"Rest, Weary Pilgrim, Rest And Pray
For The Kind Soul Of Sybil Grey,
Who Built This Cross And Well."
Christian and Mahommedan, and all creeds and races, men and animals,
yield unanimously to the great want, which in a thirsty land alone will
bring the lion and the lamb to drink in the same stream.
I have myself
seen in moonlight, animals of various and conflicting natures revelling
in the rest of nature's armistice, drinking in crowds at the solitary
pool; the only source of water in the desert.
The Cypriotes in their natural love of the marvellous insist upon the
mystery attached to the Kythrea springs, but they attach no importance
to the extensive subterranean water-stores of the Messaria plain, simply
because they do not see it issue from the ground: still the fact is
there, the water in vast quantities always exists, and were it tapped at
a higher level, it would flow (as it actually does in certain places),
and exhibit the same principle upon a much larger scale than the
romantic and picturesque mountain springs of Kythrea.
As we increased our altitude the scenery improved in interest: we were
no longer in barren mounds of water-washed debris, but the rich soil
among the dark grey rocks gave birth to numerous shrubs, including the
evergreen mastic, arbutus, and the dwarf cypress. Although the route was
only marked by the continual tracks of the lime-burner's mules, our
sturdy animals mounted the steep rocky ascents with comparative ease,
and skirted the deep water-worn ravines without missing a footstep.
Heaps of rough crumbling rocks resembling cairns attracted my attention
on all sides; these were the rude lime-kilns, and at an elevation of
about a thousand feet above Kythrea we came upon the families of
lime-burners who for several generations have resided in these heights,
either in caves, or rude huts, according to the conditions of the
locality. Women and girls were hard at work with strong grubbing-axes,
digging out the roots of brushwood from among the rocks and making them
into faggots, as fuel for burning the grey limestone. The work was most
laborious, and I was struck by the great thickness of the roots of
comparatively small shrubs. Upon regarding the surface, no bushes
appeared sufficiently substantial for the use of fuel, but in fact a
they had for centuries been cut and hacked to a degree that reduced them
superficially to mere saplings, while the ancient roots had increased in
size. The great piles of limestone were only partially reduced to lime
by the rough method and the scant fuel employed, but I admired the
industry of these poor people, who were working like the Israelites for
Pharaoh, "making bricks without straw." Some of the girls were pretty,
but in figure they were mere rag-dolls in locomotion.
The lime was conveyed by donkeys to the lower country, and we presently
arrived at a snow-white heap lying in the centre of the path;--it was
explained, that, during the heavy shower of yesterday, a donkey was
carrying his usual burthen of quick-lime, when he was overtaken by the
rain, which slaked the load, and it was necessary to immediately abandon
it, to save the animal from burning.
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