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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 178 View PDF version of this page CAPE ST. ANDREA. Ι 61
IVI]
erected, upon a special plan suitable to the locality, and in harmony with the military requirements of a fortified position. The value of the land thus recovered from the existing ruin would be consider[ able, and, if let on building leases, would repay the ' expense of levelling, draining, and arranging for ! occupation. In this manner one of the prime causes of the present unhealthiness would be removed ; by the same operation, the ditch of the citadel would be pumped dry, and all communication shut off from the sea, which now produces a stagnant and offensive pool,
breeding only reeds, mosquitoes, and malaria.
W e now arrive at the most formidable origin of the
Famagousta fever—the marshes caused by the overflow of the Pedias river. The description that I have already given of the delta formed by the deposit of mud during inundations, and the total absence of any exit for the waters by a natural channel, will convey to the minds of the most inexperienced an extreme cause of danger. I can see only one practicable method of surmounting this great difficulty. The Pedias river must be conducted to the sea through an artificial channel, and it must (like the Rhone) be confined between raised banks of sufficient height to prevent ι any chance of overflow, and of a width arranged to ' produce a rapid current, that will scour the bed and carry the mud to deposit far beyond the shore. This work would be expensive, but, on the other hand, the 'collateral advantages would be great. The land, which lis now almost valueless, owing to the uncertainty of I inundations, would be rendered fruitful, and by an 'arrangement of cattle-wheels the irrigation could always 'be ensured, as the water exists \vithin five feet of the [present surface. A t this moment, neither drains are
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