Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Cyprus Under British Rule
Through all the heat Of the early summer months, the farmers are threshing their corn on the open threshing ?oors outside the villages, winnowing it in the evening breeze, and, when the Government tithe has been measured and removed, taking the remainder on donkeys or in carts to their own houses and the merchants' stores. In autumn comes the gathering of the carob bean and the Olive, and in the foothills the terraced vineyards are heavy with Clustering grapes. By mid-october, the sweltering heat of the past few months in the plains has begun to abate and the nights are cool once more, but the parched soil and scorched vegeta tion await the coming of the winter rains. Soon clouds begin to bank up, only to disappear in tantalizing fashion again and again just at the moment when they seem to be on the point of bursting and drenching the thirsty earth with longed-for rain. But at last it comes; at first running Off the baked earth in a thousand tiny rivulets till the crust is softened and the soil sucks up the moisture, and little blades of grass begin to peep out and change the face of the bare and colourless plain. Soon the fields are dotted with the figures of peasants in their loose black breeches and coloured shirts, walking behind primitive wooden ploughs drawn by a pair of somewhat attenuated oxen, or perhaps an ox and an ass yoked together. And so throughout the winter months Of December and January, amidst alternations Of refreshing rain and grey skies, and bright sunshine and blue skies, the work of ploughing and preparing the fields and Of sowing for the next harvest goes on incessantly until spring comes again with its wealth of fresh green and brilliant colour, and Nature renews herself once more.
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