At an elevation of about 1000 feet above the sea we came upon a park of
caroub-trees, in which was a spring of water; large flocks of goats and
cattle, together with many mules and horses, were roaming through this
verdant district, which afforded abundant pasturage in the shape of wild
artichokes, a variety of succulent thistles, and many plants suitable to
the native animals in the absence of actual grasses. This is a
distressing want throughout Cyprus; when the country is green, the
verdure is produced by cultivated crops of cereals, which quickly change
to yellow as they ripen; all the natural productions of the earth are
what in England we should term "weeds "--there is no real grass, except
in some rare localities where a species of "couch-grass" (the British
farmer's enemy) crawls along the surface, being nourished by its knotty
roots, which, penetrating into the deep soil, are enabled to escape the
burning sun.
Upon reaching the summit, about 1200 feet above the sea, we looked over
the richest landscape that I had seen in Cyprus. A succession of broad
valleys and undulating hills gradually ascended, until in the far
distance they terminated in elevated plateaux upwards of 2000 feet above
the sea. The whole of this district, as far and no doubt much farther
than the eye could reach, was richly wooded with caroub-trees and
occasional olive-groves, while the distant villages were marked by the
peculiar light-green of mulberry-clumps and other fruit-trees.
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