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thirds who are ordinarily exempt, you have 36,000. Still I neither believed the estimate to be correct nor the number of inhabitants to be so small, so I set it down as 40,000. But a letter from Signor Stefano Saraf, an old inhabitant of Cyprus, dated September 2, 1771, showed me that I had omitted to include the Turks. Further information in his possession, derived from the assessment of kharaj made in 1767, led hin? to put the total population at 120,000. - § IV. The Year of the Venetian Occupation. The Venetians succeeded to the administration of the island from 1475, after tne death of King Jacques III, son of Caterina Cornaro. The republic then aspired to absolute rule, and proposed to the Queen that she should retire to Venice with the royal title, resigning the administration into their hands. She had no great inclination so to do, but as the Venetians had already command of the troops and the fortresses at last she gave her consent. The eloquent persuasiveness of her brother George Cornaro, who had been specially sent from Venice, and arrived in Cyprus January 24, 1489, greatly influenced her decision. He was followed by General Francesco Priuli, who anchored his fleet at Famagusta February 21, 1489. The matter then was quickly arranged. On February 15th Caterina came from Nicosia to Famagusta, and on the 26th, after celebration of the Mass of the Holy Spirit, resigned the kingdom into the hands of General Priuli, consigning to him at the same time the standard of the republic, which was immediately hoisted in the square of Famagusta. Two days later, February 28, 1489, the cession was formally completed: the Commissioners of the republic swore that the kingdom should be still governed according to the Assise or Laws of Jerusalem, and the nobles of Cyprus swore allegiance to the republic, in the presence of the Commissioners. The c. M. т. 10 xx vi] Sundry Notes on Cyprus 145

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