The Reverend Edward Daniel Clarke visited Cyprus in June 1801. His narrative of the island is extensive and detailed. He was in Cyprus looking for inscriptions and seals.
The venerable pair with whom we rested in the village of Attien were the parents of our mule-drivers, and owners of the mules. They made us welcome to their homely supper, by placing two planks across a couple of benches and setting thereon boiled pumpkins, eggs, and some wine of the island in a hollow gourd. I observed upon the ground the sort of stones used for grinding corn, called querns in Scotland, common also in Lapland, and in all parts of Palestine. These are the primaeval mills of the world; and they are still found in all corn countries, where rude and ancient customs have not been liable to those changes introduced by refinement. The employment of grinding with these mills is confined solely to females; and the practice illustrates the observation of our Saviour alluding to this custom in His prediction concerning the day of judgment: " Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
Image by Getty Images.
The 'What I saw...' series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus) and the Active Citizens Fund.
