My aneroid
showed an increased elevation of 330 feet in the eight miles from Dali
to Mattiati. After leaving the Dali plain the road passes through the
usual hills of hard chalk, but about two miles from the entrance an
important change was exhibited in the geological structure. Eruptive
rocks had burst through the chalk, producing interesting metamorphic
phenomena. The hills no longer fatigued the eye by the desolate glare,
but the earth was a rich brown diversified with patches of bright
chocolate colour.
The greenstone cropped out through the surface in large masses,
accompanied by a peculiar dun-stone precisely similar to that of Knowles
Hill in South Devon. In a cutting through a hill-side by the government
new road veins of bright yellow ochre were exposed, also red ochre in
considerable quantities. I took samples of the yellow, which appeared to
be of a good quality; but I believe the commercial value is too
insignificant to support the charges of land-transport and the
subsequent freight from Larnaca.
Mattiati is about 1300 feet above the sea-level. The troops were camped
in wooden huts on low hills about forty feet above a flat valley, where
olive-trees throve in considerable numbers. I should not have selected
Mattiati as a sanitary station; the plain showed evident signs of bad
drainage, and the rich deep soil would become a swamp after heavy rains.
Upon the low hills within a mile of the station were vast quantities of
scoriae or slag from ancient smelting-furnaces, and the remains of
broken pottery, mingled with stones that had been used in building,
proved that important mining operations had been carried on in former
ages.
From Mattiati to Lithrodondo the country is broken and little
cultivated; there was no longer a sign of cretaceous rock, but the bold
range of mountains rose before us crowned by Makheras, 4730 feet,
apparently close above us, dark in plutonic rocks and sparsely covered
with myrtles and other evergreens. As we neared the base of the
mountains, the vegetation increased, and passing the dirty village of
Lithrodondo, we entered upon a succession of hills divided by numerous
small torrent-beds, the steep banks of which were thickly fringed with
oleanders, mastic, myrtles, and other shrubs, which formed an
inspiriting change from the weary treeless country we had left behind.
Beyond Lithrodondo are extensive vineyards; but it was late, and I was
obliged to turn back towards Dali, fifteen miles distant.
Wherever I had been since my departure from Larnaca the natives had
complained of the effects of fever to which they are subjected during
the summer months; but they were unanimous in declaring that "the
general sickness of the last year was exceptional, and that the fevers
were not of a dangerous nature." It is well known that upon our first
occupation of the island in July, 1878, all troops, both English and
Indian, suffered to a degree that would have rendered them unfit for
active service.
