In The Event Of The Euphrates Valley
Line Of Railway Becoming An Accomplished Fact, Cyprus Will Occupy The
Most Commanding Position.
But, all these advantages will be neutralised
unless Famagousta shall represent the power of England like Malta and
Gibraltar.
The more minutely that we scrutinise the question of a
Cyprian occupation, the more prominent becomes the importance of
Famagousta; with it, Cyprus is the key of a great position; without it,
the affair is a dead-lock.
There is unfortunately a serious drawback in the extreme unhealthiness
of this otherwise invaluable situation, Famagousta, which would at
present render it unfit for a military station. There are several
causes, all of which must be removed, before the necessary sanitary
change can be accomplished. The vast heaps of stones, all of which are
of an extremely porous nature, have absorbed the accumulated filth of
ages, and the large area now occupied by these ruins must be a fertile
source of noxious exhalations. During the rainy season the surface
water, carrying with it every impurity, furnishes a fresh supply of
poison to be stored beneath these health-destroying masses, which cannot
possibly be cleansed otherwise than by their complete obliteration. It
may be readily understood that the high ramparts of the walls to a
certain extent prevent a due circulation of air, which increases the
danger of miasma from the ruin-covered and reeking area of the old
Venetian city. Should the harbour works be commenced, all this now
useless and dangerous material will be available for constructing the
blocks of concrete required for the sea-wall, and the surface of the
town will be entirely freed from the present nuisance without additional
expense.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 182 of 524
Words from 49544 to 49825
of 143016
