Places on the
Road.

Distances in

miles.

Intermediate.

Total.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROAD.

Aradippo

3

LARNACA TO NICOSIA-continued.

Aradippo, which consists of about twenty-five houses and a church, lies a short distance to the left of the road, and is surrounded by a few small gardens. Nicosia can be reached by a road through Aradippo and Dali, but the distance is rather longer than by the main road through Athienou.

Cultivation now almost entirely ceases, and the country is generally dry and arid, but wherever there is even a trickle of water all becomes verdant; at intervals small huts are passed, and these, being built close to water, stand in fertile gardens forming oases in the miniature desert. For about six miles the road ascends, but not steeply, and passes through a hilly limestone country; then a narrow plateau is crossed, from which an extensive view over the Messaria plain is obtained, and the road descends the northern slope of the hills. The country is here much broken, and the ravines of the winter torrents are covered with shrubs. There are two roads between Aradippo and Athienou, the westerly one of the two is the best. The uncultivated ground is thickly covered with wild thyme, bushes of a furzy nature, and thistles.

Athienou ..10 13 The village of Athienou consists of a group of mud

houses and a neat Greek church. There is not much
to attract the eye, but it is considered in Cyprus a
thriving village, and is chiefly inhabited by muleteers,
who keep good mules for hire. The village stands in a
gentle depression, and round it are cornfields, some
large and rich gardens of olives and mulberries, and a
few vineyards. The water supply is plentiful, and
some of the undulating ground in the vicinity is under
tillage. The road continues through a partially culti
vated country, and the plain is varied here and there
by low table-shaped hills of sand and conglomerate. No
trees are to be seen except the olives and other fruit
trees which generally grow close to the villages or
detached houses.

Piroi is a small and unimportant village close to the
road. Here the river Idalia is crossed by a stone bridge
which was built by the Venetians. A mule track from
Larnaca, which is said to be shorter than the main
road, joins it at the bridge, having hitherto taken a direc-
tion slightly more to the eastward. The road continues
through a flat and uninteresting country and passes
Aglangia and other insignificant villages; a low ridge of
hills is crossed from which a good view of Nicosia,
about two miles distant, is obtained. The northern
part of the Messaria plain is well cultivated, and
produces the best grain crops in the island. The town
of Nicosia is described in the preceding chapter.
The whole road, though passable by carriages, is said to
be in a very bad condition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROAD.

12 12

15 27

2. FAMAGUSTA TO LARNACA.

The road leaves Famagusta by the gate at the southwestern angle of the fortifications, and takes a southerly direction to the town of Varoschia. Both Famagusta and Varoschia are described in the preceding chapter. The road then turns south-west, and passes through a flat and dreary country, which is entirely without trees, and very scantily inhabited. The western end of Lake Paralimni, which in summer is dry, is skirted, and the small village of Sotira also lies on the left-hand side of the road, which continues through a dry and arid plain, over which it is said at one time the forest of Idalium extended.

The village of Ormidia is pleasantly situated at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Larnaca; it consists of a number of scattered huts built along a range of heights overlooking the water. General di Cesnola made this place his summer residence for several years, and praises it very highly; the chief attractions are stated to be, a never failing cool breeze at night, good water, and largo shady gardens. The road turns west after passing Ormidia, and skirts the shore of the bay for some miles passing Mavrospilios and Ridgelia; the sca is bordered by low rocks which time and weather have formed into stalactitic shapes. At a ruined and dismantled fort called Yeni Kale, the coast line trends round to the southward, and the road follows the course of the bay, turning a little inland in order to avoid a piece of marshy ground where some streams run down to the sea. A great part of the country in this neighbourhood is uncultivated and covered with heath, weeds, thistles, and thorny shrubs.

Larnaca is described in the preceding chapter. This road could be made passable by carriages without any great labour, as most of the country traversed is quite flat.

Nicosia

River Pedias 11

3. NICOSIA TO CERINEA.

The road passes through the fortifications by the Cerinea gate, and takes a general northerly direction through a plain, the greater part of which is in the spring sown with grain, and yields good crops. In summer it is, however, entirely burnt up, and only thistles and thorny weeds are to be seen amongst stubble.

1 The road crosses the River Pedias about one and a half miles from the walls of Nicosia; this stream is very variable in its condition; after the rains it is so full of water that it overflows its banks, inundates the adjoining flat country, and spreads a rich alluvium over the fields, but in summer it is often either dry, or has only a mere trickle of water in its bed. For about two and a half miles more, the road continues

NICOSIA TO CERINEA-continued.

through a plain of the same nature as above described, then it commences gradually to rise, and enters a broken and rugged country, covered with low rocky hills of a brown colour; these are divided. by steep gullies, which, in the rainy season become torrents. The road is nothing more than a mere bridle-path winding amongst the out-cropping ridges of rock. This description of country continues for about four miles, and then the road dips into a narrow valley, where the green herbage indicates the presence of water, flocks of sheep and goats are to be found here, but not much of tho land is cultivated, and it is very thinly populated.

On the northern side of this valley, and near the foot of the steep slope of the chain of mountains bordering the coast, is the small village of Dikomo, pleasantly situated amongst groves of trees, and fertile fields irrigated by the springs of the valley. The road soon commences to ascend somewhat steeply to the summit of a low spur which projects from the main range, and along the ridge of which it continues for a short distance, leading straight to a gorge which intersects the mountains. The surface of the ground is chiefly rock, but in the interstices and wherever there is soil, there is a thick growth of myrtle aud evergreen shrubs, and a carpet of wild thyme, and other sweet-scented flowers; in the hollows are some young pines and olive trees. In the gorge the road improves, it is narrow but well defined, and has been built across the depressions; the surface is somewhat rough and stony, but no very great labour would be required to convert it into a practicable road for strong vehicles. The road is not quite straight, so the distance measured on the map is only approxi

mate.

