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us; upon which we must pay a tax of 10 per cent., at the same time that the risks of insects, rats, and the expenses of gathering remain to the debit of the garden. In fact, " said the poor old monks, "our produce is a trouble to us, as personally we derive no benefit; the public eat the fruit, and the government eats the taxes. " There were curious distinctions and exceptions in this arbitrary form of taxation : if a fruit-tree grew within the monastery courtyard it was exempt ; thus the great walnut-tree beneath which we camped was free. It was really cheering to find that we wereçl living under some object that was not taxed in I Cyprus; but the monk continued, and somewhat 1 dispelled the illusion ... " This tree produced in one year 20,000 walnuts, and it averages from 12,000 toe 15,000; but when the crops of our other trees arefl estimated, the official valuer always insists upon a false-j maximum, so as to include the crop of the courtyard walnut in the total amount for taxation. " The potatoes, like all other horticultural productions, are valued while growing, and the same system of extravagant estimate is pursued. This system is a blight of the gravest character upon the local industry of the inhabitants, and it is a suicidal and unstatesmanlike policy that crushes and extinguishes all enterprise. What Englishman would submit to such a prying and humiliating position ? And still it is expected that the resources of the island will be developed by British capital ! The great want for the supply of the principal towns is marketgardens. Imagine an English practical market-gardener fresh from the ten-mile radius of Covent Garden, where despatch and promptitude mean fortune and successe

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