TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 635 



level. The climates, culture, and salubrity of the different islands were dwelt on; 

 Mytilene, from its rich gardens, good roads, and delightful air, being, with its 

 splendid and secluded harbours — the entrance to the larger one only requiring a little 

 blasting to make it easy of ingress — considered more adapted for British occupation 

 than Cyprus. Chios had also its advantages. Cyprus had a variety of climate, so 

 that the debility produced by the heats in the south could be relieved by a retreat 

 to the northern coast, which is cooled by the breezes coming from the Karamauian 

 mountains. It was our first acquisition towards the tactics of the ancient commer- 

 cial nations, both the Phoenicians and the Venetians having occupied Cyprus and 

 other Levantine islands. 



