It
has now entirely changed, and the bay near the shore is extremely
shallow, although good anchorage exists in the roadstead in ten to
sixteen fathoms.
The high masonry piers which had supported the arches of the ancient
aqueduct from Kythrea looked like spectres of past greatness among the
silent ruins, made doubly desolate by the miserable aspect of the
withered plain around them. A short distance from these is the church of
St. Barnabas, raised upon the site where it is believed that the body of
the Saint was discovered, together with the Gospel of St. Matthew. How
the Saint and the Gospel had been preserved in the damp soil of that
neighbourhood must be left to the imagination.
Passing through the ruins of the old town with the line of the wall
distinctly visible upon the sea front, we shortly arrived at the spot
where the river Pedias should have an exit to the sea. No sign of a
river-bed existed, but a long series of swamps, composed chiefly of
bare mud, would during wet weather have made a considerable detour
necessary; they were now dry, with the exception of two or three holes
full of muddy water, which were unconnected with any perceptible
channel. A long stone causeway proved that occasionally the hardened mud
upon which we rode would become a lake, but from the numerous tracks of
animals the earth was preferred to the uneven and slippery pavement of
the artificial road.
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