View PDF version of this page

XVIII.] T HE C LIMATE. 429 ague from malaria, are the usual types ; outbreaks of small-pox have been reduced by general vaccination. The improvement in sanitary regulations will no doubt diminish the occurrence of typhoid fevers, which even now are rare considering the filth of the villages and the generally dirty habits of.the population. Hydrophobia among dogs is very rare, and distemper among puppies is unknown. Pigs are the general scavengers in the Cypriote villages, and the flesh of these filthy feeders is much esteemed by the Christian inhabitants during the winter months. In the monasteries, which, from their great altitude among the mountains, are occasionally snowed up and excluded from communication, a winter supply of stores is laid up during the autumn. The pigs and the fattest goats [are killed, and salted in a most peculiar manner. Without removing a bone, the animal is split from .the neck along the abdomen throughout, and it is laid completely open like a smoked haddock. Every joint is most carefully dislocated, even to the shoulderblade bones, and remains in its place. The flesh is neatly detached from every bone, and in this form the carcase is salted, and stretched out in the sun to dry. When prepared it resembles a shield, as it remains perfectly flat, the back presenting a smooth surface, while the inside represents a beautiful specimen of comparative anatomy, every joint dislocated, but secured by the original integument to the socket, and every bone cleanly detached, but undisturbed from its original position. The dried body looks like a surgical preparation carefully arranged for an explanatory lecture. The common and low quality of food of the lowc r classes, and especially of the agricultural population,

View PDF version of this page