The Anchorage Is Safe,
With Good Holding-Ground In Ten Fathoms.
The peculiar shaped peninsula
of Akrotiri is about seven miles wide, and the lake in its centre, when
full,
Has a width of about four miles; but during the exhaustive heat of
summer it evaporates to the dimensions of a mere pool, and leaves its
deserted bed encrusted with a deposit of salt. This lake has no
connection with the sea, and its maximum depth is under three feet; the
salt is formed upon the same principle as that of the Lake of Larnaca,
and certainly not by the percolation of sea-water through the sand, as
the Limasol lake is considerably above the sea-level. There is a
lighthouse at Cape Gatta, which can be seen at a distance of fifteen
miles, as from its elevated position the lamp is 190 feet above the sea.
From this point to Limasol the beach is low and sandy, and has always
been accepted as the most favourable point for a disembarkation of
troops. With historical facts before us there is small excuse for the
blunder committed in landing our army of occupation, during the extreme
heat of July, at Larnaca instead of Limasol. At the former port there is
not a tree to throw a shade, and the miserable aspect of the surrounding
country must have had a most depressing effect upon the nervous system
of officers and men, while at Limasol the country is agreeable and the
shady caroubs exist almost to the sea-shore, in numbers that would have
sheltered an army of three times the force represented.
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