164 ON THE PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES OF CYPRUS. 



much esteemed in the Levant. A considerable number are yearly 

 exported to Rhodes. Asses are also exported in some numbers to Syria. 

 Oxen are employed exclusively for agricultural purposes ; they are small 

 and lean. Beef is consequently far from good in Cyprus. Cows are 

 never kept for dairy purposes, and their milk is not drunk ; the Cypriots 

 appear even to have a prejudice against it. The flocks of goats and 

 sheep in Cyprus, exclusive of lambs and kids less than one year old, 

 numbered last year 400,000. The sheep are of two kinds — the small 

 and the fat-tailed. Sheep and goat hides are largely tanned in the 

 island ; but about two or three thousand are sent to Europe, chiefly to 

 Trieste. About 16,000 lambs' skins are yearly exported to Trieste, and 

 about 5,000 kids' skins. to Marseilles. About 3,400 cwt. of wool is 

 exported annually to Marseilles and Trieste. The mutton of Cyprus is 

 not very good ; the flesh is coarse, and it has often a strong, rank taste. 

 Goat-fiesh is much eaten, and when fat and young is quite equal to the 

 mutton. A considerable quantity of cheese is made from the milk of 

 the sheep and goats : the kind called " hellumi," and that made in the 

 village of Agathou, are much esteemed and frequently exported to 

 Syria. Pigs are reared very generally by the Christian population. 

 Pork is only eaten by the better classes in winter, it being rightly con- 

 sidered unwholesome in summer ; but the poorer classes in the country 

 salt it, and eat it largely in that state. Poultry is very plentiful. 

 Turkeys are abundant, and sold at moderate prices. Ducks and geese, 

 owing to the scarcity of water, are rare. Game of various descriptions 

 abounds : partridges swarm in many parts of the island ; hares, fian- 

 colin, and the little bustard, are also common. Of birds of passage — 

 woodcock, snipe, and wild-duck are plentiful in the season. Beccaficoa 

 are abundant in October ; they are very delicious. The Cypriots pre- 

 serve them, partially boiled in Commanderia wine, for winter-eating. 

 Of larger game, the moufflon is the most remarkable ; it is found, and 

 sometimes shot, in Mount Troodos, but it is difficult of approach. In 

 the forests of Acania and Carpas, the north-western and north-eastern 

 extremities of the island, horses, asses, and cows, are said to rove at large 

 in a wild state. They are the descendants of domestic cattle which 

 existed at a time when the island was more populous. The fox is the 

 only beast of prey now found in Cyprus. Of reptiles and noxious 

 insects, the asp (said to be the Vipera Mauritianica), the scorpion, and 

 the tarantula spider, are found. The asp is much dreaded by the people 

 of the country ; it is of middling length, great thickness, of a blackish 

 hue, with a blunt tail ; its bite is fatal, death ensuing rapidly. A species 

 of large snake is very common ; but it is harmless, and said to be a 

 determined foe of the asp. Birds of prey — eagles, vultures, buzzards, 

 falcons, and hawks are very common. 



The worst enemy, however, amongst the animal creation which 

 Cyprus has to contend with, and the most injurious to its agricultural 

 prosperity, is the locust. Notices are found in writers of the fifteenth 



