There Is Much Work For The Agricultural Engineer, But If
This Important Enterprise Is Seriously Commenced The Future Results Will
Well Repay The Outlay.
Some persons have attributed the cause of unhealthiness to the existence
of the trenches made by the Turks during the siege in 1571, which are
considered to emit malarious exhalations.
I do not think so; all these
low levels, surrounded by high banks which protect the crops from wind,
are most carefully cultivated with beans, cereals, cotton, and garden
produce, and I do not believe that successful gardens are malarious, but
only those localities where water is allowed to become stagnant, in
which case cultivation must be a failure. Many of these rich bottoms
were at one time valuable as "madder" grounds, and Consul White states
that in 1863 good madder-root land at Famagousta was worth 90 pounds per
acre. It may not be generally known that the indelible dye called
"Turkey red" was formerly produced from the madder-root, but that it has
been entirely superseded by the chemical invention known as "alizarine,"
which, by reducing the price in a ruinous degree, has driven the
vegetable substance out of the market, and the madder is no longer
cultivated. This chemical discovery has lowered the rich, deep, sandy
loams of Famagousta and of Morphu to a mere average agricultural value,
and has completely destroyed an important local industry.
The madder-root required three years before it arrived at maturity. From
Consul Riddell's report in 1872, the amount of madder exported reached
330 tons, of which 250 tons were shipped for Great Britain. The same
authority reports in 1873, "The falling-off, however, in the quantity
sent to Great Britain is remarkable, being only 230 cwts. (11.5 tons)."
This disappearance of a special agricultural industry has been an
enormous loss to the proprietors of the madder-lands.
The fruit-orchards and gardens of Famagousta are the finest in the
island. The land is extremely rich, and of a bright chocolate colour,
but the trees are, as usual in Cyprus, planted too close to each other,
which interferes with the necessary light and circulation of air. These
gardens commence just outside the walls, and, running parallel with the
sea below the large village of Varoschia, extend for about two miles
along the shore. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, apricots, figs, prickly
pears and mulberry-trees, are the chief products, and it was here that
we obtained the largest and best oranges that I had tasted in the
island; generally this fruit is much inferior to the varieties imported
into England. The pomegranates of Cyprus are very celebrated, and are
exported to Egypt, but it is a fruit that is not generally appreciated
by Europeans. There are extensive gardens inland, but they do not convey
the idea of "gardens" as understood by Englishmen, but are merely dense
groves of various fruit-trees, irrigated by a cattle-wheel, and planted
with an utter disregard of all taste or arrangement.
The large village, or town of Varoschia is an important adjunct to
Famagousta, from which it is hardly separated. It was originally founded
by the Venetian Christians, who were expelled from Famagousta after the
Turkish conquest. There is a large Greek Church, extensive bazaars, and
several manufactures of pottery, for which the locality is celebrated.
We saw a vessel loading in the harbour entirely with these--jars,
water-bottles, dishes, &c.--but the earthen-ware is of a coarse
description, and the quality of the clay does not admit of sufficient
porosity for the purpose of cooling water or of filtering, like the
Egyptian ware; at the same time it is not sufficiently impervious for
the retention of wine or oil without a considerable loss by absorption.
Varoschia has been always celebrated for a large production of a high
quality of silk, but the quantity has fallen off, as in all other parts
of the island. There are some good houses in this thriving and busy
little town, and it is said that decent accommodation may be had; but I
preferred the cleanliness and independence of our own tent.
Varoschia is not much healthier than Famagousta, as it suffers from the
same cause, in addition to an enormous accumulation of filth on the
heights at the rear of the town. If this were carefully stored to manure
the numerous gardens, it would be profitably utilised; but it belongs to
nobody in particular, and is a public nuisance. A fine should be
inflicted upon the municipal authorities in the sanitary interests of
the population, and the refuse of the neighbourhood should be
periodically collected into heaps and burned. Captain Inglis and the
various British officials moved their quarters from Famagousta to the
healthy village of Derinia, about three miles distant, during our stay
near Varoschia. The new station is to the south-west of the port, and
completely beyond the influence of the marshes, the elevation being
about 250 feet above the sea. Should this locality become a permanently
healthy settlement, the sanitary difficulty of our position will be
considerably modified, as the troops might be quartered at Derinia in
time of peace, and even during war they would be immediately within
call.
A lake exists about three miles inland from Famagousta, which is between
four and five miles in circumference; the water is fresh, but
exceedingly shallow and impure, the edges covered with high reeds, which
extend for several hundred yards from the shore. This lake swarms with
varieties of water-fowl, which can only be shot by wading and waiting
concealed in the high cover of rushes and tamarisk, as they are
exceedingly wary. Commander Hammond, of H.M.S. Torch, bagged thirty-five
ducks to his own gun upon one occasion, by thus challenging the fever
and remaining hip-deep in the muddy water for some hours. I did not feel
disposed to risk the chances of malaria, as the effluvium from the mud
was sufficiently offensive even when walking round the margin, and I
already felt some warning symptoms of the heavy atmosphere of
Famagousta, which might, if neglected, have terminated in ague.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 50 of 140
Words from 50279 to 51303
of 143016
