C61 



cuzco. 



CYPRUS. 



632 



harbour waiting for favourable winds. In winter, when the Elbe is 

 frozen over, the Hamburg steamers ply from Cuxhaven. 



CUZCO, a town in South America, in the republic of Peril, in 

 13 81' S. lat., 72 4' \V. long., and at a distance of about 300 miles 

 due E. from Pisco Bay, in the Pacific, has above 40,000 inhabitants. 

 Before the arrival of the Spaniards it was the capital of the extensive 

 empire of the Incas, and is said to have been built by the founder of 

 the empire, Manco Capac, in the 10th or llth century. In the year 

 1534, when it was taken by Pizarro, the Spaniards were astonished at 

 the magnificent buildings which it contained, especially the Temple 

 of the Sun. Of this temple there remain at present only some walls 

 of singular construction, upon which stands the magnificent Dominican 

 convent. The town is built at a height of above 11,000 feet above 

 the sea, and at the foot of some hills in the middle of a wide valley, 

 which has an undulating surface. This valley extends eastward to 

 a mountain stream, the Quillabamba ; in the lower part it is well 

 cultivated, the fields having the advantage of irrigation. The houses 

 of Cuzco are built of stone, covered with red tiles. Many of them 

 still retain their original walls. The great size of the stones used in 

 their construction, the variety of their shapes, and the excellent 

 workmanship which they display, give to the city an interesting air 

 of antiquity. The cathedral, the convents of St. Augustin and of 

 ced, are very large buildings, inferior in architecture to few 

 in the Old World. Upon a lofty hill, a little north of the city, are the 

 ruins of a great fortress, many parts of the wall of which are in 

 perfect preservation. They consist of stones of extraordinary size 

 and of polygons.! shape, placed one upon another without cement, 

 but fitted with such nicety as not to admit the insertion of a knife 

 between them. This stupendous work was erected by the Incas for the 

 protection of their capital. A great part of the population is composed 

 of Indians, who are distinguished by their industry ; they manufacture 

 cotton and woollen goods and leather. Their embroideries and 

 carved furniture are much valued. The town has a university, two 

 colleges, a mint, and several hospitals. The great high road of the 

 Incas extended from this town northward as far as Quito, and south- 

 ward probably to the southern extremity of the valley of the 

 Desaguadero to the neighbourhood of Oruro, or from the equator to 

 20 S. lat. (Ulloa ; Memoirs of General Miller.) 



CYCLADES. [ARCHIPELAGO.] 



CYDNUS, RIVER. [ANATOLIA.] 



CYPRUS, called by the Turks Kibris, an Island in the Mediterra- 

 nean, lying near the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor. The principal 

 part of the island, in shape an irregular parallelogram, is about 110 

 miles long from east to west, between Cape della Orega (the ancient 

 Pedalium) and St. Pifano, or Hagios Epiphanies (the ancient Cape 

 Akamas). The breadth of this part of the island varies from 30 to 50 

 miles, its most southern point being Cape delle Gatte (the ancient 

 Curias), and its most northern point Cape Kormachiti (the ancient 

 Crommyon), which is 45 miles distant from Cape Anemur in Cilicia. 

 The rest of the island forms a horn-like projection, extending for 

 about 20 miles in length with a breadth of from 2 to 5 miles, 

 terminating in Cape Andrea (the ancient Dinaretum), off which lie 

 two small islets called Kleides, or ' the keys of Cyprus.' This part of 

 the island, which is rugged, mountainous, and rocky, takes a north- 

 eastern direction, and lies nearly in a line with Cape Khanzir, the 

 most southern point of the Amanus Mountains on the coast of Syria. 

 The distance from Cape Andrea to Cape Khanzir is about 75 miles ; 

 but the nearest part of the Syrian coast, in the neighbourhood of 

 Latakieh, is only about 60 miles distant from Cape Andrea. The 

 island is about 230 miles north from the Damietta mouth of the Nile. 

