FROM ROSETTA IN ECrYPT TO LARNECA IN CYPRUS. 19! 
ciying. A greater proof of its strength cannot be given, than 
by relating the manner in which it is kept; in casks neither 
filled nor closed. A piece of sheet lead is merely laid over 
the bung hole; and this is removed almost every day, when¬ 
ever persons visit their cellars to taste the different sorts of wine 
proposed for sale. Upon these occasions, taking the covering 
from the bunghole, they dip a hollow cane or reed into the li¬ 
quor, and, by suction drawing some of it, let it run from the 
reed into a glass. Both the commanderia and the mnscad are 
white wines. When new, they have a slight tinge of a violet 
hue; but age soon removes this, and afterward they retain the 
colour of Madeira. Cyprus produces also red wines; but these 
are little esteemed, and used only as weak liquors for the table, 
answering to the ordinary u vin du pays” of France. If the 
people of Cyprus were industrious, and capable of turning their 
vintage to the best account, the red wine of the island might 
be rendered as famous as the white; and perhaps better cal¬ 
culated for exportation. It has the flavour of .Tenedos; re¬ 
sembling that wine in colour and strength; and good Tenedos 
not only excels every other wine of Greece, but perhaps has 
no where its rival in Europe. 
This island, that had so highly excited, amply gratified our 
curiosity, by its most interesting antiquities: although there is 
nothing in its present state pleasing to the eye. Instead of a 
beautiful and fertile land, covered with groves of fruits and fine 
woods, once rendering it the paradise of the Levant, there is 
hardly upon earth a more wretched spot than it now exhibits. 
Few words may forcibly describe it: Agriculture neglected- 
inhabitants oppressed—population destroyed—pestiferous air- 
contagion—poverty—indolence—desolation. Its antiquities 
alone render it worthy of resort; and these, if any person had 
leisure and opportunity to search for them, would amply repay 
the trouble. In this pursuit, Cyprus may be considered as yet 
untrodden. A few inscribed marbles were removed from Baffa 
by Sir Sidney Smith. Of two that the author examined, one 
was an epitaph, in Greek hexameter and pentameter lines; and 
the other commemorated public benefits conferred by one of the 
Ptolemies. But the Phoenician reliques upon the island are 
most likely to obtain notice, and these have hitherto been un¬ 
regarded. The inhabitants of Larneca rarely dig near their 
town without discovering either thedraces of ancient buildings, 
