212
 

CHAPTER IX.

Voyage through the Gulf of Satalia.^Encounter with
Seven Venetian Ships at Paphos.—Supply of
Wood and of Water taken at Limasol.—Descrip¬
tion of the Ruins there.—Plague Raging at Fama-
gosta and Nicosia.—Casola Visits the Famous
Cornaro Sugar Plantations at Episcopia in Cyprus.
—Cotton Growing.—Carob Beans.—Fresh News
of Turkish Pirates.—Alarm of the Captain and
His Efforts to Ensure the Safety of the Pilgrim
Galley.—Voyage continued to Jaffa.

On Wednesday, the 9th of July, at sunrise, we set sai]
with what little wind remained, and made good progress
in that Euxine Sea, now called the Sea of Natalia, from
a city held by the Turks, which is called Natalia.^ When
the sun was somewhat up, however, the sea so settled into
a calm that every man feared to die of heat, and this
continued until iiight; then a fair provenza arose and good
progress was made that night.

On Thursday, the 10th of July, as the provenza
continued, we sailed through that gulf, and at midday
discovered the point of the island of Cyprus (Note 72),
and came over against a fortified place called Paphos.
There, seven Venetian ships, coming from Syria loaded
with goods, had stopped, and because they had heard of
the capture made by the Turkish pirates, of whom I spoke

1. i.e., Sadalia or Jc^aZm, a city on the south coast of Asia Minor at the head of the
Gulf of Adalia. The Pilgrim who wrote the "Voyage de la Saincte Cyte de Hierusalem "
(1480), relates, p. 54, that when they were passing through this gulf, Agostino Contarini,
the Captain-owner, " nous conta que ung foys en passant par devant ledict gouffre il fut en
si grant danger et eut si grant paour que tout soubdainement sa barbe et cheveulx lui
devindrent blancs et encoires a present sont tons gris."