. . .
The weather was becoming warm at Limasol, the thermometer ranging from
70 degrees at 7 A.M. to 83 degrees at 3 P.M. There was a trouble in the
water-supply, as that for drinking purposes had to be conveyed by
donkeys from a distance of three or four miles. The market in the town,
although well arranged externally, was governed by peculiarly
restrictive municipal regulations; the price of meat and several other
articles being fixed at a common standard! According to this absurd rule
inferior mutton would fetch an equal price with the best quality: the
natural consequence ensued, that only inferior meat was introduced, to
the exclusion of all other. The supply of fish was extremely irregular,
and they were generally small and dear. Upon some occasions we purchased
good red mullet, also a larger fish of the bass species; but there were
only a few fishermen, who required an opposition to induce activity and
moderate prices. Their nets were made of exceedingly fine twine, and the
smallness of the mesh denoted a scarcity of the larger species of fish.
A number of Maltese settlers were arriving, to whom lands had been
granted by the government in the neighbourhood of Limasol; this
excellent arrangement will have the effect of infusing a new spirit
among the people by the introduction of fresh blood, and the well-known
fishermen of Malta will of themselves be a boon to the large towns,
where a regular demand may be depended upon at a reasonable price.
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