We had hardly off-saddled, when crowds of women and children collected from all quarters, with a few men, to stare at the new-comers; not at ME personally, but at my wife. They were, if possible, more filthy than the average of Cyprian women, and a great proportion of the children were marked with recent attacks of small-pox. I regretted that I had not a supply of crackers to throw amongst and disperse the crowd that daily pestered us; any lady that in future may travel through Cyprus should have a portmanteau full of such simple fireworks. It was in vain to explain that the people were a nuisance if too near: when driven to a moderate distance, they would advance shyly, by degrees; two or three children would come forward and sit down a few paces in front of the main body; after a few minutes several others would overstep this frontier and sit down five or six yards in advance of the last comers, and by this silent system of skirmishing we were always surrounded in twenty minutes after the original crowd had been dispersed. I did not mind them so long as they were not in personal contact, and were free from recent small-pox; but some of the red-pitted faces were full of warning. There was nothing of interest to detain us at Polis, and we started early upon the 19th April towards Baffo. The valley through which the river Aspropotamo had deposited a layer of fertile alluvium divided the mountain range, leaving the plutonic rocks to the east; and on the western side we ascended a steep path over cretaceous limestone, broken and disturbed at intervals by the protrusion of eruptive rocks. As we increased our altitude we looked down upon a picturesque view of the bay of Krysokhus, with two sails upon its blue waters beneath the dark cliffs of the western shore. The ancient Marium or Arsinoe showed no vestiges except in the modern village of Polis, which, from the distance, looked better than the reality, as the foliage of numerous trees shadowing the terrace-built houses upon either side the rich green valley, backed by the lofty range of pine-covered mountains, completed a lovely landscape. An hour had passed, but still we ascended; the path was as usual rugged, and we already looked down upon the sea and valley at least 2000 feet beneath. I had serious misgivings concerning the camels and their loads. General di Cesnola had examined the whole of this country in his search for antiquities, but the neighbourhood of the ancient Arsinoe, where much had been expected, was almost unproductive.