Sentiment
is measured and weighed by periods, and as grief is mitigated by time,
so also is our respect for the dead, even until we barter their ashes
for gold as an honourable transaction.
The most important object of antiquity that has been recently discovered
by excavations at Dali is the statue of Sargon, king of Assyria, 707
B.C., to whom the Cypriote kings paid tribute. This was sent to the
Berlin Museum by Mr. Hamilton Lang, and is described in his interesting
work upon Cyprus during the term of several years' consulship.
The ruins of ancient cities offer no attraction to the traveller in this
island, as nothing is to be seen upon the surface except disjointed
stones and a few fallen columns of the commonest description. The
destruction has been complete, and if we wish to make discoveries, it is
necessary to excavate to a considerable depth; but as all such
explorations are prohibited, the subject remains fruitless. General di
Cesnola, whose work upon the antiquities of Cyprus must remain
unrivalled, describes the tombs as from forty to fifty-five feet beneath
the present surface, and even those great depths had not secured them
from disturbance, as many that he opened had already been ransacked by
former explorers.
On the 7th of February the thermometer at eight A.M. was only 40
degrees. The oxen were put into their yokes, and after a discussion
concerning the best route to Lefkosia, it was agreed that Georgi should
be the responsible guide, as he was a native of the country.
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