The fosse
varies in depth and width, but the minimum of the former is twenty-five
feet, and of the width eighty feet, but in some places it exceeds one
hundred and forty. This formidable ditch is cut out of the solid rock,
which is the usual calcareous sedimentary limestone, and the stone thus
obtained has been used in the construction of the walls. The rock
foundation would render all mining operations extremely difficult. The
fire from the ramparts is increased by cavaliers of great size and
strength, capable of mounting numerous heavy guns at a superior
altitude. The only entrance from the land side is at the south-west
corner; this is exceedingly striking, as the fosse is about 140 feet
wide, the scarp and counter-scarp almost perpendicular, being cut from
the original rock.
A narrow stone bridge upon arches spans this peculiar ditch, the
communication depending upon a double drawbridge and portcullis.
Immediately facing the entrance outside the fortress is an old Turkish
churchyard, through and above which the closed masonry aqueduct is
conducted into the town. Following the course of the aqueduct along a
straight line of sandy heights which somewhat resemble a massive railway
embankment, we arrived at a mosque in which is the venerated tomb of the
Turkish soldier who first planted the flag upon the walls of Famagousta
when captured, in 1571, from the Venetians.
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