There Was Not One Perfect Tree Above Eight Years' Growth; But Every Stem Had Been Cut Off About Six Feet From The Top For The Sake Of The Straight Pole.

Trees of fifteen years or more had been mercilessly hacked for the small amount of turpentine that such trunks

Would produce, and the bark had been ripped off for tanning. Great quantities of mastic bushes covered the surface between the pines, and even these exhibited the continual attacks of the woodcutter's grubbing-axe, which had torn up the roots, in addition to the stems, for the requirements of the lime-burner. The red soil is so propitious to the growth of pines that, in spite of the unremitting destruction, the ground was covered with young plants, self-sown from the fallen cones. If these young forests were protected for twelve or fourteen years, the surface would again be restored to the original woodland that once ornamented this portion of the island. Under the present conditions of Cyprus all wholesome laws and enactments are practically ridiculed by the inhabitants, as there are no foresters or keepers to enforce the orders of the government. A governor may sit upon the top of Olympus and issue wise decrees like Jupiter, but unfortunately he does not possess the thunderbolts, as the country is so poor that it cannot afford to pay the salaries necessary for the support of foresters and the officers required for this special department. I myself met droves of donkeys and mules loaded with wood and accompanied by their owners with their destructive axes, all wending their way through the forest to the town of Morphu, which is thus supplied with fuel for baking, cooking, lime- burning, and all other purposes.

It is impossible to feel amiable when passing through these desolating scenes, where nature, originally so beautiful, has been defaced, and the people, instead of deriving pleasure from natural beauties, are obtuse to all the surroundings, which, according to educated taste, would ensure appreciation. I felt inclined to upset the donkeys, capture their proprietors, and . . . I could not have hung them upon the trees that they had defaced, for no bough had been left that would have supported their weight . . . and there was no rope.

While these vindictive and statesman-likethoughts boiled within me, the naturally courteous people made their graceful salaams as we passed, and studiously conducted their heavily-laden donkeys out of the path to make way for our advance, that otherwise would have been effectually choked by the throng of bush-and-faggot-laden animals, which looked like "Birnam-wood marching to Dunsinane." In my heart I immediately forgave the poor people; I knew that the man with the axe who marched behind was as ignorant, and not so strong, as his donkey who carried the load. They had been both subjects of a bad government, and it was not their fault that they were despoilers. You might as well blame the wind for the destruction of venerable trees; or the locusts for devouring the crops; they were ungoverned, and unfortunately the instinct of uncivilised man is to destroy.

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