This hall is 102 feet long and 33 feet wide, with a height of upwards of 30 feet. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the view from the windows of this grand entrance, and in the deep recesses we found Sir Garnet and Lady Wolseley enjoying the scene, while our host, Major McCalmont, welcomed his guests in this splendid vestige of the Knights Templars. The abbey, which belonged to the Latin Church, was built during the Lusignan dynasty by Hugh III. in about 1280 A.D. and was destroyed by the Turks. The castle of Buffavento, upon the summit of the mountain, 3240 feet above the sea, is of far more ancient date, and is interesting from the fact of its having during the conquest by Richard Coeur de Lion succumbed to the assault conducted in person by that king. The castle of Kyrenia had already fallen, and the wife, daughter, and treasures of Isaac Comnenus fell into the hands of the victorious English, led by the gallant Guy de Lusignan in the absence of Richard I., who was at that time incapacitated through illness, which detained him at Lefkosia. This fortification was probably the original defence of the town, and could have had no relation to the present work, which is of a far later date, and was constructed specially for an armament of heavy guns. Captain Savile (101st Royal Irish), in his admirable compilation from all the principal works that have been written upon Cyprus, states:-- "Richard was now able to turn his thoughts to his neglected crusade; he returned to Limasol, and sent Isaac's daughter, with his own wife and sister, on before him to St. Jean d'Acre. On 5th June, 1191, Richard himself sailed from Cyprus, leaving the island in charge of Richard de Canville and Robert de Turnham, with injunctions to keep the army in Syria well provided with provisions. "Isaac was placed in silver fetters and taken with King Richard to Syria, where he was handed over to the Hospitallers, since Knights of Rhodes, for safe custody, and was by them confined in the Castle of Margat, near Tripoli, where he died shortly afterwards. "Several insurrections subsequently occurred in Cyprus, but were all suppressed by the decisive and prompt action of Robert de Turnham. "The Templars now entered into negotiations with King Richard for the purchase of Cyprus, and they eventually obtained it from him for the sum of 100,000 Saracenic golden besants; it was further arranged that 40,000 golden besants should be paid at once, and the remainder as soon as it could be derived from the revenues of the island." According to a high authority, De Mas Latrie (see L'Histoire de l'Ile de Chypre, vol. ii. p. 7), the above sum would now represent about 304,000 pounds sterling.