 A range of mountains runs through the island in the direction of its 

 length, keeping closer to the north than to the south coast. These 

 mountains, called Olympus by the ancients, now Stavro-Vuno and 

 Santa-Croce, are according to some more than 7000 feet, to others 

 more than 10,000 feet above the sea. On Mount Santa-Croce, 18 miles 

 north of Larnaka, is a church said to have been founded by Helena, 

 the mother of Constantino : another summit, 5 miles from Zerini, 

 or Ohirneh, near the north coast, has a monastery and an old castle 

 npon it, from which there is a splendid view. The northern slope of 

 these mountains is bold and rugged : the southern side is still more 

 so, presenting a deeply-serrated outline with thickly-wooded steeps, 

 diversified by precipitous masses of limestone and deep picturesque 

 valleys, in which grow the narcissus, the anemone, and the ranunculus. 

 The most extensive plain, called Messarea, is in the south-east part of 

 the island, and is watered by the river Pedueus, .which is however 

 nearly dry in summer, like all the other rivers of the island. Another 

 level tract, watered by the Tretus, lay to the south of the former, near 

 the ancient city of Citium. 



Strabo (Casaub., 682, &c.) gives the following enumeration of the 

 towns of Cypru in his time. On the north coast, east of Cape Aca- 

 mas, were Arninoc, Soli, with a harbour founded by Phalerus and 

 Acamas of Athens ; Limenia, inland ; then east of Cape Crommyon, 

 Lapathus, built by the Lacedemonians ; next Agidus, Aphrodisium, 

 and Carnasia ; eant of the last was a mountain and cape called Olym- 

 pus, with a temple of Venus upon it, which women were forbidden to 

 enter. Turning thence towards the south was Salamis, at the mouth 

 of the Pedijcus, one of the principal cities of the island, said to have 

 been built by Teucer, an emigrant from the island of Salamis. Near 



the mouth of the Pediseus was Ammochostos, the name of which 

 remains in the corrupt form of Famagosta, Proceeding southward 

 was another Arsiuoc, with a port ; next came Leucolla, near Cape 

 Pedalium, a lofty table-land, called the ' Table of Venus.' West of 

 Pedalium was Citium, with a harbour that could be closed. Citium 

 was a large town, and the birthplace of Zeno the Stoic. West of 

 Citium was Amathus. Inland was Palsea, and another mountain 

 called Olympus. Sailing round Cape Curias to the west was the town 

 of Curium, with a port, built by the Argivi. Here the coast turns to 

 the north-west, looking towards Rhodes, and had the towns of Treta, 

 Boosoura, and Old Paphos (Palsepaphos) ; then Cape Zephyrium ; and 

 next to it another Arsinoe, with a port, temple, and sacred grove ; 

 and New Paphos, built by Agapenor, 60 stadia by laud from Old 

 Paphos. [BAFFO.] The north-eastern part of the island was called 

 the Akte of the Greeks, from the tradition that Teucer landed upon 

 it with his colonists. [ACTIUM, vol. i. col. 59.] 



Most of the above towns, and others which Strabo has left out, 

 have long since disappeared. The present towns of Cyprus are the 

 following : Lefkosia, vulgarly called Nikosia, the capital of the island, 

 and the residence of the Turkish governor, which is near the site of 

 the ancient Letra, or Leucotra. Its population is not more than 

 16,000. The town stands in the centre of the island, in a plain sur- 

 rounded by mountains. Lefkosia was the residence of the kings of 

 Cyprus of the Lusignan dynasty, and was then much larger than at 

 present: the Venetians destroyed part of it in order to strengthen 

 the remainder. It is now three miles in circumference. The church 

 of St. Sophia, a fine gothic building, is converted into a mosque : the 

 monuments of the Lusignans in it are sadly mutilated. There are 

 also a fine bazaar, a khan for travellers, several Greek churches and 

 convents, a Roman Catholic church, and the palace of the governor, 

 on the portal of which is still seen the Venetian lion in stone. The 

 bastioned walls erected by the Venetians still stand. The streets are 

 narrow and dirty, and many of the fine old mansions are crumbling 

 to decay. Carpets, cotton prints, and morocco leather are the chief 

 industrial products ; there is some trade in raw cotton and wine. The 

 Greek archbishop of Lefkosia is metropolitan of the whole island. 

