GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES 3 



the very admirable and reliable information contained in 

 the Handbook of Cyprus, edited by Messrs. Lukach and 

 Jardine. 



I am greatly indebted to the willing assistance of Mr. 

 Procopios Symeonides, Inspector of Agriculture, whose 

 thorough acquaintance with local conditions and usages 

 has enabled him to contribute much useful and informative 

 material. I have also to offer my acknowledgments to 

 Messrs. M. G. Dervishian, C. Pelaghias, Z. Solomides, G. 

 Frangos, A. Klokaris, A. Panaretos and others who have 

 kindly supplied me with data of various kinds. 



It will scarcely be necessary to add that little more than 

 a summary of the agricultural practice and resources of the 

 Island has here been attempted, and in no sense does it 

 pretend to be anything more. The aim has been to give 

 the reader a general idea of what Cypriot agriculture is 

 and, to some extent, what it is capable of doing. 



L GENERAL 



Geographical Features 



The Island of Cyprus is situated in the innermost basin 

 of the Mediterranean Sea ; about 40 miles distant from 

 the Asia Minor coast on the north, and about 60 miles 

 from Syria on the east, and 238 miles from Port Said to the 

 south. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, 

 ranking next to Sicily and Sardinia. The larger part of 

 the Island is in the form of an irregular parallelogram, 

 100 miles long and from 30 to 60 miles broad ; while on the 

 north the eastern extremity runs out beyond this into a 

 peninsula 40 miles long by 5 to 6 miles broad. The 

 total area is 3,584 sq. miles. The main topographical 

 features are the northern and southern mountain ranges 

 running east and west and enclosing the great plain of 

 the Messaoria. The mountains of the northern range are 

 of an altitude ranging from 2,000 ft. to over 3,000 ft., the 

 highest point being Buffavento, 3,135 ft. ; those of the 

 southern range are more lofty and culminate in Mt. Olympus, 

 6,406 ft. above sea-level. The rivers are nearly all moun- 

 tain torrents, and are dry from about July to November or 

 December. 



