There was nothing to induce a longer stay at Limasol, and I resolved
upon Trooditissa monastery as the position for a mountain residence
during the summer months. Upon Kiepert's map, which is the best I have
seen of Cyprus, this point was placed among the angles in the various
crests and ridges of the Troodos mountain, and was marked by measurement
as 4340 feet above the sea-level. The new government road extended from
Limasol to Platraes, from which a good mule-path led to the camp
prepared for the 20th Regiment and the Royal Engineers at an altitude of
5740 feet. It appeared to me that in north latitude 35 degrees this was
an unnecessary elevation. My old residence at Newera Ellia in Ceylon was
6210 feet above the sea in north latitude 6 degrees 30', and in that low
latitude we had sharp frosts at night. Any heights approaching 6000 feet
in north latitude 35 degrees would, I imagined, become disagreeably
chilly in the morning and evening, at seasons when in the low country
the heat would still be too oppressive for a return from the mountain
sanatorium.
The mean temperature at Limasol from 1st May to 18th had been at 7 A.M.
65 degrees, at 3 P.M. 78.6 degrees, during which interval there had been
sudden variations of temperature, ranging from a minimum of 56 degrees
to 84 degrees. On the 11th May, having engaged twenty-three mules for
our tents, baggage, and party, we started from Limasol for Trooditissa.
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