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Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 469

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F RANK LA XI). GORDON. DELAROIERE. 45ί) Separated from European Greece by a wide expanse of sea, the Cypriotes behold with a sort of indifference the commencement of the revolution, vainly flattering themselves that it would not disturb their tranquillity. But towai-ds the end of May, certain Tnrks, gratifying private malice under political pretexts, assassinated some individuals, and the principal Greek merchants then fled. This transient gloom might perhaps have passed away, had not the Porte resolved to secure its dominion of the island by introducing a body of forces from the neighbouring provinces, a resolution that ruined Cyprus, but which was notwithstanding reasonable in itself. The insurgents in their vessels hovered round its shores : the native Mohammadans were un warlike, and a plan to revolutionize it was already hatching by the Archbishop's nephews then in France. In obedience to firmans of the Saltan, the Pashas of Aleppo and St John d'Acre assembled 10,000 Syrian troops, the scum of that barbarous country, and shipped them off from Acre and jTripoli, whence their navigation was short and prosperous, the hostile cruisers having withdrawn, to cooperate in defending the Archipelago. Hardly had those vagabonds disembarked at Larnaka (in June) when they gave themselves np to every species of villainy; the remonstrances of the French consul having obliged, the Mutesellim to proride for the safety of Europeans, he ordered the Syrians to inarch to Famagosta, but this measure only tended to spread their ravages more extensively. Seduced by their example, the Militia of the Isle joined the strangers in their career of crime; the Metropolitan, five bishops, and 36 other ecclesiastics were executed. Nicosia was sacked as well as Famagosta, and the whole of Cyprus converted into a theatre of rapine and bloodshed. DELAROIERE. M. Delaroiere, a doctor and native of Hondschoote in the French province of Flandres, accompanied M, and Madame de Lamartine in the journey to the Holy Land. They visited Cyprus towards the end of August, 1882. His Voyage en Orient wan published in 8vo at Paris, 1836. See pp. 41—44. AI. de Lamartine himself, who touched the island again in April, 1633, saw only 11 la carcasse d'une de ces iles enchantées où l'antiquité avait placé la scène de ses cultes les plus poétiques." (See Voyage en Orient, ed. Hachette, 1903, pp, 1, 18,122 and ri. 141.) M. de Chateaubriand had coasted its "low, sandy, barren shores," September 28, 1806. "Il vaut mieux," he says, "pour l'ile de Chypre, s'en tenir à la poésie qu'il l'histoire." (Itinéraire de Poris à Jérusalem, ed. Lévy, 1903. ι. 284.) From Rhodes over calm seas we sailed to Cyprus. This Greek island, which yields in size to Çandia only, in fertility to none, has fallen indeed in grandeur since the days when it was itself a kingdom. We coasted down its length, and learing on onr left the ruins of Paphos and Amathus, we landed at Larnaca;, the present seat of the Government, and the residence of the foreign consuls and principal merchants. Larnaca has nothing to show of any interest, the best houses are on the quay, the rest of the town is nnworthy of notice : the chief merchants have villas in the interior which are said to be very pleasant. The only thing which we were expected to look at was a mosque abont a league and a half away, built by some Sultana or other, which is in great repute among the Moslem as a place of pilgrimage. We went out to this shrine, which is charmingly situated near a great lake and wooded hills, but the air is very unwholesome. In a, visit we paid to the Sheikh we saw the insalubrity of the place stamped on every face ; the pfrle and leaden complexions testified to habitual fevers. A slave led ns into a large square room with a view on three sides, towards the lake, the gardens, and the neighbouring hills.

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