Elementary schools are established in all the larger villages, and others of superior class in the three principal towns of the island. The Greek bishops and many of the popes have been educated in these latter, or at Athens, and are generally men of culture; but most of the village priests and monks are as ignorant as the peasants amongst whom their lives are past.
Greek is the language used throughout Cyprus, and has even found its way into many of the Turkish houses.
Agriculture.
The cultivation of the country appears to be in a very primitive condition, and owing to the lightness and fertility of the soil but slight labour is required in producing the necessary crops. The cultivable surface of the island is estimated at 2,500,000 acres, of which not more than 130,000 acres are under tillage. The annual average yield of corn is said not to exceed 120,000 quarters, and we are told that the disposal of the whole has been a monopoly between the Turkish mulasallin and the Greek archbishop, who either export or retail it at an arbitrary price. The vegetation resembles that of the other islands of the Mediterranean. There is no meadow land, but a great deal of waste, which is either quite bare, or only covered with heather and aromatic plants.
Natural Productions.
The principal productions are cotton, hemp, silk, corn, opium, tobacco, turpentine, liquorice, madder, several dye-woods, gum-tragacinth, and colocynth. Fruits of all kind, in particular grapes, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, olives, walnuts, figs, mulberries, apricots, &c.; the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua) abounds in some districts. There were once extensive plantations of sugar-cane. Large quantities of fine vegetables are grown. Cyprus was celebrated for roses; hyacinths, anemones, ranunculuses, narcissus, poppies, &c., grow wild. Trees and shrubs of all kinds grow luxuriantly, including pines, firs, cypresses, ashes, oaks, beeches, elms, myrtles, evergreens, oleanders, &c.
One of the most important plants of the island is the Ferula Græca; of the stalks of which the Cypriotes form a great part of their household furniture, and the pith is used instead of tinder for conveying fire from one place to another.
Manufactures.
Wines of three kinds are made, namely, Commanderia, Muscadine, and Mavro. Cotton, silk, and woollen goods of various qualities are manufactured on a small scale. Olive oil, pitch, resin, cheese, raisins, and pottery (for home consumption) are also made. Nikosia is noted for its Morocco leather. The peasantry distil rose, orange, and lavender waters, myrtle and laudanum oil.