Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive

by Franz von Löher

For nearly three hundred years the dynasty of Lusignan ruled over a flourishing and important country. Monks, knights, merchants, and priests thronged to its hospitable shores, on their way to and from adjoining countries, and many fair dames were conducted so far, and found pleasant refuge in Cyprus, whilst their chivalrous husbands journeyed farther east, to assist in the vain attempt to obtain possession of the tomb of Christ, and earn either an early grave, or return covered with wounds and glory. Towns sprang up in all directions. Wine, oil, silk, cotton, the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua), and the various plants used for the famous Cyprian dyes, were again largely cultivated, and in the overflowing markets of the towns upon the coast, ships in adjacent seas found the readiest means of victualling for distant voyages. Mining operations were recommenced with ardour, and Cyprian merchants again sent forth the rich products of the island into all parts.

We have still to notice what was the fate of the island, under Venetian and Turkish domination. The Venetians, anxious to derive every possible emolument from their possessions, urged the population to the most strenuous efforts, in the culture of the land, and when the weary labourers sank under the burden and heat of the day, used every incentive, and even punished them, in order to increase their exertions in bringing their fields and gardens to the required perfection. There is still a tradition in the island that the Venetians paid a zechin for every olive-tree that was planted. Generation after generation, however, the population degenerated, and became weaker and more idle.

The Venetians would appear to have considered the island in the light of a great and valuable farm, which they endeavoured to make as productive as possible. They appointed three governors, two treasurers, a superintendent with two thousand men under him, placed a captain and a company of soldiers in each of the twelve districts into which the land was divided, who kept everything in order, and took care that the fields and gardens were well cultivated, and the taxes regularly paid. After deducting all expenses, Cyprus yielded to Venice a clear yearly profit of two millions of ducats (golden dollars). The Italian revenue officers seem not to have been much trusted in their dealings with the Cypriotes, and were changed every two years.

When the Sultan of Egypt subsequently took Cyprus, the yearly tribute exacted amounted to eight hundred thousand ducats (golden dollars); it now produces only seven millions of marks, a very small sum, in comparison with what it produced to its Venetian masters.

During the fifteenth century, the blighting influence of successive wars was keenly felt, and the best energies of the Lusignans were devoted to warding off the repeated attacks of the Mussulmans. Since the New World had arisen in the West, strong and vigorous immigrants no longer lent their aid to prop a declining state. The conquest of Cyprus by the Turks cost the island the last remnant of its industrious, enterprising, and independent inhabitants, and the bloodstained and desolate country was no longer cultivated. The Turks, always passionate admirers of flowers, introduced a few tulips and hyacinths, and planted date-palms in the spots they occupied; but the soil was not congenial to them, and in Cyprus the date-palm rarely produced its sweet and highly-prized fruit.

The tobacco plant was also introduced at this period, but its cultivation was never carried on to any great extent, owing to the necessity of planting it in gardens surrounded by high walls, in order to protect the plant from the depredations of the locust. No attempt was made on the part of the Turkish Government to rouse the dying energies of the people; slowly, but surely, every art and industry declined, and the locust swarmed over the barren and neglected country.

Thus, in ancient times, we see that the island of Cyprus was celebrated for its varied vegetation, but of the plants that once grew there, many are totally lost, others are now cultivated with difficulty, and very few new ones are added to the list. The vegetation of Cyprus, like its history, seems to have undergone many changes, and from the nature of the soil, is very diversified in different parts of the island. At the present day, corn is still extensively cultivated; wheat, barley, oats, and beans flourish well. Upon the mountains grow fir and pine-trees, and in the valleys we find fine oaks, ashes, orange, fig, citron, date, walnut, and a great variety of other trees. Overhanging shrubs crowd the deep dells and precipitous cliffs, and amongst them grow the oleander, myrtle, arbutus, juniper, and mastic. Not less striking is the lovely carpet of flowers, which clothes the face of the country with ever-varying beauties. Roses and jasmine, tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, and anemones, are but a few of those that I might enumerate.

In Cyprus the use of manure is unknown, but nevertheless there is but little change in the luxuriant fertility of the soil, and wherever the earth is sufficiently supplied with moisture, a thousand plants spring up in rich profusion. One of the principal difficulties in the field is to keep the corn from being smothered by weeds. This task of weeding falls entirely to the lot of the women.

Olive-trees were formerly very numerous, as is proved by the large reservoirs for oil to be seen near Larnaka. The trade was at one time very extensive, but the island now consumes all that it produces. This decline would appear to date from the era of Venetian rule, when the trade in oil was almost ruined, and the cultivation of the olive abandoned for that of cotton. Saffron, rhubarb, and many other natural and valuable productions are also neglected.

Cyprus had once a lucrative trade with Syria, in the oil extracted from the seed of the jujube tree. Oil of glasswort was also formerly extracted. Cucumis colocynth, from the pulp of which colocynth is made, is also largely cultivated: this plant grows like the water-melon, and belongs to the same family. The cotton-plant, which was formerly so important a production, is now comparatively but little cultivated. The seeds of the cotton-plant are sown early in April, three or four being planted together, at equal distances. When the shoots appear above the ground, the strongest plant alone is allowed to remain, the rest being weeded out. The plants are hoed in June or July, and the cotton collected in October and November. The cottons of Cyprus, which are of four qualities, are much esteemed on account of their whiteness and the thickness of their texture; a fifth quality, called scovazze, is entirely consumed on the island. The total export of cotton in 1871 was 770,850 lbs.