Twelve years ago, the last valuable was removed by French antiquarians. This relic was one of two gigantic vases, finely shaped in solid stone, with sides almost a foot in thickness, and ornamented with four gracefully arched handles, decorated with palm branches, and adorned upon its sides by the images of four bulls. The interior of this delicately chiselled but gigantic vase, was about ten feet in diameter, and so deep that an ordinary man standing within could just have looked over its edges. At the time this spot was visited by the French travellers we speak of, one of these two precious relics stood above ground, and was quite perfect, whilst the other was partially buried in the earth. Disgraceful as it may appear, the fact is certain, that when the French officers, who were overlooking the removal of the perfect vase, found that its companion, embedded in the earth, was somewhat in their way, they at once ordered the sailors who were with them to smash it to pieces. This fact was related to me by a gentleman of high position in Limasol, who was an eye-witness of this act of wanton destruction. My zaptieh, Hussein, it afterwards appeared, had been present with his master, my friendly pacha, whilst this monster vase was being pulled down the mountain, and spoke with enthusiasm of its enormous size and beauty. He also informed me that the French frigate, “La Perdrix,” commanded by Comte de Vögue, had a small steamship to assist in conveying the valuable relic. I found pieces of a handle of the broken vase lying strewn about the mountain. For a thousand years, these giant mementos of a former age had stood upon these mountains, to record the grandeur of past ages, and would have remained untouched by the wear and tear of centuries to come, had it not been for the barbarous Vandalism of a handful of French officers. What may have been the use of these magnificent vessels, is quite uncertain; the oxen sculptured upon them would appear to give them a religious significance, and we know that similar vases stood without the Temple at Jerusalem. It is most probable they were in some manner connected with the numerous sacrifices that formed so large a part of the religious ceremonies to Venus.