Attains the serious degree of a mean = 108.7 degrees Fahr., the
highest point registered being 115 degrees Fahr. in the shade.
Such a temperature will destroy the health of Europeans, and the
locality is not suitable for headquarters. The governor of the island
might possibly escape to the mountain sanatorium, but the other
officials will sicken in their various overheated offices.
The following is Colonel White's original register:-
METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER AT NICOSIA.
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.
We pay 96,000 pounds sterling per annum to the Turks, out of an assumed
revenue of 170,000 pounds. Therefore, without any trouble or risk, the
Turk is receiving 3.25 per cent. interest upon three millions. This
establishes an unfortunate precedent in the valuation of the island
should England eventually become a purchaser.
