24 June 1582: Maistre Denis Possot, a priest of Coulommiers in Brie, speaks of the wheat fields and water springs in Cyprus:
“Monday, June 24, the feast of S. John Baptist, a fair was held at Nymesson. There came many horsemen and tilted at the ring on the seashore; they were the deftest tilters I ever saw, and had horses like the Turks, very well trained.
An Albanian gained the prize. After this they had a fencing-bout, with all kinds of sticks, for prizes, in the presence of the magnates of the town.
In this country they leave their wheat in heaps in the fields, and do not thresh it, but they make a fair place on which they arrange the sheaves, and then they have a fine harrow all set with sharp flints; on this they stand and drive about the horse, ass or mule; it cuts up the straw small, and that they give chiefly to their cattle.
Between the tasks of day and night they leave them loose in the fields. Wherever one digs in this city one finds sweet water, even on the shore, at two lance-lengths from the sea, which is a wonderful thing. The same day at evening we went on board our ship to go to Jaffa and the wind was fair.”
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