The road ascends gradually to the summit of the Pass,
whence a good view is obtained over the sea to the
north of the island, and the mountains of Caramania are
seen on the horizon. The gorge is bounded by bare
As the descent commences the gorge
grey rocks.
begins to open out, and soon Cerinea may be seen far
below on the shore. The northern slope of the
mountains is very steep, and there is no regular road
down the side until near the bottom, where a narrow
belt of smooth ground slopes gently down to the water's
edge. Locust-bean trees and olives abound, much of
the land is cultivated, and villages and detached houses
are scattered here and there. This appears to be a
favoured part of the island as regards both climate and
fertility.

Cerinea is described in the preceding chapter.

Places on the
Road.

Distances in
miles.

Intermediate.

Total.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROAD.

4. NICOSIA TO FAMAGUSTA.

The city of Nicosia has been described in the preceding chapter. This road passes through the fortifications by the Famagusta gate, and takes a south-easterly direction through the Messaria plain which is here very generally cultivated and under tillage; the crops are chiefly wheat and barley. Seiff says that he noticed large flocks of sheep in several parts of the plain. The village of Aglangia is seen off the road to the righthand side; shortly a small group of houses called Paliokora is passed, and numerous sheep-folds are in this neighbourhood. Rei Kiu, an unimportant hamlet is passed, and a village called Timpu, or Tymbo, lies off the road to the right. The plain is bordered on the south by a series of low bare hills.

8 As the River Idalia is approached, the road passes through fertile gardens and plantations of trees irrigated by the river, the water supply of which is, however, very uncertain.

1

9

101

131

Soon after crossing the river the road passes through the Turkish village of Ornithi, and a mile further the small village of Aphandia is reached. Both of these are quite unimportant, the latter consists merely of a cluster of miserable clay huts. The country is here a bare plain, traces of cultivation are rarely seen, and there are no trees whatever.

Aschia is a large Greek village, after passing which the road turns slightly more towards the east, and a village called Stronghilé is shortly seen about one mile to the left of the road. The country adjoining the road here becomes more cultivated.

16 Vatili is described by Seiff as a pleasant village, of which the houses are unusually clean, and which possesses a church with a fine tower. About six miles further on the village of Contea is seen a short distance off the road on the right, it consists chiefly of detached houses surrounded by gardens and trees.

7 24

Kuklia is a small village, where the only thing worthy of notice is the beautiful country place of Signor Mantrovani; here the carefully planted gardens and orchards show what may in this place and climate bo achieved by a thorough knowledge of the art of cultivation.

After Kuklia the road passes amongst a series of sandy hillocks, which are entirely without vegetation, until it reaches the poor village of Kalopsida, situated in a small valley. In this vicinity Seiff noticed the locust traps, composed of screens and ditches, invented by M. Mattei, and which are described in Chapter VII. From Kalopsida the road traverses a low and marshy country, until the rising ground in the vicinity of Ascheritu is reached. Then again the road passes over a large expause of low marshy ground. Varoschia is a suburb of Famagusta, and both these places are described in the last Chapter.

The road enters the town by a gate at the south-west corner of the fortifications crossing the ditch by means of a drawbridge.

There appears to be no difficulty in transforming this route into a good carriage road, as it traverses almost level ground through the whole distance hitherto it has been but little used, as the traffic between Nicosia and Famagusta is very small compared to that between Nicosia and Larnaca.

5. LARNACA TO LIMASOL.

This road, on leaving Larnaca, takes for a short distance a direction nearly west; it skirts the northern extremity of the salt lakes, and then turns south-west; the cultivation is very partial, and between the plots of tilled ground, occur large wastes of heath, thistles and thorny bushes.

7 The springs of Arpera, and the aqueduct leading thence to Larnaca, have already been mentioned. The village is small and unimportant; there is a mill driven by the water. At short intervals the road now crosses mountain torrents rising in the slopes of Monte S. Croce, along the stony beds of which a considerable volume of water flows during the rainy season, but in summer they are generally dry. The names of the largest of these streams are the Tetios, the Deresi and the Pentaskhino. Near the left bank of the latter stream, and about one-and-a-half miles from the shore is the village of Mazoto, which is better built than the majority of the villages along this coast; the inhabitants are entirely Greeks; part of the country in this neighbourhood is cultivated. The road now turns more to the westward, and is parallel to the shore, and generally at a distance of about a mile from it; on the slopes of the mountains to the north are large quantities of carob and olive trees, many of which are wild, and require grafting.

5 12}

21 Maroni stands on the left bank of the stream of the same name which flows from Mount Makhera; it is an unimportant village.

10 311

The road is not passable by carriages, and there is often difficulty in crossing the streams and ravines on horseback, as there are scarcely any bridges. A great deal of the land between Maroni and Amathus is waste, the villages of Pentakomo, Moni, and others equally insignificant are passed. The spurs from Mount Makhera here extend nearly to the shore.

36 At Amathus are the ruins of an ancient town, which bears evident traces of having originally been Phonician settlement; Tacitus and other authors speak of Amathus as the oldest city in Cyprus. General di