We Halted For The Night At The New
Stone Bridge, Which, As Usual In Cyprus, Spanned A Channel Perfectly
Devoid Of Water.
On the following morning we marched to Lefkosia, and
passing to the left of the walled town, we reached the newly-erected
Government House, about a mile and a half distant, where we received a
kind and hospitable welcome from the High Commissioner, Sir Garnet, and
Lady Wolseley.
The position of the new Government House was well chosen. The character
of the dreary plain of Messaria is the same throughout; flat
table-topped hills of sedimentary calcareous limestone, abounding with
fossil shells, represent the ancient sea-bottom, which has been
upheaved. The surface of these table-heights is hard for a depth of
about six feet, forming an upper stratum of rock which can be used for
building; beneath this are marls and friable cretaceous stone, which
during rains are washed away. The continual process of undermining by
the decay of the lower strata has caused periodical disruption of the
hard upper stratum, which has fallen off in huge blocks and rolled down
the rough inclines that form the sides. As the water during heavy rains
percolates through the crevices of the upper stratum, it dissolves the
softer material beneath, and oozing through the steep inclination,
carries large quantities in solution to the lower level and deposits
this fertilising marl upon the plain below. In this manner the low
ground of the rich but dreary Messaria has been formed through the decay
and denudation of the higher levels, and the process will continue until
the present table-topped hills shall be entirely washed away. The stone
of the upper surface, which forms a hard crust to the friable strata
beneath, is in many places merely the roof of caverns which have been
hollowed out by the action of water as described.
The Government House was erected upon one of these flat-topped hills in
a direct line about 1900 yards from the nearest portion of Lefkosia. It
was a wooden construction forming three sides of a quadrangle. The
quarters for the military staff were wooden huts, and the line of
heights thus occupied could not fail to attract the eye of a soldier as
a splendid strategical position, completely commanding Lefkosia and the
surrounding country. From this point an admirable view was presented
upon all sides. The river Pedias (the largest in Cyprus), when it
possessed water, would flow for about 270 degrees of a circle around the
base of the position, the sides of the hill rising abruptly from the
stream. The dry shingly bed was about 120 yards in width, and although
destitute of water at this point, sufficient was obtained some miles
higher up the river to irrigate a portion of the magnificent plain which
bordered either side. Sir Garnet Wolseley was endeavouring to put a new
face on the treeless surface, and had already planted several acres of
the Eucalyptus globulus and other varieties on the lower ground, while
date-palms of full growth had been conveyed bodily to the natural
terrace around the Government House and carefully transplanted into
pits. This change was a considerable relief to the eye, and the trees,
if well supplied with water, will in a few years create a grove where
all was barrenness.
The view from each portion of the terrace is exceedingly interesting, as
it commands a panorama for a distance of nearly thirty miles. On the
north is the range of mountains, about twelve miles distant, which form
the backbone of Cyprus, and run from east to west, attaining the height
of 3400 feet. This is a peculiar geological feature in the island, as it
is the only instance of compact (or jurassic) limestone. Through my
powerful astronomical telescope I could plainly distinguish every rock,
and the Castle of Buffavento upon the summit of the perpendicular crags
afforded an interesting object, although invisible to the naked eye. The
south and east presented a miserable aspect in the brown desert-like
plain of Messaria, broken by the numerous flat-topped hills to which I
have already alluded. On the west the important mountain-range which
includes Troodos bounded the view by the snow-capped heights of the
ancient Mount Olympus, between which several chains of lower hills
formed a dark base of plutonic rocks, which contrasted with the painful
glare of the immediate foreground. The highest points of this range are
Troodos, 6590 feet, Adelphe, 5380 feet, Makhera, 4730 feet. These are
the measurements as they appear upon the maps; but the recent survey by
the Royal Engineers has reduced the height of Troodos by 250 feet. A
green patch at the foot of the Carpas range denoted the position of
Kythrea, about twelve miles distant east, watered by the extraordinary
spring which has rendered it famous both in ancient and modern times;
and almost at our feet, or a mile in a direct line, the fortified
capital, Lefkosia, presented the usual picturesque appearance of a
Turkish town. A combination of date-palms, green orange-gardens,
minarets, mosques, houses quaint in their irregularity and colouring,
and the grand old Venetian Cathedral, St. Sophia, towering above all
other buildings, were enclosed within the high masonry walls and
bastions, comprising a circuit of three statute miles.
The position of Lefkosia has been badly chosen, as it lies in the flat,
and must always have been exposed to a plunging fire from an enemy
posted upon the heights. It was fortified in the time of Constantine the
Great, but in 1570 the Venetians demolished the old works and
constructed the present elaborate fortifications. Although the walls are
in several places crumbling into ruins, they are still imposing in
appearance, and present a clean front of masonry flanked by eleven
bastions, and entered by three gates, those of Baffo, Famagousta, and
Kyrenia. The original ditch can be traced in various places, but the
counterscarp and glacis have been destroyed; therefore the soil has
washed in during the rainy seasons, and to an unpractised eye has
obliterated all traces of the former important work.
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