Sitting down to rest upon the solid rock upon the left of this castle
entrance, I observed that it was composed of white marble. The exterior
had a greyish coating from the action of the weather, but this could be
scraped off with a knife, which exposed the white marble beneath. I
remarked that the cement of the masonry was mixed with small fragments
of the same material, and subsequently I discovered blocks of this
substance in the immediate neighbourhood of Kyrenia.
There was a peculiarity in the walls and towers of the fortress of St.
Hilarion: the stones were of such small dimensions that few exceeded
forty or fifty pounds in weight, except those which formed the principal
halls or other buildings upon the secure plateaux within the outer
works. The masons had apparently depended upon the extreme tenacity and
hardness of their cement, which bound the mass into a solid block. Upon
a close examination I discovered the reason. As the towers and many of
the walls were built upon the extreme edge of various precipices, it
would have been impossible to have erected a scaffolding on the outside,
in the absence of which it would have been difficult to have raised
heavy weights; the builders were therefore obliged to limit the size of
stones to the power of individuals, who would be obliged to supply the
material by the simple handing of single stones as the work proceeded.
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