basin, scooped out to receive it, which served as our wine cooler and refrigerator. We soon adopted the housekeeping system of the peasants, and hung our plate baskets and table linen among the trees; and spreading out the thick mats of the country with a wooden settle dining-table and some rough chairs, we soon arranged a dining-hall, where our Turkish attendants served us with as much attention as if at a state dinner, though not with quite the same ceremony. A little further on a few Turkish rugs and divans formed the reception room of state for the notables of Dali, consisting of an old cadi, an illiterate Greek priest, and three wealthy Turks of Potamia, who inhabited what was once a royal palace, and the summer residence of the Lusignan queens."

We cannot refrain from quoting a still stronger testimony borne by this gentleman, to the charms of this beautiful island as a summer residence :

"Having obtained a six months' leave of absence, we took our last walk in the environs of Larnaka, where the Marina* appears to its best advantage. Passing the Salines, and the ruins of Phaneromene on our right, we were soon in the fields, which were yet in all their vernal glory. Pink and white anemones, dark blue irises, intensely scarlet poppies, golden Marguerites, and a thousand lovely blossoms, of which I do not even know the names, embroidered the plains with the

* That portion of Larnaka which lies along the sea-shore is called the "Marina," while Larnaka proper is about three-quarters of a mile inland.

most brilliant colours imaginable. We crushed the wild thyme and mignonette beneath our feet at every step, yet they seemed to offer us their incense at parting. A torrid sun would soon leave all this a dreary waste. Mount Santa Croce seemed to follow us throughout our walk, ever changing in aspect, now cool and brown as clouds floated over it, now glowing with crimson in the setting sun. The lighted minarets of Larnaka, and the Marina, shone in the distance, and, as we neared the latter, we heard the voice of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. As we entered our own spacious garden, which had been reclaimed from the sea-shore, with its lovely roses-such as bloom only in Cyprusand its vine-covered walls, a slight shade of regret passed over us as we thought how soon neglect might turn the spot, then the admiration of visitors, once more into an unsightly waste. An extensive terrace overlooked the garden, and as we walked on it in the moonlight, a magical charm seemed to have been thrown on the scene, and on the rippling gleaming waves of the Mediterranean, so that while gazing we almost forgot the dark side of life in Cyprus, and a sense of tenderness stole into our hearts for the land we were leaving on the

morrow.'

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CHAPTER XIX.

CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE.

IN Cyprus we encounter a population which essentially resembles the modern, rather than the ancient Greek in character.

One of the most pleasing features of the island is the everyday domestic life of its inhabitants. The members of every family cling inseparably together, and share among themselves whatever good or evil fortune awaits them. To pay for the education of a son or brother, parents and children will suffer both want and hunger. Brothers will not marry until their sisters are provided for, and it is often truly touching to see how the grey-headed fathers and mothers, who seem here to be particularly numerous, are honoured and cared for by their children.

Among the ancient Greeks the men allowed themselves

much freedom in love affairs and worshipped at the shrine of beauty. The women, on the contrary, were chaste and modest, and lived retired, industriously employed in their household duties. Such are the Cyprian women at the present day. The influence of the female part of the community has, moreover, of late remarkably advanced. Perhaps among no other people do women hold a more influential position. The mother is the mistress of the household, and it is principally by her that the family is held together. It is a common saying, that men make laws, but women regulate the manners of a people. The laws, however, are dependent upon the manners, and the more strictly these latter are watched over, so much the better for the well-being of the State. The modern Greeks make the best sailors, and the most discreet and prudent men of business in the world; they are good hands at fine work, are fond of horticulture, and are skilled manufacturers and money dealers. Although fond of the warm slopes and sunny climate of their native land, they are ever ready to quit it at a moment's notice to seek their fortune elsewhere. They are remarkable among all the dwellers in the East for their activity and the elasticity of their spirits, which nothing seems to subdue, and which, when repressed, is continually breaking out more cheerfully and brightly than before, like their own sunny sky after the storm has passed away. They are fond of literature, and are delighted with a graceful expression, or a witty saying. They

take an interest in everything and delight in talking and telling tales. Their understanding and imagination in short are extraordinarily powerful and active.

And now having said so much on the bright side of their character, we must turn to their vices and faults. Their laughable conceit, which displays itself in a thousand unexpected forms, might be passed over, as also the grasping avarice which is conspicuous in most of their dealings, for vanity may rise into ambition, and niggardliness be refined into praiseworthy economy, were their other vices not so numerous and so grave. In social life we may place falsehood and faithlessness, knavery and lying, at the head of the catalogue. Of insatiable covetousness, heartless robbery, and implacable revenge, examples are numberless. Justice is so totally set aside that, if a man be placed upon a jury, he is compelled to acquit the offender, because he thinks in his heart that he himself may shortly be placed in the same unfortunate predicament.

If we are asked what is the political condition of Cyprus, we can only say that it is busied with small matters, in important affairs it is all baseness and subserviency. No one can deny to the modern Greeks the possession of political cunning. Nevertheless, in the great and necessary virtue of obedience, they are altogether wanting, and officers and soldiers will discuss and quarrel over political questions, forgetting that it is the duty of the one to command and of the other to