i 7 o TRAVELS TO THE EAST. 
mountain on the ifland, was the fir ft thing I went 
to fee. 
I undertook this journey on the evening of the 
pth, having only my fcrvant and a guide with me, 
not being incumbered with armed companions, who 
are not wanted in a country in which a robbery has 
never been heard of. We rid on mules, the com- 
mon equipage of this country, where, they fay, they 
have the beft beafts of this kind to be found in the 
Levant : wherefore they are bought up for Syria, ' 
which in return fends fmall Horfes, for the few who 
have a privilege of riding them. The road to the 
mountain is broad and level ; hills of a moderate 
height, and large vales, fill the country round it. 
The mountain confifts of a rufty limeftone, fatu- 
turated with vitriol. In the vales I found alfo fome 
grey limeftone, pure and unmixed, in large quanti- 
ties, in the dried-up beds of rivulets. In many 
places the craggy mountain afforded lead and cop- 
per ore, and a quantity of fmall mountain cryftals. 
Of thefe ftones a fine fort is found towards Paphos* 
which is large and clear, of which I faw a fine duller 
at the French Conful’s. They were Ihewn fome 
years ago by a perfon at the court of the TurkilH 
Emperor, who faid they were Diamonds. This dif- 
covery was much approved of by thofe who knew nQ 
better than himfelf ; and the Grand Turk was per- 
fuaded he had within his dominions, a Diamond- 
mine. He therefore fent workmen to Cyprus, to 
fetch thefe treafures. They began to work, and the 
place was ftriclly guarded, but they left off in 3 
Ihort time. Myrtle, Pine, Oriental Ciftus Ladani- 
fera, and Arbutus Andrachne, grew altogether 
in the woods, with the Oleander, which was no w 
in bloffom. On this journey we faw feveral vil- 
lages, better built than they commonly are in the 
Levant. We went into one of them, not far ft° in 
