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Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 289

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black Cyprus wine, reeking of tar and half-rotten goat-skins, in which it had been brought to market—a stuff that I could not have swallowed ! It must therefore be borne in mind when judging of Cyprian wines, that " English taste does not govern the world. " Although the British market would be closed to the coarse and ill-made wines of Cyprus, there are other markets which accept them gladly, and would absorb them to a high degree, were they improved by superior cultivation and manufacture. At the same time that the produce of Cyprus is now unsuitable to the English market, there is no reason why it should be excluded at a future time, when scientific culture shall have enhanced the quality. It should be remembered that the poorer classes of Great Britain would be immensely benefited by a beverage that should be within their reach in price,! and at the same time be sufficiently invigorating with-1 out the direct intoxicating properties of spirits or the | sleepy, heavy, and thirst-increasing qualities of beer. 2 If Cyprus is at some future time to become a British colony, the wine trade will be the principal source ofI industry, and should be developed by the government with every possible encouragement to the proprietors of vineyards. A n improved quality of wine will not necessitate an additional price, but, on the contrary, the wine-growing resources of the island are so irrepressible that they have withstood the oppresJ sion of the past and present, and when relieved of this incubus, not only should the quality improve, but the price should be reduced. In this case, should the Cyprian produce be favoured by a nominal import duty in England, the wine will be within the reach of the poorer classes, and may ameliorate that crying evil

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