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.
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