The Democratic advocate., 1878-07-20
The Island of Cyprus.

This island, which Lord Beaconsfeld
has so cleverly acquired and welded into
the chain connecting Europe and India,
the other links whereof are Gibratar, NAL
Ia, the Suez Canal and Alden, is the most
eastern Island of the Mediterranean, being
only 65 miles from the Syrian coast On
the north it approaches to within forty-fvc
miles Of Asia Minor. Its length is about
one hundred and forty miles, and breadth,
from fifteen, at the northeastern extremi-
ty, to forty, the total area being 367S
square miles. The population is estimated
at 100000 souls, of whom perhaps two
thirds are Greeks, the remainder being
Ottomans, Jews, Catholics, Maronites and
Armenians. Hitherto it has formed part
the villayet of the islands of the Mediter-
raneau, having as its capital Nicosia, where
resides the Archbishop, though his title is
Metropolitan of Ccnstantia. Since the
Council of Ephesus, in 431, he has retain
ed his independence of any patriarch, and
the Church of Cyprus forms one of the in
dependent groups into which the Greek
Church is divided.
Cyprus early belonged to the Phenicians
of the neighboring coast; then it was colo
nized by the Greeks, and became the seat
of several Independent kingdoms; then it
passed under the power successfully of
the Pharoahs, Persians, Ptolmies and Ro-
mans, excepting a short period of inde-
pendence under Evagoras in the fourth
century, b. G.. Here was one of the chief
seats of the worship of Venus, as the name
Cypria viii remind the reader; Paphos and
Salamis were among its famous cities of
old time The Crusaders reft it from the
Greek Emperor and made it kingdom
for Guy of Lusignan, whose descendants
lost it to the Venetians, the employers, as
readers Of Shakespeare win recall, of
Othello. After siege marked by prodi-
gies of valor and immense slaughter, the
Turks took the island 3O7 years ago and
have held it ever since, except during the
period of 1920, when the Viceroy of
Egypt administered its affairs.
The island is fertile and rich, though
the frequent drought shrinks its principal
stream, the Pedia, to a mere rill, and COM
pels the inhabitants, the waters of the
wells being brackish, to have recourse to
cisterns. Minerals abound, including cop
per and precious stones, though the mines
have hitherto been sadly neglected
Among the vegetable productions are
fruits, cotton, tobacco, dyewood and drugs;
silk is also produced and wine. In old
times the wine Of the Commanderia, a
vineyard taking its name from the Knights
of Malta, enjoyed a wide vogue, but as
the population has fallen from 1000, 900
in Venetian times to its present low figure,
so the wine production has fallen off from
100000 gallons to 100000. There is
some demand in Egypt, though none in
Europe, for the common red and black
wines of the country, against which Euro
peans have a prejudice because of the
taste they acquire from being kept in
tarred casks.
The island has one splendid port
Famagosta, the Arsinoe of the Ancieuts
which, though so choked with filth as
only to afford anchorage for a few small
craft, might easily be restored to its prom
inence under the old Venetian rule, where
hundreds of vessels rode within its road
stead at ease and in safety. Despite the
locusts which scourge it ceaselessly, and
the even more rapacious Turkish tax-gath-
erer, Cyprus has Of late years been increas-
ing in prosperity, Its grain crop is small,
and both the wheat crop and oats are
inferior, but colocynth is extensively cul-
tiyated; large exports of madden are made,
and cotton and carob beans are sent abroad
TO the extent of some thousands of tons
annually.