admission to office can be obtained? Even the multitude of green-turbaned descendants of the Prophet, are quickly disappearing. In China they manage better. After the imperial family, ranks that of Kung-fu-tso (Confucius), and there are about ten thousand living descendants of the sage -but it is only the real lineal head of the family, the Prince Kung, who is benefited by the renown of his ancestry. In Turkey, on the contrary, the canker-worm has been long devouring the whole ancestral tree, root and branch. The curse of the country is, that dignity and work are thought to be incompatible with each other, and the descendants of the Prophet consider themselves too illustrious to do anything.

About ten o'clock we sat down to table, and our first glass was dedicated to our country's noble flag, which waved above the roof of the house. At this time, however, there were few Germans in Limasol, and during the whole year but two or three German vessels had cast anchor in the roadstead.

I am, however, pretty well convinced that a good trade might be established here, even if the cargoes consisted entirely of wine. The conversation turned principally on the population and revenue, and I succeeded in making a few additions to my knowledge concerning the statistics of the country. As regards the population of Cyprus, I was told that the Turks numbered about 200,000, and Greeks 100,000. An European observer, who was long a resident here, reckoned 100,000 Greeks, 40,000 Turks, and 1000 Maronites and Roman Catholics; most probably, however, if we estimate

the total at 150,000, of whom about a third are Turks, we should not be far from the truth.

Equally at variance with each other were the accounts that I received concerning the revenue, although my questions were only put to persons who, ex officio, were able at least to give approximate information. The revenue derived from the customs and taxes, was estimated by one at thirty-five millions of piastres, by another at thirty millions, and by a third at twenty-four millions; the figures set down in the following Table are, however, probably nearer the mark:

Truly, for a country so large, so luxurious, and so rich (when we consider the small value of the piastre), this is but a sorry income. From this, moreover, must be deducted the cost of the mosques, Mohammedan schools, and other similar institutions, which even in Cyprus are distributed over a con

siderable portion of the island.

These are placed under the superintendence of the Mohammedan priesthood, and there is a proverb which says, "Sooner will the eyes of the dead shed tears, than priests give up money." In Cyprus it is well understood that, of all these taxes, not above two or three millions of piastres find their way to Constantinople; nay, that the inhabitants have, in addition to these imposts, to pay considerable sums to the Turkish officials to keep them in a good humour. Moreover, the Turks are constantly obliged to bribe one another, in order to keep themselves in office, and to maintain the dignity of their position. The sums expended upon roads, bridges, and public buildings, are of very trifling amount. Even the cost of the military establishment is exceedingly small. The population is too weak and too lazy to require much of a garrison, and the Turks come willingly from other places, to fulfil the military duties in so quiet a spot.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

AMATHUS.

NEXT morning we journeyed onwards towards Amathus. The day was lovely, one of the most exquisite I have ever experienced in any climate, and as we galloped along, my veins seemed to dance with every breath I drew. At such moments one readily comprehends why the inhabitants of Cyprus have never taken any high place in the fields of literature and art, and why its seductive and enervating air has always proved attractive to the Turks, as it did formerly to the ancient Romans. Our road lay through waving cornfields, the rich golden hues of which were finely contrasted with the deep blue waters of the sea, which in many places reached the very borders of the fields. Suddenly a change arose, the sun mounted high into the heavens, and beat down upon us with such fiery force and fury, as caused me fully to appreciate the appropriateness of the symbol stamped upon the

ancient coins of Cyprus, namely, a devouring lion, backed, in some instances, by an image of the sun's rays. Terrible, indeed, is the destruction worked by the ravening jaws of Phoebus Apollo, upon the fruitful gardens and flowery plains of this fertile island. At these seasons, only such fields as lie close to the sea can resist the parching blight; in these tracts on the shore, plants of all kind flourish luxuriantly, drawing the moisture which supports them from the refreshing dews borne to them from the neighbouring waves. In such of these cultivated portions of the coast as also enjoy the moisture brought by the smaller streams, as they discharge themselves into the sea, the harvests and crops are still more luxuriant. Not only the country near to Limasol, over which I was now riding, but the coast about Episkopi, Kition, Larnaka, Famagusta, besides the north coast near Morphu and Lagathos, and other places, possess many of these most valuable agricultural districts. Much land has already been reclaimed for the purposes of cultivation, and there is no reason why so successful an experiment should not be attempted upon many other parts of the coast.

After about two hours' riding, we reached what appeared to me to be the ruins of a church, standing close to the shore, and beside these a heap of ancient hewn stones, lying ready to be shipped for Port Saïd, where they were to be employed in the construction of a new harbour. On our left rose a mountain, with fields of corn extending to a considerable distance up its slopes. My dragoman was most desirous