Of the cuckoo that I had heard in Cyprus recalled the spring
of England! It is a curious arrangement of our nervous system, that a
sound so simple in itself should invest the scene with a tenfold
pleasure, and should conjure up uncalled-for recollections of places,
friends, and a life of years long past: but so it was; and for the
moment I longed to be at home. . . .
The mules and camels were ready to start on the 10th April. I had
engaged a well-known fine-looking muleteer named Katarjii Iiani, who had
contracted, for twenty-nine shillings a day, to supply the riding mules
and baggage animals sufficient for our party from Kyrenia to any portion
of the island I might wish to visit. My plan was arranged, to include a
circuit of the north and west to Baffo; thence to Limasol; by which time
the hot weather would be drawing near, and we should seek a settlement
as near the clouds as possible upon Troodos; the snow was still deep
upon the northern summit of this mountain, which formed the prominent
object in the range.
Our new muleteer Iiani was about six feet two inches high, and not being
sufficiently tall, he added nearly three inches more by enormous heels
to a pair of well-fitting high boots; these, fastened below the knee,
just showed sufficient clean grey stocking to prove that he possessed
such hose; which are luxuries seldom indulged in by the peasantry.
