On arrival at Trichomo we pitched our tent at some distance from the
dwelling in which we had fed some thousand fleas upon our former visit;
and on the following morning I determined to go straight Famagousta,
about twelve miles distant.
The route from Trichomo is for the most part along the seashore, but
occasionally cutting off the bends by a direct line. The plain is a dead
level, as it has been entirely deposited by the floods of the Pedias
river. We rode tolerably fast, the sun being hot and the country most
uninteresting; we had left the shrub-covered surface of the Carpas with
its romantic cliffs and deep valleys rich in verdure, and once more we
were upon the hateful treeless plain of Messaria. During our sojourn in
the Carpas district the rainfall by our gauge had been 1.28 inches, but
in this unattractive region there had only been one or two faint
showers, hardly sufficient to lay the dust. The crops about five inches
above the ground were almost dead, and the young wheat and barley were
completely withered.
About four or five miles from Famagousta we arrived at the ruins of
ancient Salamis. The stringent prohibition of the British authorities
against a search for antiquities in Cyprus had destroyed the interest
which would otherwise have been taken by travellers in such
explorations. As I have before remarked, there are no remains to attract
attention upon the surface, but all ancient works are buried far
beneath, therefore in the absence of permission to excavate, the
practical study of the past is impossible, and it is a sealed book.
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