 Famagosta, on the east coast, a few miles south of old Salamis, and 

 not far from the site of the ancient Tamassus, once famous for its 

 copper mines, is a town once strongly fortified by the Venetians, but 

 now much depopulated and decayed. The Venetian palace and most 

 of the churches are now in ruins, and the fortifications are now insig- 

 nificant. Larnaka, or Larnika, near the site of old-Citium, near the 

 south coast, and 24 miles S. from Lefkosia, is a thriving place, being 

 the residence of the European consuls and factors, and the seat of the 

 chief trade. The port of Larnaka is at Salines, about a mile and a 

 half from it. A Greek bishop resides at Larnaka, and there are also 

 some Catholic churches in the towu. The houses are built chiefly of 

 clay, and only one story high above the ground-floor, on account of 

 the earthquakes to which the island is subject. The interior of the 

 houses however is comfortable, the apartments are paved with white 

 marble, and almost every house has a garden, of which the Cypriotes 

 are very fond. The principal exports consist of cotton, wine, the best 

 of which is produced near Limasol, salt, corn, opium, turpentine, silk, 

 and fruit : poptilation about 3000. Liwiisso, or Limasol, near the 

 ancient Amathus, 42 miles S. W. from Larnaka, has a good harbour, but 

 the town is a heap of ruins : in the country hereabouts the vine and 

 other fruit-trees flourish ; carob-trees are especially abundant. Baffo, 

 or New Paphos, has been already noticed. [BAFFO.] On the north 

 coast is Zerini, or Qhirneh, the ancient Cerinia, with a fort and a 

 small harbour, from which there is some traffic with the opposite 

 coast of Caramania. Besides these, there are a few Greek villages and 

 several monasteries scattered about the island. 



The soil of Cyprus is naturally fertile ; foitnerly under the Venetians 

 it maintained a population of nearly 1,000,000 ; but the number of 

 inhabitants in 1850 was only 140,000, about 100,000 of whom 

 are Greeks, and 30,000 Turks, and the remainder Catholics and 

 Maronites. From neglect and oppression, the inhabitants are 

 in a state of the greatest misery. Many districts of the island 

 are uninhabited and of course uncultivated wastes or clothed 

 with heath, thyme, and other aromatic plants. Cotton of the 

 finest quality, excellent wine, and all kinds of fruit are produced ; 

 but agriculture is in a most backward state. The average annual 

 yield of corn is about 112,000 quarters. Besides the productions 

 just named, madder, opium, colocynth, oranges, lemons, pome- 

 granates, hemp, tobacco, &c., are grown. The carob-tree (Ceratonia 

 SiKqua) abounds in some districts ; its succulent pods are exported 

 to Egypt and Syria, wKile the pulp, which is called St. John's Bread, 

 and resembles manna, is used as an article of food. Other products 

 are olive-oil, pitch, wool, cheese, raisins, and silk. On the mountains 

 are forests of fine timber. One of the most important plants of the 

 island in respect to its economical uses is the ferula Grteca (the ancient 

 mpe-nt, and still called Nartheka) : of the stalks the Cypriot forms a 

 great part of his household furniture ; and the pith is used instead of 

 tinder for conveying fire from one place to another, as taught by 

 Prometheus of old. (^Eschylus, ' Prom.,' 109-111.) Sheep and cattle 

 thrive. In ancient times Cyprus was famous for its valuable copper 

 mines as well as for gold, silver, and precious stones, including the 

 diamond, emerald, jasper, opal, and agate. Copper, asbestos, talc, 



