Although We Were At Least 1000 Feet
Above The Valley, The Water Was Only Ten Feet From The Coping-Stone By
Measurement.
There could be little doubt that the perennial stream in
the deep glen was the result of the drainage of this extensive
table-land, corresponding with similar heights upon the other side.
Having breakfasted by the well of deliciously cold water, we remounted,
and continued our route along the extensive table-land. This was
cultivated in many places, but as we advanced for two or three miles the
country became exceedingly wild, and we entered a wood of Pinus
maritima, composed of young trees of several years' growth, and older
stems that had been mutilated in the disgraceful manner that
characterises all Cyprian forests. 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. I shall say more upon this important subject when we
arrive among the last remaining forests of the Troodos mountains.
We rode onwards, always through the same wilderness of old tree-stems
hacked, and young trees that would be hacked; at length we saw on a
cleared space in the distance what I imagined to be a long brown rock
lying upon the surface; but upon riding out of the path to examine this
object I found it was a splendid trunk of a pine-tree more that two feet
in diameter. Why this had been spared for so many years I cannot say,
but its size suggested reflections upon the original forests that must
have covered the surface and have ornamented the once beautiful island
of Cyprus; now denuded, and shorn of every natural attraction.
I again became angry; visions of the past primaeval forests appeared
before me, all of which had been destroyed: and as formerly we hung a
man in England for cutting an oak sapling, I thought that the same cure
for timber-destroying propensities might save the few remaining forests
in this island. While indulging in this strain of unphilanthropic
thought we overtook another throng of wood-laden donkeys and their
proprietors: again they smiled, courteously salaamed, and vacated the
path for us, little knowing what my inward thoughts had been. Of course
I smiled, salaamed as courteously in return, and forgave them at once;
and we proceeded on our way condemning Turkish rule, the impecuniosity
of our own government, the miserable conditions of our present
occupation, which rendered Cyprus neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and
thus by degrees I lashed myself into the worst possible frame of mind,
until . . . we overtook another throng of polite donkeys and their
proprietors, who salaamed and got out of our way. Upon suddenly emerging
from the forest upon the edge of a steep slope, we looked down upon the
barren sand-coloured plain of Messaria. Our guide Iiani, who had been
asleep and awake for at least eight miles, suddenly burst out into a
ditty, and explained that a village in the plain below was Morphu, the
home of his wife and family.
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