View PDF version of this page

be sold by weight as fire-wood at their various portsi He had protested in vain, there were no police, nel any means of resistance at Cape St. Andrea, therefore* the numerous crews had defied him ; and small presents from the owners of the vessels to the Pacha at head-1 quarters were sufficient to ensure immunity. " I asked him " why they wasted so much excellent fire-wood, and left the boughs to hamper the surface ? " He replied, " that as the wood was sold by weight, the dealers preferred to cut the thick stems, as they packed closely on board the vessels, and, being green, they weighed heavy; therefore they rejected the smaller wood and left it to rot upon the ground. " He declared " that on several occasions the crews had quarrelled, and tha from pure spite they had set fire to the thick mass dried boughs and lighter wood which had spread ovei the surface, and destroyed immense numbers of youn trees. " I had observed that large tracts had bee burnt during the preceding year. He was delighte at the English occupation, as his property would no be protected, and in a few years the trees would attain a considerable size. Having passed an interesting afternoon with the new ecclesiastical acquaintance, and tasted, immediately after his departure, the contents of his enormous bottle (which was as instantly presented, as a " great treat, " to ^ the servants), we lighted our big ' bonfires, and enjoyed the blaze like children, although the showers of red sparks threatened the destruction of the tent in the absence of Captain Shaw and the London Fire Brigade. After this temporary excitement in this utter-lack-of-incident-and-everyday-monotonous-island, the fires gradually subsided, and we all went to sleep. There is no necessity in Cyprus for sentries or night

View PDF version of this page