304 



NATURE 



[July 1 8, 1878 



' Ackerland ' takes the place of it. After the rains, but 

 only for a short time, cereals give a satin-like green to 

 the landscape ; and among them grow a profusion of 

 flowers ; but these artificial rather than natural fields fade 

 more quickly than the flowers, and scarcely last a few 

 weeks beyond the last spring rain. There is only one 

 small corner of the island where the vegetation resembles 

 ours. The great heat of the summer destroys all the 

 tender plants ; only those plants survive which through 

 their anatomical construction, or hard substance, or in 

 consequence of growing near water, can resist the efifects 

 of the heat. 



" There is great resemblance in the vegetation through- 

 out the island to the Mediterranean. In February and 

 March there is on all the river edges a profusion of lilies ; 

 in April and May on the land side is one carpet of flowers. 

 During the heat, however, the land assumes a yellow 

 tint. Pine forests abound, olives, myrtles, and laurel 

 trees. As far as the island has as yet been explored we 

 know that there are 1,000 different sorts of plants. No 

 eastern island can show such a rich forest growth as 

 Cyprus. 



" The Pintis maritima in Cyprus covers the hills and 

 mountain regions to the height of 4,000 feet as one of the 

 commonest trees. The Pinus laricio, which covers all 

 the heights to 4,000 feet above the sea, rises on the 

 western mountains of the island to 6,000 feet, and gives 

 it a dark appearance from the sea. The wild cypress 

 {^Cupresstts horizontalis) is the third tree which grows 

 •commonly in the eastern part of the island and in some 

 places forms by itself whole woods. On the whole of the 

 northern chain of mountains this wild cypress grows 

 often to the height of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the 

 sea. Great forests of wild cypresses must also have 

 covered the whole of the south of the island, as also 

 a shrub, the Juniperus phccnicea. In the north several 

 varieties of oak are found, and throughout the island the 

 arbutus abounds ; the carob-tree and olive flourish on 

 the banks of all the rivers and up to an elevation of 1,000 

 feet above the sea." 



Dr. Unger's work gives a catalogue of the fauna of the 

 island, which includes a considerable number of trouble- 

 some insects. Copper, gold, silver, and precious stones 

 were at one time found in considerable quantities, and 

 the mineral resources of the island are probably capable 

 of great development. Doubtless one of the first cares of 

 the new proprietors will be to obtain an accurate survey 

 and estimate of its resources. 



No less important than the physical are the ethnical 

 conditions of the vast region to which we have just 

 undertaken the responsibility of introducing the blessings 

 of good government. Indeed, from the administrative 

 point of view, a correct knowledge of the inhabitants of 

 any country is almost more necessary than is that of their 

 outward surroundings. Yet the most profound ignorance 

 too often prevails regarding the affinities and charac- 

 teristics of the peoples, the direction of whose destinies 

 has been either assumed or thrust upon "the Mother of 

 Empires." How few of our Indian administrators have 

 yet succeeded in grasping the difference between Aryati 

 and Dravidian, not to speak of Kolarian, and how many 

 still affect to speak collectively of all the natives as 

 " Niggers " ! If it is so with a country which has been 

 under British rule for upwards of three generations, no 

 very general or accurate knowledge can be expected of 

 the ethnography of Asiatic Turkey, with which our rela- 

 tions have hitherto been of a purely commercial character. 

 Hence no apology will be needed for here submitting a 

 few notes on the subject, for which we are indebted to 

 Mr. A. H. Keane, B.A. 



Apart from the question of the Autochthones, if any 

 still survive, three distinct stocks are at present in pos- 

 session of Turkey-in-Asia, taking the term in its widest 

 sense, so as to include parts of the Arabian peninsula, as 



well as Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Asia Minor 

 proper. These stocks or racial families are the Ural- 

 Altaic, Aryan, and Semitic, each of which, omitting such 

 minor distinctions as Juruks, Gipsies, Samaritans, Nes- 

 torians, Chaldaeans, may be said to be represented by 

 three separate offshoots, as clearly shown in the subjoined 

 scheme. Here the various nationalities are grouped in 

 the first, second, and third columns, according to their 

 ethnical, linguistic, and religious connections respectively, 

 while in the fourth an approximate estimate is given of 

 their numbers, say twenty millions altogether. 



I. (Turks 



Ural-Altaic \ Turkomans... 

 Stock. iKysyl-Bashes 



/Hellenes ... 



II. /Armenians ... 



Aryan \ 

 Stock. I 



iKurds 



III. (Arabs ... 



Semitic \ Maronites 

 Stock. (.Druses... 



Language. 



Turkish 



Tatar dialect... 

 Turkish 



Greek 



Armenian 



Kurdish ; Zaza 



Arabic 

 Arabic 

 Arabic 



Religion. 



Muhammedan 

 Muhammedan 

 Pagan 



Orthodox and 

 United Greek 



Orthodox and 

 United Ar- 

 menian 



Muhammedan 

 mainly 



Muhammedan 

 United Syrian 

 Pagan 



Popula- 

 tion. 



12,000,000 

 300,000 

 ? 



3,000,000 



1,000,000 



1,500,000 

 30,000 

 40,000 



Mention should also be made of the few Circassians 

 still surviving of those who, some years ago, fled from 

 the sword of the Russians, and of the few thousand Lazes 

 still left to Turkey by the Berlin Congress. Both belong 

 to the southern branch of the Caucasian Stock, which 

 is entirely distinct from any of the foregoing. Nor should 

 the Jews be overlooked, who, though still numerous in 

 some of the larger cities (10,000 in Jerusalem alone), 

 have almost disappeared from their original homes. 



But of the really representative peoples in these regions 

 the Turks are undoubtedly entitled in every respect to 

 our first consideration. Anatolia, that is to say, all the 

 country between the Upper Euphrates and the .^Egean 

 Sea, and from about the 36th parallel northwards to the 

 Euxine has for centuries been the true home of this race. 

 Although even here intermingled in the west with the 

 Greeks, in the east with the Armenians, Kurds, and 

 Arabs, they form, on the whole, the great bulk of the 

 population of Asia-Minor within the specified limits, 

 presenting a compact and homogeneous mass— homo- 

 genous in every sense of the word, in race, speech, and 

 religion. They are unquestionably of pure Tataric descent, 

 their Muhammedan prejudices having enabled them to 

 keep aloof from the surrounding populations ever since 

 they entered the country as conquerors in the eleventh 

 century. Hence it is that Anatolia has long been the 

 true backbone of the Turkish rule, a backbone reaching 

 even across the Bosphorus, and that in Anatolia alone is 

 it possible profitably to study the true character of the 

 Osmanlis. 



Doubtless the word "Turk" itself is now eschewed in 

 Asia-Minor, where it has become almost a term of 

 reproach corresponding to our "clod-hopper" or "yokel." 

 But this simply means that the Anatolian Turks have 

 become essentially a rough peasant people, as contrasted 

 with their more refined kinsmen of Roumelia and Con- 

 stantinople. It would be difficult to imagine a greater 

 contrast than is presented by the Asiatic and European 

 branches of this race, though it is of the last importance 

 that the difference should be thoroughly realised beforea 

 just estimate can be formed of the Turks as a factor in 

 the calculations of statesmen. They have, unfortunately, 

 been too often judged from the polished and somewhat 

 effeminate Effendis of the Capital, as many superficial 

 observers are apt to confound the gay, frivolous jeunesse 

 doree of the Paris boulevards with the plodding and really 

 I thrifty agricultural people of France. 



