Identifier: myexperiencesofc00stew (find matches)
Title: My experiences of Cyprus; being an account of the people, mediæval cities and castles, antiquities and history of the island of Cyprus: to which is added a chapter on the present economic and political problems which affect the island as a dependency of the British empire
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Stewart, Basil, 1880-
Subjects: Cyprus -- Description and travel Great Britain -- Colonies Cyprus
Publisher: London : G. Routledge New York, E.P. Dutton
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
this evaporates during the dry season andleaves behind the salt which it had taken intosolution from the soil. In support of thisopinion, I may mention that in the MessaoriaPlain a few miles outside Famagusta, wherethe soil is very low-lying and marshy, whenthe rain has evaporated after a heavy shower,the ground becomes white as if covered withhoar-frost, owing to its being heavily impreg-nated with salt. Another fact in support of the latter theoryis that the lake near Limasol also dries up insummer, leaving a coat of salt over its bed.As this lake is above the level of the sea, andis very shallow, the salt cannot be deposited bythe sea water percolating through the sand,and must therefore be inherent in the soil. This salt forms a large item in the yearlytribute paid to Turkey, of which I shall havemore to say later. At the edcje of this lake stands the Khalati-i-Sultan Tekye. (A Tckyc is a Turkishmosque to which a convent of Dervishes isattached). This shrine is a famous one in 46
Text Appearing After Image:
Larnaka. Cyprus, and all Mohammedans are supposedto visit it before leaving the island bound forMecca. There lies buried Umm Haram,daughter of Milham, a descendant of theProphet. She, accompanying her husbandon an expedition to Cyprus, fell off her mule,broke her neck, and died, and where she fell,there she was buried. This occurred in theyear a.d. 649. The Mohammedan era datesfrom A.D. 622. About I ^ miles west of Larnaka, in afield not far from the road leading to thesalt lake, lies below the ground level asepulchral chapel of Phoenician origin. Itis called by the natives the HagiaPhaneromene, and is held in great venera-tion by them, lights being continually keptburning before a primitive stone altar. Thechapel is not built by burrowing andleaving the natural rock to form the roof.This sepulchral chapel consists of a vestibuleand a covered chamber. The former is atpresent much filled up with debris andearth. 47 My Experiences of the Island of Cyprus. It is impossible to say whether

Note About Images