My Experiences of the Island of Cyprus. By B. Stewart.
(Skeffington and Son. 6s.)—Mr. Stewart visited gyprus for the first time to assist in the building of a railway. This brought him into closer contact with the natives than happens to the ordinary traveller. The second time he went to see the island, its scenery, its remains, &c. Neither visit brought him much satisfaction. The prospect, commonly, did not please, and man was unusually vile. The country is in a state of deplorable decadence, afflicted with drought to the last degree,—the rivers universally cease to flow in the summer. Even the people are improvident, turbulent, the poorest sailors in the world, and generally helpless. We are doing our best for the place and its inhabitants, though there are patriotic Englishmen—hating their friends, whatever they may feel about their enemies—who speak of it as another of our "dead failures." Why we ever went there it would not be easy to say, as far as results are concerned; but what with irrigation, the administration of justice, the keeping of the peace, we are doing some good.
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