307 
again the venerable archbishop in the gallery, who had 
made them conduct him thither to bid me a last fare* 
well. 
I cannot express how much I was affected at this 
kindness from the respectable old man. I tried to chide 
him for it, but the words died away on my lips. In 
this manner I concluded my visits of etiquette. 
The archbishop of Cyprus, an independent patriarch in 
the Greek church, is also the prince or supreme spiritu- 
al and temporal chief of the Greek nation in Cyprus. 
He is responsible to the grand seignior for the imports 
and operations of the Greeks of the island. But to 
avoid entering into the detail of criminal affairs, and to 
exonerate himself of part of the temporal government, 
he delegates powers to the dragoman of Cyprus, who, in 
virtue of this delegation, is become the first civil autho- 
rity. He holds the rank and attributes of a prince of 
the nation, because the Turkish governor can do no- 
thing against a Greek without the previous knowledge 
and intervention of the dragoman, whose office it is also 
to carry to the foot of the sultan's throne the petitions 
of the people. 
The year before the Turks had mutinied against the 
dragoman; having taken possession of Nicosio, they 
exercised many barbarities on the person of the arch- 
bishop and other Greeks. They put to death those 
who refused them money. The dragoman fled to Con- 
stantinople, where he not only gained his cause in fa- 
vour of the Greeks, but also obtained a bashaw with 
troops from Caramania to march against the rebels, who 
had entrenched themselves in Nicosia. In this situation, 
so critical for the Greeks, the steward was the guardian 
