On 6th June We Had Been Somewhat Startled By The Sudden Appearance In
The Afternoon Of A Man Perfectly Naked, Who Marched Down The Approach
From The Spring And Entered The Monastery-Yard In A Dignified And
Stage-Like Attitude As Though He Had The Sole Right Of Entree.
At first
sight I thought he was mad, but on reference to the monks I discovered
he was perfectly sane.
It appeared that he was a Greek about forty-five
years of age, who was a native of Kyrenia, and for some offence twenty
years ago he had been ordered by the priests to do penance in this
extraordinary manner. His body, originally white, had become quite as
brown as that of an Arab of the desert; he possessed no clothing nor
property of any kind, not even a blanket during winter; but he wandered
about the mountains and visited monasteries and certain villages, where
he obtained food as charity. He would never accept money (probably from
the absence of pockets), neither would he venture near Turkish villages,
as he had several times received a thrashing from the men for thus
presenting himself before their women, and it is to be regretted that
the Cypriotes had not followed the Turkish example, which would have
quickly cured his eccentricity. He was a strong, well-built man, with
good muscular development; his head was bald with the exception of a
little hair upon either side, and he was interesting to a certain extent
as an example of what a European can endure when totally exposed to the
sun and weather. Sometimes he slept like a wild animal beneath a rock
among the mountains, or in a cave, when such a luxurious retreat might
offer a refuge; at other times he was received and sheltered by the
priests or people. This individual's name was Christodilos, and
according to my notes taken at the time, he is described as "originally
a labourer of Kyrenia; parents dead: one brother and two sisters
living."
CHAPTER XVI.
SOMETHING ABOUT TAXATION.
The monastery gardens of Trooditissa at the close of July exhibited the
great fruit-producing power of the soil and climate at this high
altitude, but at the same time they were examples of the arbitrary and
vexatious system of Turkish taxation, which remains unchanged and is
still enforced by the British authorities. I shall describe this in
detail, and leave the question of possibility of development under such
wholesale tyranny to the judgment of the public. It is difficult to
conceive how any persons can expect that Europeans, especially
Englishmen, will become landowners and settle in Cyprus when subjected
to such unfair and irritating restrictions.
NO PRODUCE CAN BE REMOVED FROM ANY GARDEN UNTIL IT SHALL HAVE BEEN
VALUED FOR TAXATION BY THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL APPOINTED FOR THAT
PURPOSE, at the rate of 10 per cent. ad valorem.
At first sight this system appears incredible, but upon an examination
of the details our wonder ceases at the general absence of cultivated
vegetables and the propagation of superior qualities of fruits. If the
object of the government were purposely to repress all horticultural
enterprise, and to drive the inhabitants to the Nebuchadnezzar-like
grazing upon wild herbs, the present system would assuredly accomplish
the baneful end. The Cypriotes are called indolent, and are blamed by
travellers for their apathy in contenting themselves with wild
vegetables, when their soil is eminently adapted in the varying
altitudes and climates for the production of the finest qualities of
fruits and green-stuffs. I will imagine that an Englishman of any class
may be placed in the following position of a cultivator, which he
assuredly would be, if foolish enough to become a proprietor in Cyprus.
I am at this moment looking down from the shade of the great walnut-tree
upon the terraced gardens and orchards beneath, which are rich in
potatoes of excellent quality, onions, beet-root, &c.; together with
walnuts, pears, apples, plums, filberts, figs, and mulberries. The pears
and plums are of several varieties, some will ripen late, others are now
fit to gather, but nothing can be touched until the valuer shall arrive;
he is expected in ten days; by which time many of the plums will have
fallen to the ground, and the swarming rats will have eaten half the
pears. The shepherds' children and the various monastery boys live in
the boughs like monkeys, and devour the fruit ripe or unripe, from
morning till evening, with extraordinary impunity; women who arrive from
the low country with children to be christened place them upon the
ground, and climb the pear-trees; neither colic nor cholera is known in
this sanctified locality. The natives of the low country who arrive at
the monastery daily with their laden mules from villages upon the other
side of the mountains, en route to Limasol, immediately ascend the
attractive trees and feast upon the plums; at the same time they fill
their handkerchiefs and pockets with pears, &c., as food during their
return journey. "There will not be much trouble for the valuer when he
arrives," I remarked to the monks, "if you allow such wholesale robbery
of your orchards."
"On the contrary," they replied, "the difficulty will be increased; we
never sell the produce of the gardens, which is kept for the support of
all those who visit us, but we have much trouble with the valuation of
the fruits for taxation. It is hard that we shall have to pay for what
the public consume at our expense, but it will be thus arranged. . . .
The valuer will arrive, and he will find some trees laden with unripe
fruit, others that have been stripped by plunder; the potatoes, &c.,
will be still in the ground. We shall have a person to represent our
interests in the valuation as a check upon the official; but in the end
he will have his own way. We shall explain that certain trees are naked,
as the fruit became ripe and was stolen by the boys.
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