View PDF version of this page

A USEFUL ECCLESIASTIC 235 emperor himself, withered up exactly like the foot of Voutoumitis. Then the emperor saw that he too had made a mistake. He hastened to do what had been asked of him. The three sufferers were cured ; the relic was brought back in triumph to Cyprus, aiid the monastery of Kykko, which exists to this day, was built to receive and guard it. Kykko itself is amongst the mountains—a two-days' journey from Nicosia ; but the monastery which I had visited belongs to the same foundation ; and the relic had been brought down to it only last summer, with extraordinary solemnity, that it might procure rain for the plains, which were suffering from a disastrous drought. The mention of monks, especially the monks of this monastery, reminds me that one morning I saw one of them on the lawn-tennis ground. What he could be doing there I at first could not conceive, and I thought of the ghost of the ' black friar' in 'Don Juan.' A second glance, however, showed me that this excellent man was really painting afresh the white lines for the game, by which he earned, I believe, about one and eightpence a day. Who shall venture to call the monastic orders useless ? In fact, in spite of its English architecture, Government House abounded in quaint sights and incidents. Chief amongst these were some I have not mentioned yet—certain formal banquets given to the prominent natives. A few English officials were

View PDF version of this page