Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-09

cOEGes
 SMYRNA, Asia Minor, July H. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 l cannot conscientiously say goodbye to
 my Arab enemies without making an ac-
 knowledgment. Before leaving Syria en-
 countered a single solitary instance of the
 unmercenary spirit which will remain per
 petual green spot in the desert of my Levan-
 tine memories. was riding through field l with MT. Floyd, and being overtaken by
 thirst, we stopped to get drink of water l from peasant at work garnering wheat l The water we sucked out of goat skin by
 means of hollow reed, and it was delicious
 I tossed the man half franc, which he took, 1 bowed politely and said: ''You were quite | welcome to the water without paying any
 thing" At first I staggered under the reve- 1 lation of unexpected unselfshness Then tide of home memories swept over my bo- som and I wept had almost forgotten that l benevolence, courtesy and generosity exist in l the world The circumstance, little and sim pie though it was, carried me back over seas
 and deserts to that land where such acts of l hospitality are not phenomenal; where, in l deed, people sometimes refuse to take money | l right? Alas, that in the country where first 1 was proclaimed the blessedness of giving the l refreshing beverage of nature in his name such circumstance should now be so excep- l honal as to cause marvelingI I do not want l to represent the race totally bereft of the l gentler graces that pertain sometimes to Oc- 1 cidental humanity, and therefore feel that l this acknowledgment is due.
 l From Beyrout shipped for this city by | steamer (tVnT1lS Rhodes ! and Chios. There were French and Russian ] boats plying between Beyrout and Smyrna, but they coasted too slowly to suit anyone so l anxious to get away from the harsh guttural 1 echoes of the Arabic language was 1. I | was indifferent to the attractions of Tripoli, l Latakia Antioch on the Orontes, Alexan- dretta with its adjacent cities Aleppo and Aintab, Messina, the port of Tarsus, and Ada ha; whereas did want to see Cyprus l Fourteen hours steaming brought us to Larnaka the principal modern port of Cy- prus. Here was historical ground, verify; and went ashore Twas something to say that had walked about on that island where Solon died, where Venus is said to have sprung from the sea foam just off Paphos and where the sword of Alexander the Great 1 was procured It was something also to tread the streets of the very city occupying the site of ancient Citium, Chittim or Kittim of the Old Testament. The cedars of Cy- prus were even more famous than those of Lebanon. Alas, no traces of trees were visi- ble at all from Larnaka to tell of the wood procured there in the days of the prophets save sparse clump of palms scattered along the sandy beach at point They tell me that the other side of the island possesses some wooded ground and is more fertile. I hope so, for the outlook from the steamers deck was most discouraging.
 It is a curious fact that under Queen Vic toria British authority has been reestablished in the island, so that she is now virtually able to write herself E'Queen of Cyprus" just as Richard Occur de Lion took the island long years ago and proclaimed himself it's king. English rule has done wonders for Cyprus, and yet Cyprus is still really small white elephant on England's hands. Every year there is deficit in the accounts, show ing loss to Great Britain of from twenty to forty thousand pounds. A few years ago it was eighty thousand pounds By the terms of occupancy England was to pay Turkey an annual bucksheesh of about e95, ,00O, and to protect Turkey in case of Russian advances. Turkey also bound herself to institute certain reforms in Asia Minor, which have of course never been put forth. The Sick Man having thus violated his part of the contract, Eng land could now refuse to lend him succor in case of an emergency; but of course policy would intervene to prevent such action. But although the amount of this bucksheesh has always exceeded the profits of the island plus the salaries of the public officials in the is
  ent used a military depot, England is bet ter off with It than without it. This will appear when you remember that England and
 France guaranteed Turkey when she went into debt during the Crimean war. The Ot-
 toman empire would die rather than pay debt, and so France and England manage to
 even themselves up, far as the interest of this virtual debt of theirs is concerned, by annually dividing between themselves the
 bucksheesh aforesaid, which nominally goes to the Sick Man Although nominally Cy- prus is not English soil in the sense that Malta and the long catalogue of other islands are English soil, yet in reality the British have come there to stay; and the improve ments which they have put in operation would lead disinterested observer to rejoice that this is the case. The present total pop ulation of the island is not over two hundred thousand souls the Greeks being in the ma jority.
 The retrogression of the United States in foreign policy is apparent when it is stated that we have now no consular agent in Cy- prus, in any of these islands off Asia Mi nor, whereas the days when our energetic consul at Cyprus, General di Cesnola, con ducted his famous excavations, are still fresh in the public mind, and always will be by reason of his museum in New York city. And yet Senator Randall would still preach retrenchment! But will return to this sub ject presently.
 Two days steaming brought us to Rhodes, a scarcely less historic island The pleasant village at the northern end, off which our steamer anchored is the principal witness to the former magnifcence of the island The ''Street of the Knights is still visited with great interest by tourists, and antiquarians eager to crawl about among the few ru- ined castles and Notifications that remain to- day of the structures erected by the Knights of St. John.
 Modern Rhodes is not much more than ctp olive oil, tomatoes and citrons on board, and landed only sewing machine (American make) and few lady invalids who had come to enjoy the Rhodes climate during the sum mer. The climate of the island is the best l afforded anywhere in or about the Mediterra- mean.
 What was the Colossus of Rhodes? Some l contend that it was a creation of the imagi- 1 nation. Certainly it was not such mighty ! straddling monument as is depicted in the average geography, with ships sailing be- tween it's legs After consulting the best au- thorities we passengers accepted the theory that it was simply an upright statue to the sum- made of bronze, one hundred and five feet high and costing three hundred talents; that it was shaken down by earthquake in 224 B. c. after it had been standing fifty-six years; and that it's fragments remained on the ground for nine hundred and twenty three years, when they were sold for old met al to a certain worthy and carried away on the backs of nine hundred camels.
 did not sit up all night watching for Pat mos, though some of the passengers did. The island is peopled to-day by about four thousand Greeks only, and is not visited by steamers. The next morning we anchored off Chios, or Chic, or Kios, or Kio, or Schio, or Scio (Sakkis) or-anyway that you wish to spell it. For the sake of uniformity in usage will fasten upon the spelling Chios, but will not venture to suggest anything touching the pronunciation, the methods of which are still more numerous. This island one of the seven places that contended for the honor of Homer's nativity, was devasta- ted by terrible earthquake few years ago, and although the port city is better to-day than it was before, we could see ruined walls and portions of the sunken breakwater, wit nesses of the awful catastrophe The place has most hourishing aspect.
 Not only do the citizens dislocate their jaws in attempting to pronounce the name of their island, but they also accomplish the same thing by chewing 8 species of gum pro duced in the island, which is called mastic