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326 C YPRUS IN 1879. [CHAP. XII favour, and the children invariably hastened to theirt mother with their earnings at the close of the afteri noon. When the camp and monastery surrounding*! were in perfect order there was no longer any rei munerative employment for the family, except the uncertain and occasional work of collecting wild flowers for the tent and table. The myrtles bloomed in early July, and in the deep ravine by the waterfall the oleanders were then still in blossom. Several plants which were strange to me were added to the collection ; the days were generally passed by the children in minding the numerous goats until the evening, when each child brought some simple offering of flowers. W e bought sheep from the low country at about sixfi or seven shillings each, and Vathoo was the special shepherdess of our small flock, for which she was responsible; they were invariably driven out at 4 A.M.* and brought home at 8 to avoid the sun, and again taken out from 4 P.M. till 7. In this simple manner we passed our time at Trooditissa ; my amusements were my small garden, writing an account of Cyprus, and strolling over the mountains : the latter occupation being most unprofitable, as I destroyed all my boots upon the horrible surface of loose stones, in which there was little geological interest, as they were all gneiss and syenite, cracked and starred during a process of subaquean cooling. The deplorable aspect of the otherwise beautiful mountains was occasioned by the wholesale and wilful destruction of pine-trees, which is the Cypriote's baneful characteristic, and as this is one of the most important subjects in the modern history of the island, I shall devote the following special chapter entirely to the question of " Woods and Forests. "

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