Red Jasper Is Abundant In This Locality, And Is Generally Found In Small Pieces Embedded In The Marls.

I discovered a very compact specimen weighing about 200 lbs., which I left at a house in Caravastasi until I might have an opportunity of conveying it to Larnaca.

Upon crossing the mountain I arrived at a charming valley among the hills at an elevation of about 1200 feet above the sea, at the narrow entrance of which, between the sides of the gorge, was a Turkish village. I was quickly observed, and being quite alone, with the exception of my dogs, a Turkish woman, to whom I made a salaam, ran into a neighbouring house and sent her husband with a chair, that I might sit beneath an almond-tree. A few Turks gathered round me and insisted with much politeness that I should enter the house of the owner of the chair. It was a rough dwelling, but I was kindly welcomed, and cheese, bread, and curds were quickly arranged before me, together with a gourd-shell of clear cold water, from the spring which issued from the rocks in the gorge about fifty feet below the house. To the disappointment of my host I was obliged to decline all his offerings, except a draught of cold water, as I had breakfasted before leaving the camp. The Turk now showed me his gun, which he explained was of little use, as he could not afford a game licence, but he offered to show me a spot where hares were abundant. The shooting-season was long since closed, therefore partridges and francolins were sacred, but I should have had no scruples in bagging a hare for a stew. My guide conducted me over very likely ground down into ravines with bush-covered sides, then upon the hill-tops, and among patches of cultivation where the hares had played sad havoc in nibbling the wheat and barley; but we found none. My dogs hunted every bush in vain, and the burning sun had dried out every vestige of scent. I believe the hares escape the sun by taking refuge beneath the rocks, otherwise we must have moved at least one or two. My guide was much disappointed, but as game was absent he hunted for wild asparagus, which grew in considerable quantities beneath the thick clumps of bushes upon the hill-sides. By the time that we arrived in camp he had collected sufficient for a good dish. This variety is not quite so thick as good cultivated asparagus, but it is superior in flavour, although slightly bitter.

We rode to Lefka, about three miles distant. This is one of those happy lands of Cyprus which is watered with unfailing streams from the Troodos range, that have enforced prosperity. The town is important, and is situated upon the sides of the hills, which form a valley, through which, in rainy weather, a river flows; at other seasons, like all Cyprian torrents, the bed is dry.

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