Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879

by Sir Samuel White Baker

These geographical questions are a matter of opinion, but now that we actually have occupied Cyprus it is absolutely necessary to do something. Without Famagousta, the island would be worthless as a naval station; with it, as a first-class harbour and arsenal, we should dominate the eastern portion of the Mediterranean, entirely command the approach to Egypt, and keep open our communications with the Suez Canal and the consequent route to India. In the event of the Euphrates valley line of railway becoming an accomplished fact, Cyprus will occupy the most commanding position. But, all these advantages will be neutralised unless Famagousta shall represent the power of England like Malta and Gibraltar. The more minutely that we scrutinise the question of a Cyprian occupation, the more prominent becomes the importance of Famagousta; with it, Cyprus is the key of a great position; without it, the affair is a dead-lock.

There is unfortunately a serious drawback in the extreme unhealthiness of this otherwise invaluable situation, Famagousta, which would at present render it unfit for a military station. There are several causes, all of which must be removed, before the necessary sanitary change can be accomplished. The vast heaps of stones, all of which are of an extremely porous nature, have absorbed the accumulated filth of ages, and the large area now occupied by these ruins must be a fertile source of noxious exhalations. During the rainy season the surface water, carrying with it every impurity, furnishes a fresh supply of poison to be stored beneath these health-destroying masses, which cannot possibly be cleansed otherwise than by their complete obliteration. It may be readily understood that the high ramparts of the walls to a certain extent prevent a due circulation of air, which increases the danger of miasma from the ruin-covered and reeking area of the old Venetian city. Should the harbour works be commenced, all this now useless and dangerous material will be available for constructing the blocks of concrete required for the sea-wall, and the surface of the town will be entirely freed from the present nuisance without additional expense. The few modern buildings should be compulsorily purchased by the Government, and entirely swept away, so that the area inclosed by the fortification walls should represent a perfectly clean succession of levels in the form of broad terraces, which would drain uniformly towards the sea. Upon these purified and well-drained plateaux the new town could be erected, upon a special plan suitable to the locality, and in harmony with the military requirements of a fortified position. The value of the land thus recovered from the existing ruin would be considerable, and, if let on building leases, would repay the expense of levelling, draining, and arranging for occupation. In this manner one of the prime causes of the present unhealthiness would be removed; by the same operation, the ditch of the citadel would be pumped dry, and all communication shut off from the sea, which now produces a stagnant and offensive pool, breeding only reeds, mosquitoes, and malaria.

We now arrive at the most formidable origin of the Famagousta fever—the marshes caused by the overflow of the Pedias river. The description that I have already given of the delta formed by the deposit of mud during inundations, and the total absence of any exit for the waters by a natural channel, will convey to the minds of the most inexperienced an extreme cause of danger. I can see only one practicable method of surmounting this great difficulty. The Pedias river must be conducted to the sea through an artificial channel, and it must (like the Rhone) be confined between raised banks of sufficient height to prevent any chance of overflow, and of a width arranged to produce a rapid current, that will scour the bed and carry the mud to deposit far beyond the shore. This work would be expensive, but, on the other hand, the collateral advantages would be great. The land, which is now almost valueless, owing to the uncertainty of inundations, would be rendered fruitful, and by an arrangement of cattle-wheels the irrigation could always be ensured, as the water exists within five feet of the present surface. At this moment, neither drains are made, nor any control of nature is exercised by the fever-stricken population, who trust entirely to the uncertain chances of the seasons. We have an example in the original fens of Lincolnshire, which, by a system of drainage, have been brought into agricultural value; a series of large and deep open ditches, such as are seen in every marsh or river-meadow throughout England, would not only drain the surface of the Famagousta delta, but would supply the water, to be raised by cattle-lifts and wind-pumps, for the purposes of irrigation. There is much work for the agricultural engineer, but if this important enterprise is seriously commenced the future results will well repay the outlay.

Some persons have attributed the cause of unhealthiness to the existence of the trenches made by the Turks during the siege in 1571, which are considered to emit malarious exhalations. I do not think so; all these low levels, surrounded by high banks which protect the crops from wind, are most carefully cultivated with beans, cereals, cotton, and garden produce, and I do not believe that successful gardens are malarious, but only those localities where water is allowed to become stagnant, in which case cultivation must be a failure. Many of these rich bottoms were at one time valuable as "madder" grounds, and Consul White states that in 1863 good madder-root land at Famagousta was worth 90 pounds per acre. It may not be generally known that the indelible dye called "Turkey red" was formerly produced from the madder-root, but that it has been entirely superseded by the chemical invention known as "alizarine," which, by reducing the price in a ruinous degree, has driven the vegetable substance out of the market, and the madder is no longer cultivated. This chemical discovery has lowered the rich, deep, sandy loams of Famagousta and of Morphu to a mere average agricultural value, and has completely destroyed an important local industry.

The madder-root required three years before it arrived at maturity. From Consul Riddell's report in 1872, the amount of madder exported reached 330 tons, of which 250 tons were shipped for Great Britain. The same authority reports in 1873, "The falling-off, however, in the quantity sent to Great Britain is remarkable, being only 230 cwts. (11.5 tons)." This disappearance of a special agricultural industry has been an enormous loss to the proprietors of the madder-lands.

