HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 156

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both savage and civilised, and may be seen exhibited in Egypt, where the almost everlasting species of aloe is suspended above the doorway of a house as a talisman or safeguard to the family within : the idea thus expressed, " As the plant never dies, may your family iast for ever. " W e got rid of the old hag and her smoky offering, and she became lost in the crowd which thronged around us ; this was composed of the ugliest, dirtiest, shortest, and most repulsive lot of females that I ever saw : it was painful to look at them. There was a general complaint that the silkworms had deteriorated, and that the mulberry-trees Bad suffered from a disease which had killed great numbers. It appeared to me that the decay of the trees was a sufficient reason for the inferiority of the silkworms. This was a serious loss to the inhabitants, Bis Rizo-Carpas was celebrated both for the quality •and quantity of its silk-production. From the watershed a few hundred yards behind our camp we had a good view of the northern coast below, which extended in a series of rocky bays and prominent points to the west, while the entire country from the shore to the rising ground formed a rich picture of caroub-trees and plots of cultivation. The hills upon which we stood, about 450 feet above the sea, were the continuations of the long Carpas range, where the force of the upheaval had become expended towards the east. As we looked westward the line of hills gradually heightened, until the well-known points of the compact limestone were clearly distinguished among the rugged outlines of the greater altitudes. There was nothing of interest to induce a longer stay in Rizo-Carpas, therefore we started on the

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