545 
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green, fpotted with brown, very like the dog’s-tooth 
violet; (talk three inches high, eredt, round, one-flow¬ 
ered, inverted with two tubular membranous (heaths. 
Native of Lapland, Ruflia, Siberia, and Nova Scotia. 
3. Cypripedium Japonicum, or Japonefe ladies flip¬ 
per: leaves on the ftem roundifti, nearly oppofite, nerved. 
Stem round, eredl, villofe, a foot high; leaves in the 
middle of the rtem two, embracing, acute, (innate-waved, 
fmooth, a hand broad. Native of Japan, flowering in 
April and May. 
4. Cypripedium album, or white ladies-flipper : roots 
fibrous ; leaves ovate lanceolate on the ftem; petals ob- 
tufe. This fpecies derives its name from the whitenefs 
of its petals. The large nedtary is tinged with purple. 
It is the moft magnificent of the genus; whence Mr. 
Salifbury has called it JpeBabile: indeed there are few 
flowers which to fuch Angularity of ftrudlure add fuch 
elegance and beauty. It grows fpontaneoufly in various 
parts of North America, chiefly in the woods. In the 
Catalogue of the Royal Garden at Kew, it is faid to 
have been introduced there by Mr. William Young, 
about the year 1770, but it was known to Mr. Miller, 
and cultivated by him at Chelfea, long before that pe¬ 
riod ; if it be his hirfutum. 
3. Cypripedium acaule, or two-leaved ladies-flipper : 
roots fibrous; leaves oblong at the root. Has rarely 
more than two radical leaves, a very fliort flowering 
rtem compared with the others, a large nedtary in pro¬ 
portion to the fize of the plant, divided on its upper 
part, through its whole length, fo as to deftroy in a great 
degree that (hoe or flipper-like form from which this 
genus has taken its name : it flowers with us in May. 
Native of North America. 
Propagation and Culture. All thefe forts are with fome 
difficulty preferved in gardens ; they muft be planted in 
a loamy foil, and in a fituation where they may have the 
morning fun only. They muft be procured from the 
places w’here they naturally grow, for they cannot be 
propagated in gardens. The roots ftiould be feldom re¬ 
moved, for tranfplanting them prevents their flowering. 
Our Englifh fort fucceeds very w ell in a pot, fet under a 
hedge, where it has the morning fun only, and will laft 
thus many years. The roots will fpread fo as to fill the 
pot, and the plant may be propagated by parting the 
roots, but it muft be done with caution. The American 
forts require a little fhelter in fevere weather. 
The gardeners (fays Dr. Stokes) might make the bo- 
tanifts amends for rooting out thefe rare wild plants in 
their natural places of growth, and at the fame time en¬ 
rich themfelves, if they would prove by experiment 
that one at lead: of the orchis tribe may be raifed from 
feed. See Arethusa and Ophrys. 
CY'PRUS, an ifland in the Mediterranean fea, be¬ 
longing to Turkey in Afia, (ituated between the coaft 
of Syria, and that part of Turkey at prefent called Cara - 
mania. This country was formerly known by a great 
many different names. Pliny calls it Acamantis, Ccra/lis, 
AJphelia y Amathufia, Macaria, Cryptos , and Colinia. In other 
hiftorians it may be found under the denomination of 
Chetime, Erofa, Paphos , and Salamis ; and, in the poets, 
under that of Cythera. The latter made it the birth¬ 
place of Venus, and the abode of the graces. This 
ifland contained formerly nine kingdoms, tributary to 
the Ptolemies of Egypt, and foon after to the Romans. 
From the emperors of the weft, it parted to thofe of the 
eaft ; but it was taken from them by the Arabs, un¬ 
der the reign of Heraclius. Ifaac, a prince of the family 
of the Comenii, who governed it with the title of duke, 
being fired with ambition, feized on this part of the 
Byzantine empire, and eftablifhed himfelf fovereign of 
it. The weaknefs of the empire for a long time favour¬ 
ed the views of the ufurper; but, in the croifades of 
J191, Richard I. king of England, deprived him of it, 
together with his lite. Being afterwards fold by this 
monarch to the templars, difference of religion caufed 
VOL, V. No. 294. 
