- CYPRUS.*
• Through Conte with the Camera in the. Autumn of 1878. By John Thera/on, F.B.O.S. In -vols. Loudon: SampeoLLow and Co. IN the present conflict of opinions as to the value of Cyprus, and the policy which has annexed it, whether provisionally or permanently, to Great Britain, any reliable information as to its present state is acceptable. What may be its capabilities under good government and administration must greatly depend upon the physical conditions of soil, climate, and configuration of coast. On all these points Mr. Thomson has not only given some very useful data, from personal observation, but a series of admirable photographic views, so as to present to the eye the aspect of the towns and buildings, their inhabitants and the country, as it was at the time of our taking possession. Nothing can be better than these photographic illustra- tions, rendered permanent, we believe, by a special pro- cess in printing. We have had many reports from newspaper correspondents speaking of Cyprus as "an exhausted island,' "never free from pestilence," and of the inhabitants as "a poverty-stricken people." Nor has there been any dearth of- gloomy forebodings as to the future. Under these circumstances, an exploration with the camera, certain to give impartial viewa (of all that the eye can take in) has an advantage not easily supplied by writers only. And in this sense Mr. Thomson remarks, "Although the island has been woefully wrecked by Turkish mabadministration, my readers will perceive that it is neither 'barren' nor 'exhausted?" Time alone can show how far his hope is well founded, that at no distant day, "it may -re- gain something, at least, of its old renown as a centre of com- merce in the Levant."
At the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, after a paper had been read by Mr. Thomson on "A Journey through Cyprus," Sir Henry Rawlinson gave some very curious details referring to the past history of the island, going back to--the earliest indications of any settlement, in the pre-histmc ages. How far, by the luxuriant growth of its cereals and other products of the soil, it was ever entitled to the name it has been said to
have won, in much more recent times, of the "granary of the Levant," it may be difficult to decide, either from these tradi- tions and records, or from the wreck now left, after three hundred years of misrule. But the description given by the author of districts abounding in mulberry and olive-trees, and in cotton, from which the women were picking the ripened pods, is full of promise. And travelling on the lower slopes of the southern mountains, he speaks of orchards, which yield peaches, oranges, limes, and pomegranates, grapes, figs, walnuts, pears, and apples ; and a little further he enters a region of vineyards and pine-woods, where grapes of fine quality are sold for less than a farthing a pound; and what is difficult to obtain in more favoured lands, " a pure, strong, unadulterated grape wine," both cheap and potent, is to be had, which is un- palatable only from a custom of keeping it in pitch-coated jars,. giving it a tarry flavour. There must be some portions of the island, therefore, still in a condition to yield good returns for labour, and with a variety of produce rarely found in .so small an area. Of its former greatness and importance, we have abundant evidence. Without going so far back as Sir Henry Rawlinson would take us, when Balsam the son of Beor is assumed to refer to Cyprus, in saying, "And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afilict Asshur and shall afflict Eber,"— leaving, Sir Henry remarks, "a prophecy unfulfilled up to the present time, which foreshadows danger to the Mesopotamian valley from the Power holding the island of Cyprus," we may more confidently rely upon the rains of cities and temples dating much later than when "ten kings of Cyprus, who were tributaries to Assyria, sent artificers to assist in decorating the palaces and temples of Nineveh, in the seventh century B.C." Of Famagousta, about which we must feel much interest, if, as seems probable from some observations of Captain Evans on the same evening, speaking of his recent visit as Ilydrographer to the Ad- miralty, it may be the future port of Cyprus, Sir Henry-says, "The modern form is due to an initial diga,mma, which is commonly found in the Cypriote inscriptions, and has nothing -whatever to do with Fama Augusti, as has been sometimes supposed?' But be this as it may, Captain Evans, speaking of this port, observed, more to the purpose, that it had a very interesting bearing on the future of Cyprus, from both a military and a naval point of view. From the middle-ages it -had been the military and naval port of the island, and it was not until one had visited and realised the extent of its fortifications, the splendour of its churches, the money and labour that had been bestowed upon it, that the value attached to the city during the middle-ages could be understood. Thetown, in its palmy days, it is said, had a population of 30,000; and in 1878, when it came into our possession, it had only 500. What a commentary on the dire misrule and incapacity of the Turk for civil government, or civilisation in any of its modern forms! The present state of Cyprus, and on a still larger scale the desolation and barbarism of Asia Minor, once the seat of 2%000 flourishing towns and cities, bears out the Arab proverb which says," Where the Turk's foot treads, no grass grows." Turks only know how to destroy, and this so effectually that nothing flourishes in their track. Mr. Thomson gives telling evidence of this in his description of this same Famagousta, when he tells us that the city, overthrown by the Turks in 1571, "was so left by the invaders that its siege seems to have been an event of yesterday. It is a place of ruins, a city of the dead, in which the traveller is surprised to encounter a living tenant. It, _however, affords shelter to some 600 Turks, whose wretched abodes are found scattered among the ruins of old Gothic churches and chapels."
Of the unhealthiness of Famagousta and Cyprus generally Mi. Thomson can speak from personal experience, having had such a- sharp attack of the malarious fever, from which our troops suffered so severely, that he was on the point of quitting the island. It says much for his honesty and impartiality, that under these circumstances he should give the encouraging opinion that this fever prevails chiefly in the summer months, and only in the neighbourhood of marshes, such as are to be found not far from Famagousta. But the marshes, he adds, are well defined and of limited area, and in all probability, therefore, may be rendered innocuous by drainage and the planting of trees. As regards the port itself, the remarks made by Captain Evans, given under all reservation, obviously from his official position, were no less encouraging. Alluding to the manner in which the old port had silted up, chiefly from the debris of the city and the accumulated sewage of past ages, Captain Evans said that the port was, nevertheless, provided by nature with a breakwater, in some partially submerged reef or spit, which runs out for a, mile ; and between this and the mainland is a gully (which Mr. Thomson says is from a quarter to half a mile in breadth), with seven or eight fathoms of water, which gradually shallows up to where the ancient port was formed. Captain Evans said he doubted whether the ancient port could be pro- fitably cleared out, in consequence of the immense amount of abominable filth in it. But it would require a very small amount of stone and labour, compared with other harbour-works in this and. other countries, to make the area between the reef and the mainland, "a port that would be suitable for a small fleet of large ships."
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