This place was formerly important as one of the principal mineral
centres of the island, and the large accumulations of scoriae in several
mounds near the coast prove that mining operations were conducted upon
an extensive scale. A concession had recently been granted to a small
private company for the working of copper in this neighbourhood, and
should the existence of metallic wealth be proved there can be no doubt
that capital will be embarked in mining enterprises, and the locality
will recover its former importance. On the other hand, all mining
adventures should be conducted with the greatest caution. A common error
is committed by sanguine speculators in following the footsteps of the
ancients, upon the supposition that because in former ages a locality
was productive, it should remain in the same profitable condition.
Nothing can be more erroneous; it is generally poor gleaning after the
Phoenicians. The bronze of those extraordinary miners and metallurgists
was renowned above all other qualities; they worked the copper-mines of
Cyprus and the tin-mines of Cornwall, but the expenses of working a mine
in those days bore no comparison with the outlay of modern times. Slaves
were employed as a general rule: forced labour was obtainable; and the
general conditions of the labour-market were utterly at variance with
those of the present day. The ancient miners would seldom have abandoned
their veins of ore until they were completely exhausted, and the vast
heaps of scoriae which now mark the sites of their operations may be the
remains of works that were deserted as worn out and unproductive. It is
true that traces of copper are visible in many places throughout the
metamorphous rocks, and the greenstone from Soli to Poli-ton-Krysokhus,
but it remains to be proved whether the metal exists in sufficient
quantities to be profitably worked. It is generally believed that zinc
was formerly produced at Soli, where vestiges of ancient mining
operations are to be seen upon the surface, but for many centuries the
works have been abandoned.
A very careful scientific examination of the island has been made by
various explorers--M. Gaudry, Unger, and Kotschy: their reports are not
encouraging, but at the same time it must be allowed that they were not
practical miners. The work of M. Gaudry must always be accepted as a
most valuable authority upon the geology, mineralogy, and general
agricultural resources of Cyprus, but it will be remarked by all
practical men that the explorations of the country have been
superficial; no money has been expended; and is it to be supposed that
the surface of the earth will spontaneously reveal the secrets of the
interior?
Under the present administration it is quite impossible to say too much
in praise of the energy and painstaking devotion to the interests of
Great Britain and to those of this island by the High Commissioner and
every officer, from the commissioners of districts to the subordinate
officials; but according to the terms of the Convention with the Porte
the island is as completely denuded of money as the summits of the
cretaceous hills have been denuded of soil by the destructive agency of
weather. It is painful to an English traveller, whose life may have been
passed in practical development, to survey the country as it now is, to
reflect upon what it has been, and to see that even under the auspicious
reputation of an English occupation nothing can be done to awaken
resources that have so long lain dormant. Money is wanted--money must
be had. Without an expenditure of capital, riches may exist, but they
will remain buried in obscurity.
A responsible official would reply--"We will give you a concession, we
will give you every possible encouragement." The capitalist will ask one
simple question, "Is Cyprus a portion of the British Empire upon which I
can depend, or is it a swallow's nest of a political season, to be
abandoned when the party-schemes have flown?"
Any number of questions may be asked at the present moment, but in the
absence of all definite information no capitalist will embark in any
enterprise in Cyprus, which may be ultimately abandoned like Corfu; and
the value of all property would be reduced to a ruinous degree.
The mining interests of Cyprus must remain for the most part undeveloped
until some satisfactory change shall be effected in the tenure of the
island that will establish confidence.
Polis was a straggling place situated upon either side of a river,
through the bed of which a very reduced stream was flowing about three
inches in depth. A flat valley lay between the heights, both of which
were occupied by numerous houses and narrow lanes, while the rich soil
of the low ground, irrigated by the water of the river withdrawn by
artificial channels, exhibited splendid crops of wheat and barley.
Groves of very ancient olive-trees existed in the valley, and we halted
beneath the first oak-trees that I had seen in Cyprus. These were wide-
spreading, although not high, and I measured the girth of one solid
stem--eighteen feet.
We had hardly off-saddled, when crowds of women and children collected
from all quarters, with a few men, to stare at the new-comers; not at ME
personally, but at my wife. They were, if possible, more filthy than the
average of Cyprian women, and a great proportion of the children were
marked with recent attacks of small-pox. I regretted that I had not a
supply of crackers to throw amongst and disperse the crowd that daily
pestered us; any lady that in future may travel through Cyprus should
have a portmanteau full of such simple fireworks.
