HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 119

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gave us a welcome, and immediately commenced sweeping out the floor for our accommodation ; this might have been thirty feet by eighteen in width.] After a cloud of dust had risen, and by degrees, subsided, Ave took possession ; the carts and camels arrived; beds had to be unpacked and set up, and the servants began to reflect upon the advantages of the van which saved them the present trouble.! It was already dusk, but the beds were made, and! Christo the cook (who was a capital fellow for speed! in preparing a dinner) was enveloped in savoury! steam, when the usual inmates of the hut quietly! invaded us. Cocks and hens marched in, and went! to roost upon some sticks within a corner; two or] three dogs arrived, evidently with the intention of staying through the night ; a donkey at length walked composedly through the entrance door and steered fot his accustomed corner. W e had caused serious incon-l venience to an unknown quantity of animals, all oi whom had to be turned out, except the poultry. What a good thing is dinner ! The neat tiny table was spread and the candles lighted; the dishes were simple but excellent; we were thoroughly comfortable in this rude dwelling; but—it might 1 have been fancy—I thought something tickled my legs. There was no mistake, something did actually\ not only tickle, but bite. Something? It was everything and everybody in the shape of fleas ! The hut 1 was hopping with countless swarms of these detestable vermin, from which in our impregnable van we had hitherto been' free, owing to its great heightl from the ground. Whether the unusual sweeping)' of the floor had created a temporary aberration ofu intellect or stupefaction among these crowds, I cannot

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