v« 
Produce of 
tlie Island. 
CYPRUS. 17 
Indeed the fevers of Cyprus, unlike those caught chap. 
upon other shores of the Mediterranean, rarely 
intermit; they are almost always malignant". 
The strictest attention is therefore paid by 
the inhabitants to their diet. Fortunately for 
them, they have no butter on the island ; and in 
hot weather they deem it fatal to eat fat meat, or 
mdeed flesh of any kind, unless boiled to a jelly. 
They likewise carefully abstain from every sort 
of pastry ; from eggs, cream, and milk. ' The 
island produces abundance of delicious apricots, 
from standard-trees, having a much higher 
flavour than those of Rosetta, but equally dan- 
gerous to foreigners, and speedily causing fever 
if they be not sparingly used. Those of Fama- 
gosta are the most esteemed. They are sent as 
acceptable presents to Nicotia, the capital. The 
apricots of Larneca are also fine, and may be 
purchased in the market at the small price of 
three shillings the bushel. Many different 
varieties of the gourd, or pumpkin, are used in 
Cyprus, for vegetables at table. The young 
(2) " Some authors," says the Abb S Marili, vol. I. p. 6, " tell us that 
the air of this island is bad and unhealthful. This prejudice prevents 
many strangers from remaining in it long enough to make the experi- 
ment themselves. But people who have lived here a year, have been 
convinced of the wholesomeness of the air, and of the error of the Antient 
writers." With similar effrontery, Tournefort maintained, " Quoiqu'eii 
uient (lit les Anciens, la Mer JVoir n'a rien de noir." 
