570 
Mr. J. A. Bucknill on the 
extensive and constitutes the main watershed o£ the island, 
is, on the whole, well wooded with Pinus pinaster , Pinus 
laricio, Juniper us fcetidissima, Quercus alnifolia , Arbutus 
andrachne, and other trees, and rises to a height of no less 
than 6406 feet above sea-level. The northern range, although 
extending in all a distance of some hundred miles (the 
eastern forty-five of which constitute a thin promontory), is 
narrow, reaches only 3135 feet at its highest point, is not so 
well stocked with trees, and is generally of less importance. 
The southern mountains are known as the Troodos and 
the northern as the Kvrenia, though the long eastern horn of 
the latter is termed ee the Karpas.^ The plain, which is 
called the Mesaoria, extends right across the island, and is 
some sixty miles long and from ten to twenty broad. 
Of the whole area of the island about seven hundred 
square miles are forest lands (a good deal, however, of which 
is mere scrub or but sparsely dotted with trees and bushes), 
about seventeen hundred are under cultivation, about seven 
hundred are composed of rocky ground incapable of culti¬ 
vation, and the remaining four hundred are uncultivated. 
The island is fertile and displays the usual features of 
agriculture common on those shores of the Mediterranean to 
which it lies adjacent; barley, wheat, oats, caroubs, grapes, 
olives, cotton, sesame, aniseed, linseed, hemp, beans, vege¬ 
tables, and fruits (such as oranges, lemons, melons, pome¬ 
granates, and nectarines) are cultivated extensively. 
The climate is not unhealthy; the winter is wet and cold, 
the summer dry and hot; the highest portions of the southern 
mountains are covered with snow from about mid-November 
till mid-April; the heat in July, August, and September in 
the plains is very great, but in the high mountains the 
summer months are cool and can be pleasantly enjoyed. 
The rivers are, with the exception of a few small perpetual 
streams, mountain-torrents, in flood after heavy rain and dry 
during the hot weather. There are large salt-lakes near 
Limassol and Larnaca, and two extensive freshwater reser¬ 
voirs, recently constructed, in the Famagusta district, ail of 
which are very favourite resorts of migratory water-birds. 
