644 



CYPRUS 



CYRENAICA 



Famagusta and Nicosia, took possession of the 

 country and ruled it for three hundred years. On 

 the 10th July 1878 Cyprus was occupied by the 

 British, under the provision of the celebrated Turk- 

 ish Convention, by the terms of which the island is 

 to be occupied by Great Britain until Batoum, Kars, 

 and Erzeroum are restored to Turkey by Russia, 

 England paying 92,440 a year to the Porte as quit 

 rent. By a subsequent arrangement this ' tribute ' 

 is paid by Cyprus to England, and England pays 

 one-half to France, or rather to the French bond- 

 holders of the 1854 Turkish Loan. The surplus 

 revenue of Cyprus did not till 1892 reach 92,000 ; 

 the deficit is made up by an annual grant by parlia- 

 ment. In 1880 the administration of Cyprus was 

 transferred from the Foreign to the Colonial Office, 

 and in 1882 a constitution, with a (partly elected) 

 council, fec., was granted to Cyprus. 



Although under the convention the English 

 maintain the Mohammedan religious tribunals, an 

 admirable judicial system has lately been introduced, 

 and English barrister- judges preside over courts 

 which are highly appreciated by the people. The 

 fiscal system, however, is well-nigh unreformed, and 

 is most unsatisfactory, as is the system of land 

 tenures. The Eastern Telegraph Company have 

 stations throughout the island, the cable connecting 

 with Alexandria and Syria. Postal communication 

 with England is slow and unsatisfactory; within 

 the island it is efficient. The police, 215 horse and 

 460 foot, under English officers, is an admirable 

 force. Half a regiment of English infantry is 

 quartered at Polymedia camp, 4 miles north of 

 Limassol. There is no artillery in the island. The 

 Cypriotes are peaceable, orderly, and easily ruled. 

 Englishmen, almost exclusively officials, are popu- 

 lar. There are three high schools, over 200 Christian 

 elementary schools, and 120 Moslem schools. 



Cyprus produces wheat, barley, cotton, silk, flax, 

 tobacco, carobs, madder, wool, gypsum, oranges, 

 pomegranates, sponges, gum-mastic, and immense 

 quantities of wine. Carobs, or locust beans, are 

 perhaps the most important export ; the annual 

 value being from 75,000 to 105,000. Next in 

 importance comes wine, of which some 3,500,000 

 gallons, worth, say, 200,000, is annually produced 

 (as well as 200,000 gallons of spirits), ami 66,000 

 exported ; next cotton, about 28,000. The export 

 of wheat varies from a value of 10,000 to over 

 30,000, though the amount grown in the country 

 is of the value of over 200,000. Barley is grown 

 in very large quantities for home consumption, 

 both as grain for horses and cattle, and as spring 

 fodder, in a green state in place of grass, of which 

 none grows in the island. The export of madder 

 lias entirely ceased since the adoption of aniline 

 dyes. Wool and silk (cocoons) are each exported 

 to the extent of about 8000 a year, but a good 

 deal of both is spun and woven in the country. 

 The total value of all exports in 1890-95 varied 

 from 470,000 to 550,000 ; but only 60,000 Avorth 

 of produce was shipped to Great Britain in conse- 

 quence of the want of good communication. 



Cyprus was once celebrated for its copper-mines, 

 which were worked by the Phoenicians and Romans ; 

 indeed the word copper is derived from the name 

 of the island. At the present day a concession 

 granted to Messrs Knowles and Foster to mine 

 copper at Limni, in the extreme west of Cyprus, is 

 being worked by a company. Gypsum or plaster 

 of Paris is manufactured at Larnaca in large 

 quantities and exported chiefly to Alexandria. 

 Bait was produced, under the Turks, to the value 

 of 40,000 a year, by evaporation at the salines, 

 near Larnaca, whence that town is sometimes called 

 Salinas. At present, owing to prohibitive duties in 

 the neighbouring countries, no salt is exported and 

 only a very small amount for island consumption 



is made by the British authorities. Cyprus imports 

 (to the value of from 240,000 to 350,000) wheat, 

 barley, olive-oil, sugar, textile fabrics, iron and cop- 

 per goods, rice, dried fish, coal, timber, cotton-yarn 

 and piece-goods, tobacco, petroleum, and goats. 



