Dali Was An Interesting Spot To Any Agriculturist.
The soil was
exceedingly rich, as it had been formed, like all valleys in Cyprus, by
the alluvium washed
Down from the surrounding hills; these were from
three to six hundred feet above the level of the plain, and were
composed of the usual hard species of chalk and gypsum; thus the deposit
from their denudation by rains supplied the chief constituents for the
growth of vines and cereals.
There is a depressing absence of all recent improvements in journeying
through Cyprus; even at Dali, where the water from the river was used
for irrigation, and large farms in the occupation of the wealthy
landowner, M. Richard Mattei, were successfully cultivated, I could not
help remarking the total neglect of tree-planting. The ancient
olive-groves still exist by the river's side, and, could they speak,
those grand old trees would be historians of the glorious days of
Cyprus; but there are no recent plantations, and the natives explained
the cause in the usual manner by attributing all wretchedness and
popular apathy to the oppression of the Turkish rule. This wholesale
accusation must be received with caution; there can be no doubt of the
pre-existing misrule, but at the same time it is impossible to travel
through Cyprus without the painful conviction that the modern Cypriote
is a reckless tree-destroyer, and that destruction is more natural to
his character than the propagation of timber. There is no reason for the
neglect of olive-planting, but I observed an absence of such cultivation
which must have prevailed during several centuries, even during the
Venetian rule. It is difficult to determine the age of an olive-tree,
which is almost imperishable; it is one of those remarkable examples of
vegetation that illustrates the eternal, and explains the first
instincts of adoration which tree-worship exhibited in the distant past.
I spent some hours with the olive trees of Dali; they were grand old
specimens of the everlasting. One healthy trunk in full vigour measured
twenty-nine feet in circumference; another, twenty-eight feet two
inches. Very many were upwards of twenty feet by my measuring-tape; and
had I accepted the hollow or split trees, there were some that would
have exceeded forty feet. There can be little doubt, that these olives
throve at the period when Idalium was the great city in Cyprus; they may
have exceeded two thousand years in age, but any surmise would be the
wildest conjecture. It may not be generally known that the olive, which
is of slow growth and a wood of exceeding hardness, remains always a
dwarf tree; a tall olive is unknown, and it somewhat resembles a pollard
ilex. When by extreme age the tree has become hollow it possesses the
peculiar power of reproduction, not by throwing up root-shoots, but by
splitting the old hollowed trunk into separate divisions, which by
degrees attain an individuality, and eventually thrive as new and
independent trees, forming a group or "family-tree," nourished by the
same root which anchored the original ancestor.
The gnarled, weird appearance of these ancient groves of such gigantic
dimensions contrasted sadly with the treeless expanse beyond, and proved
that Cyprus had for very many centuries been the victim of neglect. The
olive is indigenous to the island, and the low scrub jungles of Baffo,
the Carpas district, and other portions abound with the wild species,
which can be rendered fruitful by grafting. In selecting trees for the
extension of forests, there is a common-sense rule to guide us by
observing those varieties which are indigenous to the country; these can
be obtained at the lowest cost, and their success is almost assured, as
no time need be lost from the day of their removal to the new
plantation. Such trees as are rendered fruitful by grafting offer
peculiar advantages, as the stocks already exist upon which superior
varieties may be connected. The principal food of the Cypriotes consists
of olives, beans, bread, and onions; they seldom eat what we should call
"cooked food;" whether this is owing to the scarcity of fuel, or whether
it is natural in this climate to avoid flesh, I cannot determine: some
say the people are too poor, and cannot afford mutton at twopence a
pound, while at the same time they will not kill the oxen that are
required for purposes of draught; they refuse the milk of cows, and only
use that of sheep or goats. The fact remains that the country people
seldom eat butcher's meat, but subsist upon olives, oil, bread, cheese,
and vegetables.
Under these circumstances it would be natural to suppose that the
accepted articles of consumption would be highly cultivated and superior
in quality; but the reverse is the fact. The olive-oil is so inferior
that foreign oil is imported from France for the use of the upper
classes; the olives are of a poor description, and, as a rule, few
vegetables are cultivated except in the immediate vicinity of town
markets, the agricultural population or country people being too
careless to excel in horticulture, and depending mainly upon the wild
vegetables which the soil produces in abundance. If the people are too
inert to improve the qualities and to extend the cultivation of
vegetables, it is easy to comprehend their neglect of the tree-planting
so necessary to the climatic requirements of this island.
The oil-press is similar to the old-fashioned cider-mill of England. The
fruit, having been dried in the sun, is placed in a circular trough in
which the stone wheel revolves, driven by a mule and pole. When
sufficiently crushed, and reduced to a paste, it is divided into
basketfuls; these are subjected to pressure by the common vertical
screw, and the oil is expressed, but is not clarified. It is generally
rancid and unfit for European consumption. In travelling through Cyprus
the medicine-chest may dispense with castor-oil, as the olive-oil of the
country is a good substitute.
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