C Y T 
the inhabitants to take up arms againft their new fove- 
reigns; and the knights apprehending that they fhould 
not be able to keep peaceable poifertion of it, delivered 
it back to Richard, who then bellowed it on the houfe 
of Lufignan, as a compenfation for the lofs of the throne 
of Jerufalem. In 1460, Charlotte, the laft heirefs of 
this family, was expelled from it by James, her natural 
brother. She married Louis of Savoy, and, on this ac¬ 
count, the dukes of that country (till affume the title 
of king of Cyprus. After the death of James, Catha¬ 
rine Cornaro, his widow, finding herfelf without male 
children, made over this kingdom, in 1480, to the repub¬ 
lic of Venice. But they did not long enjoy their acqui- 
fition. The Turks made themfelves mafters of it in 
1570, and every thing concurred to fecure their con- 
queft. Ferdinand I. of Medicis, grand duke of Tufca- 
ny, attempted to take Cyprus, and would certainly have 
fucceeded, fay the hiftorians, had he been fupported 
with better generals. This beautiful ifland is about 
one hundred and (ixty Britilh miles in length, fixty-five to 
(e venty in breadth,andabout fix hundred in circumference, 
comprehending the gulfs. A chain of mountains, the 
liigheft of which are Olympus, St. Croix, and Buffa- 
vent, crofs and divide it from eaft to weft. There are 
few rivers or torrents here, the beds of which, even in 
winter, are not entirely dry ; and this is owing to the 
great fcarcity of rain. The heavens, as one may fay, 
are of brafs ; and hiftorians affure 11s, that, in the reign 
of Conftantine, no rain fell in this ifland for the fpace of 
thirty years. It may readily be conceived how much 
injury a drought of fo long continuance muft do to po¬ 
pulation. There were formerly a great number of ci¬ 
ties, of which nothing at prefent remains but tire names, 
and a few ruins. There are fome even, for the ancient 
fituation of which it would be in vain to fearch. Fa- 
magufta and Nicofia, where the governor relides, are the 
only places of importance, unlefs Larnic, where the Eu¬ 
ropean merchants have their fadtory, may be darted in 
the fame rank. At this place refides the Britifh conful, 
who is inverted with authority to banifti any of his coun¬ 
trymen who (hall embrace the Mahommedan religion. 
Befides thefe, Cyprus contains feven citadels, which are 
commanded by the fame number of governors. Some 
authors tell us, that the air of this ifland is bad and un¬ 
healthy. Mariti fays the contrary. The greater part 
of the inhabitants are Greeks. Befides a multitude of 
Armenians, there are a great many Maronites, whole 
religious practices and ceremonies are not much different 
from thofe of the Roman Catholics. The Turks have 
here a mulla, who is, in fome meafure, the chief 
of the law ; the Greeks, an archbilhop, and three 
bifliops ; the Arminians, a bifltop ; the Maronites, a 
high-prieft ; and the Latins, two redtors, one for the 
French, and the other for the Italians. Religious tole¬ 
ration in this ifland is extended to all nations. The 
Greek and Turkifh languages equally prevail, and from 
this mixture there refults a corruption of the two idioms. 
The Greek, however, in its words, has preferved the 
purity of the ancient dialed! ; but the pronunciation of 
it has been totally changed lince the arrival of the Ve¬ 
netians in the ifland. Commercial people generally 
fpeak the Italian language, and a few of them the 
French. The Cypriots are, in general, well made. 
They are tall, have a noble and agreeable air, and in 
their manner of living they are very fober and tempe¬ 
rate. The women have nothing very beautiful but 
their black fparkling eyes. All the Greeks are fond of 
pleafure, but the Cypriots give themfelves up to it 
withmadnefs: and the vivacity of this pallion, inftead 
of being cooled, appears to revive more and more under 
the rod of defpotilin. The people here clothe them¬ 
felves in the fame manner as the inhabitants of Conftan- 
tinople. When the Turks conquered Cyprus, they 
reckoned in it, befides women, children, and old people, 
70,000 men fubject to capitation. The population of 
6 Z Cyprus 