The revenue varies from 175,000 to 220,000, of 

 which about a sixth is produced by customs, and a 

 little less by excise, while of the remainder, part 

 is derived from land-tax, but by much the greater 

 portion from the tithe on produce, an oppressive, 

 antiquated, and expensive form of taxation. The 

 tithe on grapes was abolished in 1884. The expen- 

 diture in the island, curtailed from year to year since 

 the occupation, amounts now to from 105,000 to 

 120,000, leaving a considerable surplus to be sent 

 to England for the ' tribute. ' The climate of Cyprus 

 has been unduly vilified. When the English troops 

 landed in the hot autumn of 1878 they were 

 encamped in malarious situations and kept without 

 appropriate shelter, food, or occupation, and it is 

 true that most of them sickened and that many 

 died. But for people who live regular lives and 

 take reasonable precautions, the climate of Cyprus 

 is not only healthy but very pleasant. The death- 

 rate is lo\V. Ophthalmia and intermittent fever of 

 a mild type are the commonest forms of disease. 

 Throat, chest, and lung complaints are exceedingly 

 rare, but leprosy is not uncommon. The people are 

 healthy and well grown ; the men, as a rule, hand- 

 some, the women rarely so. 



The flora, and fauna are with few exceptions the 

 same as those of the neighbouring coasts of Syria 

 and Asia Minor. Among wild animals the moufflon 

 or Cyprus sheep is the most interesting, but is be- 

 coming very scarce. Mules of peculiar excellence 

 are bred in Cyprus and command large prices. 

 Goats are amongst the pests of the island. The 

 forests (for which Cyprus was once famous) have 

 well-nigh disappeared, and the climate and fertility 

 of the country have greatly suffered in consequence. 

 Nothing is being done to re-afforest the island, and 

 the flocks of goats prevent any natural growth of 

 trees on the mountains, by biting off the tops of the 

 young shoots as fast as they appear. A still greater 

 scourge has commanded the attention of the authori- 

 ties, and the locusts are now almost exterminated. 

 The work of destruction has been thoroughly as 

 well as economically performed (especially 1880-84), 

 upon a system invented by a Cyprus gentleman, 

 Mr Richard Mattei, C.M.G. 



Since the English occupation something has been 

 done for the roads (till then few and bad), and a 

 little for re-afforesting the hills and restoring the 

 timber supplies. In 1897 a railway connecting 

 Nicosia, Larnaca, and Limassol was being laid, 

 and both the English government and the local 

 administration made large grants for irrigation 

 and drainage of swamps. A company was trying 

 to revive silk-culture (once very famous, as good 

 Cyprus cocoons are the best known) and to improve 

 agriculture. 



See works on Cyprus by Cesnola ( 1877 ), J. Thomson, 

 Lang, Hepworth Dixon, Sir S. Baker, Mrs Scott Stevenson, 

 Miss Agues Smith, W. H. Mallock (1889), and Mrs Lewis 

 (1894); Macheras, Chronique de Chypre (Paris, 1891); 

 vol. iii. of Perrot and Chipiez, History of Ancient Art 

 ( trans. 1885 ) ; M. O. Richter, Kyprus, the Bible, and 

 Homer ( 1894 ) ; and pamphlets and articles in the maga- 

 zines by Professor Geddes in 1897. 



Cyrenaica, the name of the district in northern 

 Africa whose capital was Cyrene (q.v.). In its 

 widest limits it stretched from the borders of 

 Carthage to the Chersonesus Magna or northern 

 headland of the Gulf of Plata?a (Gulf of Bomba). 

 The productions of Cyrenaica mentioned by ancient 

 writers are corn, oil, wine, honey, fruits of all 

 kinds, cucumbers, truffles, cabbage ; flowers yield- 

 ing the richest perfumes ; a rare plant called 



