clakke’s travels. 
2m 
soil every where exhibited a white marly clay, said to be ex'- • 
ceedingiy rich in its nature, although neglected. The Greeks 
are so oppressed by their Turkish masters, that they dare not 
cultivate the land: the harvest would instantly be taken from 
them if they did. Their whole aim seems to be, to scrape together 
barely sufficient, in the course of the whole year, to pay their 
tax to the governor. The omission of this is punished by tor¬ 
ture, or by death: and in cases of their inability to supply the 
impost, the inhabitants!!} 7 from the island. So many emigrations 
of this sort happen during the year, that the population of all 
Cyprus rarely exceeds sixty thousand persons; a number for¬ 
merly insufficient to have peopled one of its towns. The gover¬ 
nor resides at Kicotia. His appointment is annual; and as it 
is obtained by purchase, the highest bidder succeeds; each striv¬ 
ing, after his arrival, to surpass his predecessor in the enormity 
of his exactions. Trom this terrible oppression the consuls and 
a few other families are free, in consequence of protection grant¬ 
ed by their respective nations. Over such a barren tract of 
land, altogether desolate, and destitute even of the meanest 
herbage, our journey was neither amusing, nor profitable. It 
might have suggested reflections to a moral philosopher, thus 
viewing the horrid consequences of barbarian pow r er ; but when 
a traveller is exposed to the burning beams of an eastern sun, 
mounted on a sorry mule dislocating his very loins, fatigued, 
and breathing hot pestilential vapours, he w ill feel little disposi¬ 
tion to moralize. We rejoiced indeed, w hen, in a wide plain, 
we came in view of the little huts where we were to pass part 
of the night, previous to four more hours of similar penance. 
The venerable pair with w hom w e rested in the village of 
Atiien* were the parents of our nude drivers, and owners of 
the mules. They made us welcome to their homely supper, by 
placing two planks across a couple of benches, and setting 
thereon boiled pumpkins, eggs, and some wine of the island in 
a hollow 7 gourd. I observed upon the ground the sort of stones 
used for grinding cprr>, called querns in Scotland, common also 
in Lapland, and in ail parts of Palestine. These are the pri¬ 
maeval mills of the world; and they are still found in all com 
countries, where rude and ancient customs have not been liable 
to those changes introduced by refinement. The employment 
of grinding with these mills is confined' solely to females; and 
the practice illustrates the observation of our saviour, alluding 
.* Mariti writes the name o£ this place. Men#. SeevoL I. p. 8 Z. 
