There had been no rain since our departure, and every crop that was not irrigated was absolutely destroyed. The aspect of the country was pitiable; it should have been at this season a waving sea of green barley and young wheat, but it was a withered desert —with a few patches of verdure like oases in a thirsty wilderness. This terrible calamity extended throughout the entire district or plain of Messaria, and exhibited a sad example of the great necessity of Cyprus—"an organised system of artificial irrigation."
We remained some days at Kuklia, during which I strengthened the gipsy-van by lashing the frame-work with raw bull's-hide and securing the blocks of the springs to the axles with the same material. It is worthy of note "that a fresh hide should never be used for lashing, but a skin that has been already dried should be soaked for twenty-four hours, and then cut into a strip as carefully and as long as the size will permit. When thus prepared, it should be re-soaked for four or five hours, and used while wet as a lashing, drawn as tight as possible. The power of contraction is enormous, and when dry the skin becomes as hard as wood; but a fresh hide has not the same contractive power, and will stretch and become loose when subject to a severe strain." It was a great comfort to return to the luxury of the gipsy-van, which looked the picture of neatness; the gorgeous Egyptian lantern had ceased to exist as an object of value, as it had several times been upset and thrown completely off its hook by the jumpings and bumpings of the vehicle when forcibly dragged over the steep banks and watercourses. It was now reduced to an "antique," and looked as though it had been recovered from the ruins of an ancient temple.
The post was kindly forwarded from Famagousta by the chief commissioner, and we revelled in newspapers, which during our stay in the Carpas had been a complete blank. Our cook Christo had also received letters which disconcerted him. After dinner at about 8.30 P.M. he suddenly appeared at the tent door with a very large breakfast-cup in his hand. "I beg your pardon, sir, but I'm sorry to say my mother has just fallen down and broken her leg!" was his first announcement; and he continued, "she is an old woman, past fifty, sir, and a broken leg is a very bad thing; I have come to ask for some brandy, and I've brought a cup."
"Your mother broken her leg, Christo? Why, where is she?" I replied.
"She is at Athens, sir, and I want a drop of brandy, as I have just received the letter, and I am very anxious about her."
I now discovered that the brandy was not intended for his mother's leg, but for his own stomach, to comfort his nerves and to allay his filial anxiety. He had a good dose that quickly restored his usual spirits, as I heard him relating stories in the servants' tent which created roars of laughter.
Christo was an excellent, hard-working fellow, who having passed his life at sea, was exceedingly handy, and combined the usual good qualities of a sailor with the art of cookery and a certain knowledge which enabled him to act as interpreter. He was as clever in lashing up a van with raw hide as in preparing a dinner at the shortest notice, and his mayonnaise would have raised the envy of many a professor in England. His English varied like his dishes, and upon certain days there was a considerable vagueness in his language, while at other times he expressed himself clearly. Upon one of these foggy intervals I asked him "Why the people had made so much noise during the night?" and he replied, that "A little hen-horse had made one child in the stable!" He intended to explain that a pony had foaled in the stable. When he first joined us he frequently rambled and confused his genders, and termed all females "hens," which at times had almost as ludicrous an effect as the mistakes of my African cook, who invariably called "cocks and hens"— "bulls and women." I never had so useful a man in travelling, as he excelled at tent pitching and arranging the luggage on pack-animals, and took the lead in everything; in addition to which he showed a great interest in interpreting, which is a rare quality in a dragoman.
We selected a road upon higher ground for our return to Lefkosia, and thus avoided the watercourses which had caused so much vexation and delay upon our former journey. The first night's halt was at the long stone bridge across the Pedias river, about twenty miles from Kuklia, opposite the village of Kythrea at four miles distance—this was only constructed eight years ago, and it was already rendered impassable by the overflow of the torrent, which had carried away a considerable portion. On the following morning we arrived at the capital, and were once more hospitably received by Sir Garnet and Lady Wolseley.