Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879

by Sir Samuel White Baker

442 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

Instruments:—Casella's maximum, minimum, and ordinary thermometers; Negretti and Zambra's large-size aneroid barometer ; 29 feet above ground, all under deep verandah, shaded from the sun, exposed to coolest wind, and 5 feet above the roof of the house. The readings taken carefully.

H. G. WHITE, Lieut.-Colonel Royal Scots, Commissioner, Nicosia. 4th August, 1879

CHAPTER XIX

POLITICAL REFLECTIONS.

In the foregoing chapters I have endeavoured to describe the present condition of Cyprus, exhibiting the actual resources of the island, together with the numerous disadvantages resulting from a peculiarity of climate, and the total neglect of all public works during the Ottoman rule of three centuries. It will be remarked that nothing of value exists beyond the agricultural productions, which are now precarious through the uncertainty of seasons; the metallic wealth has either been exhausted by the ancient miners, or it remains to be developed; the forests have been destroyed; the harbours have been clogged by silt; the communications are confined to pack animals in the general absence of roads and bridges. Yet, notwithstanding this neglected condition of the island, the revenue has yielded an average of about 200,000 pounds annually, or as nearly as possible one pound sterling per head of the entire population.

An increase of revenue can only result from a corresponding advance in material prosperity, which must depend upon an influx of capital that will develop the agricultural resources upon which Cyprus will mainly depend. There are some few collateral profits that may perhaps increase, such as the sponge fisheries, and a probable discovery of red coral by the employment of the helmet-diving apparatus. At present the condition of the sea-bottom is little known; the sponges, of an inferior-quality, are collected by dredging, and the boats pay a fixed sum for a licence according to the size and construction of the dredging apparatus, varying from 5 to 20 pounds per annum; this yields a small annual revenue of about 1600 pounds, which embraces the entire coast of Cyprus. By careful management the salt might exhibit an increase, but on the other hand, the wine, if relieved from the present extreme taxation, would for the first two or three years ensure a considerable reduction.

No increase of imports can be expected until the general advance of internal prosperity shall enable the population to extend their demand for foreign manufactures. We have seen that the peasantry are contented with the home-made cotton stuffs which they produce without an expenditure of money; and the habits of the agricultural classes are simple, and independent of external aid. It will require many years before the customs of the Cypriotes shall be changed by the intercourse with strangers, and the increase of their wealth, commencing from the zero of poverty, must be the base of future expectations. We generally remark in the advancing desires of communities that women exert a powerful influence in the development of manufactures. The wholesome, and to a certain extent civilising, attention to personal appearance, creates a demand for articles of dress and other little vanities which encourage trade, and by degrees the improvement in every household expands into a new birth of external relations with foreign countries, which induces an increase of imports. The women of Cyprus are completely subjugated to their husbands, and although exempt from the cruelty unfortunately so prevalent among a similar class in England, they are seldom indulged in the love of finery which in our own country is carried to an excess. The baggy trousers and the high hob-nailed boots of the Cyprian Venus will hardly excite the ambition of British manufacturers, and for many years the females will remain in their present position. There are already soap manufactories in the island, and the first groundwork for improvements in personal habits will be ensured by their extension, before the exterior fineries of more civilised communities shall be introduced. We may therefore omit the Cyprian female from the class that would benefit the island commercially, but she will perform her duty in a sensible and simple manner as a good housewife, and thereby assist in the prosperity of her husband the agriculturist. The more pains that we may bestow upon an examination of the resources of Cyprus, the more certain becomes the conclusion that the present and the future depend entirely upon agricultural development.

This fact is patent to all who can pretend to a knowledge of the island, and the question will naturally intrude, "Was Cyprus occupied for agricultural purposes?" Of course we know it was not: but on the other hand, if we acknowledge the truth, "that it was accepted as a strategical military point," it is highly desirable that the country should be self-supporting, instead of, like Malta and Gibraltar, mainly dependent upon external supplies.

If Cyprus belonged to England or any other Power, it would be a valuable acquisition. We have seen that under the Turkish administration it was a small mine of wealth, and remains in the same position to its recent masters.