A Great Portion Of This Area Was Uncultivated, As The
Sedimentary Limestone Was Generally Close To The Surface; This Was
Covered with the usual prickly shrubs that some writers have misnamed
"heath," together with the highly aromatic herbs that seem
To delight in
a thirsty soil; among these is a thorny species of wild thyme, that is a
favourite food for hares. In some places the soil was red, forming a
strong contrast to the white surface around, and in such spots the earth
had been already ploughed in preparation for the forthcoming season. The
large area at a higher altitude formed an example of a principle that
may be accepted as the rule throughout the island. In walking over this
extensive surface, there was occasionally a hollow, drum-like sound
beneath the feet, denoting subterranean cavities in the porous and
soluble strata beneath the harder upper stratum. It was a natural
consequence that a substratum impervious to water should form a bed at a
certain level to retain the drainage: by tapping this bed at any point,
the water would be discovered; but by piercing the surface below this
level, the hydraulic pressure would force the water into a running
stream.
This M. Mattei has accomplished, not as a new invention, but as the
application of a rule well known to the Cypriotes from ancient times;
and I repeat my argument, that, "the hereditary ability of these people
in discovering and utilising springs is a proof that a scarcity of water
has been a chronic difficulty in this island from remote periods, and
that no important change has been occasioned by the sensational
destruction of forests influencing the rainfall," &c., &c., &c. In my
opinion, the whole of the now desolate Messaria district may be rendered
fruitful and permanently abundant by the scientific employment of a
water-power which already exists, although unseen and undeveloped.
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