The fruit-orchards and gardens of Famagousta are the finest in the island. The land is extremely rich, and of a bright chocolate colour, but the trees are, as usual in Cyprus, planted too close to each other, which interferes with the necessary light and circulation of air. These gardens commence just outside the walls, and, running parallel with the sea below the large village of Varoschia, extend for about two miles along the shore. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, apricots, figs, prickly pears and mulberry-trees, are the chief products, and it was here that we obtained the largest and best oranges that I had tasted in the island; generally this fruit is much inferior to the varieties imported into England. The pomegranates of Cyprus are very celebrated, and are exported to Egypt, but it is a fruit that is not generally appreciated by Europeans. There are extensive gardens inland, but they do not convey the idea of "gardens" as understood by Englishmen, but are merely dense groves of various fruit-trees, irrigated by a cattle-wheel, and planted with an utter disregard of all taste or arrangement.

The large village, or town of Varoschia is an important adjunct to Famagousta, from which it is hardly separated. It was originally founded by the Venetian Christians, who were expelled from Famagousta after the Turkish conquest. There is a large Greek Church, extensive bazaars, and several manufactures of pottery, for which the locality is celebrated. We saw a vessel loading in the harbour entirely with these—jars, water-bottles, dishes, &c.—but the earthen-ware is of a coarse description, and the quality of the clay does not admit of sufficient porosity for the purpose of cooling water or of filtering, like the Egyptian ware; at the same time it is not sufficiently impervious for the retention of wine or oil without a considerable loss by absorption. Varoschia has been always celebrated for a large production of a high quality of silk, but the quantity has fallen off, as in all other parts of the island. There are some good houses in this thriving and busy little town, and it is said that decent accommodation may be had; but I preferred the cleanliness and independence of our own tent.

Varoschia is not much healthier than Famagousta, as it suffers from the same cause, in addition to an enormous accumulation of filth on the heights at the rear of the town. If this were carefully stored to manure the numerous gardens, it would be profitably utilised; but it belongs to nobody in particular, and is a public nuisance. A fine should be inflicted upon the municipal authorities in the sanitary interests of the population, and the refuse of the neighbourhood should be periodically collected into heaps and burned. Captain Inglis and the various British officials moved their quarters from Famagousta to the healthy village of Derinia, about three miles distant, during our stay near Varoschia. The new station is to the south-west of the port, and completely beyond the influence of the marshes, the elevation being about 250 feet above the sea. Should this locality become a permanently healthy settlement, the sanitary difficulty of our position will be considerably modified, as the troops might be quartered at Derinia in time of peace, and even during war they would be immediately within call.

A lake exists about three miles inland from Famagousta, which is between four and five miles in circumference; the water is fresh, but exceedingly shallow and impure, the edges covered with high reeds, which extend for several hundred yards from the shore. This lake swarms with varieties of water-fowl, which can only be shot by wading and waiting concealed in the high cover of rushes and tamarisk, as they are exceedingly wary. Commander Hammond, of H.M.S. Torch, bagged thirty-five ducks to his own gun upon one occasion, by thus challenging the fever and remaining hip-deep in the muddy water for some hours. I did not feel disposed to risk the chances of malaria, as the effluvium from the mud was sufficiently offensive even when walking round the margin, and I already felt some warning symptoms of the heavy atmosphere of Famagousta, which might, if neglected, have terminated in ague. I shot a fine specimen of the glossy ibis, and I otherwise contented myself with watching the variety of ducks, coots, teal, and other water-fowl through my glass, as they enjoyed themselves in flocks upon the surface of the lake at a great distance.

Having exhausted the sights of Famagousta, we started on the 22nd of March for Kuklia, twelve miles distant, where we had left our vans in charge of the headman during our absence in the Carpas country. Upon our arrival we found them untouched or unharmed, and we were met not only by the headman himself, but by our two bullock-drivers Georgi and Theodori, who had come from Lithrankomi. Georgi had recovered from the despair which had overpowered him when we last parted, and he was almost triumphant when he related the success of his mission to Gallibornu with the mysterious paper written in English, that I had given him in order to terrify the purchaser of his bullock. He had exhibited this awe-inspiring epistle, which nobody could either read or understand, and Georgi had taken advantage of his opportunity to threaten the sharp cattle-dealer with a long list of imaginary punishments that would be inflicted by English law should he refuse to return the bullock, which had been hired for a special service by an Englishman. The paper was closely scrutinised, and being in an unknown character, Georgi felt his advantage, and expounded the contents so forcibly that he worked upon the fears of the inhabitants of Gallibornu, who insisted that the Turk should compromise the affair and return the handsome bullock, receiving in exchange his own half-starved old animal, in addition to a present of half a sovereign. Georgi was only too delighted to immediately clench the bargain. I advised him in future to manage his own cattle-dealing instead of confiding in his able friend Theodori, and I ordered the oxen to be put in the yokes at once, and to draw the vans to our old camping-place beneath the hawthorn-tree. Upon arrival at the spot a great change had taken place; the hawthorns were a mass of blossom, and scented the air for a considerable distance; the groves of fig-trees had broken into leaf; the trefoil had grown to a height of two feet, and numerous cattle were tethered in the rich field, to feed upon the few square yards that each owner had purchased at a high price to save his animals from starvation. A field of broad-beans that we had left in early blossom twenty-four days before now produced our well-known vegetable for dinner, and I observed that the native children, with their usual liking for uncooked food, were eating these indigestible beans raw!