It is quite possible that the tricks of acoustics may have been practised by the priests who officiated at oracular shrines, which would have awed the ignorant multitude; as in sacred groves a tree might have been made to speak by the simple contrivance of a man concealed within the hollow stem, which to outward appearance would have been considered solid. The devices of priestcraft to bring grist to their mill are not yet obsolete, as will be seen in many of the monasteries of Cyprus. All the grandeur of ancient days was now represented by the heaps of stones and the rock caverns which mark the site of Paphos. What became of Venus after her appearance upon this shore may be left to the imagination; why she is represented by the exceedingly plain women of modern Cyprus surpasses the imagination. Perhaps the immorality connected with the ancient worship of the goddess of beauty and of love invoked a curse upon the descendants in the shape of "baggy trousers, high boots, and ugliness:" to which dirt has been a painful addition. CHAPTER IX. FROM BAFFO TO LIMASOL. We left Ktima on 23rd April for Limasol. The weather was now perfect for out-door life, the thermometer 52 degrees at 7 A.M., and 70 degrees at 3 P.M. The route was agreeable, the crops were well irrigated by numerous streams led from the mountains, and the country generally was green and well wooded. After a march of fourteen miles, during which we had passed the ruins of several ancient aqueducts, we arrived at a running stream which issued from a narrow valley between cliffs and hills and emptied itself upon the sea-beach. A number of tamarisks formed a jungle near the mouth, and the banks were a bright rose-colour, owing to the full bloom of thickets of oleanders. This was a charming halting-place, and as the beach was strewn with dry timber that had been brought down from the mountains during the season when the stream was powerful, we should have a good supply of fuel in addition to fresh water. The route had been along the flat parallel with the sea from Ktima, and I noticed a wonderful change in the pace of the camels, as I had summoned Iiani when at the capital of the district before the Cadi at the Konak, and the chief commissioner had added his voice to the threat and monitions he had received concerning his future conduct regarding early starting and attention to my orders. Captain Wauchope had kindly furnished me with an excellent Turkish zaphtieh, or mounted policeman, whose red jacket and fez commanded a certain respect. This man was mounted upon a strong, well-built, and exceedingly active pony, or small horse, which led the way, as our new guide thoroughly knew the country.