procured from the natives, and lashed it securely to the rough but strong splinter-bar of dwarf-cypress. On the following morning at daybreak I made a few alterations in the work of the preceding night, and having thoroughly secured the new pole, we started for Kuklia, about thirteen miles distant. After passing a few more watercourses, we arrived at the best ground ' we had seen in Cyprus, and the vans travelled with * ease at upwards of three miles an hour. Through out this march I observed that the water in the va rious wells and open pits was hardly five feet from the surface, although the country was suffering from •an absence of rain. Notwithstanding this natural

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