The
bottoms of the numerous valleys were dark with well-irrigated crops of
cereals, and contrasted strongly with those of the higher ground, which
had depended solely upon the uncertain rainfall.
There were beautiful sites for country residences throughout this scene,
and it appeared strange that no house was visible except the ordinary
mud-built dwellings in the native villages. The route over this country
was abominable, as it was a succession of the steepest ups-and-downs
into valleys many hundred feet in depth, which necessitated a scramble
up a rocky zigzag for a similar height above, to be repeated after we
had crossed each shoulder that formed a spur from the distant mountains,
the drainage being at right angles to our path. Every plateau exhibited
the same lovely view of the sea, cliffs of snow-white cretaceous rock,
green hills, and deep vales, through which a stream of water had given
birth to a thick growth of foliage. After a march of fourteen miles we
halted in a deep dell beneath shady caroubs, a few yards from a brook of
clear water which irrigated some of the richest crops I had seen in
Cyprus. When the camels arrived Merry was very bad, and his skin beneath
the hair had turned black; he lapped water with difficulty, as his
tongue and mouth were swollen to a great size and were also black. As
the dog could not eat I poured a quantity of olive-oil down his throat.
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