comes of the claims of the treasury? They are either not satisfied, which cripples the treasury, or in being satisfied they cripple the peasant. Until the peasant has become more provident, and places his savings where a bad year does not affect them, or until land is a sure source of credit at all times, it will be wiser for the treasury to accept the risk of the seasons with the cultivators, and defend itself against the consequences of a bad year by encashing larger revenues in a good one. The treasury will frequently find compensation for one bad crop in the goodness of another; but under the system of a fixed average tithe this advantage is lost. The tithe due by the unfortunate cultivator becomes a bad debt for which there is no compen sation from his more fortunate neighbor. Some years ago it was the intention of the Sublime Porte, yielding to the outcry of Western critics, to substitute for the revenue of dime a tax of four per mille upon the estimated value of all lands, cultivated or uncultivated; and in Cyprus all the necessary estimations were made. To the peasant proprietor this system would generally be advantageous, because, as a rule, he possesses little uncultivated land, but even he regarded the change with disfavor, as he would become subject to the danger of capricious evaluation. I have entered at some length into this question for two reasons: firstly, because the revenue from tithes is the most important in the island, and, secondly, because I have reason to believe that the idea of imitating the Indian treatment of the question has found considerable favor in influential quarters. I do not deny the expediency of freeing agriculture from the inconveniences of the tithe-collector; all I insist upon is that any conversion into a fixed and invariable money value will be dangerous to both treasury and island until land has got to be a sure and good source of credit; and that any other substitute, such as a fixed rate upon valuations arbitrarily established, or a tax per pair of bullocks, is certain to prove in great measure unjust. In the preceding remarks I have not spoken except of a real dime or tenth part, but it is right to say that the Turkish government in its extreme impecuniosity exacted during recent years an eighth part. As the British government happily is not in a similar condition, its first fiscal measure ought to be the reduction of "dime to its true proportion of a tenth part, and this reduction will be most highly es teemed. The dimes of Cyprus were leased to the highest bidder. When leased as one lot they invariably fell into the hands of a Turkish, Armenian, or Greek banker of Constantinople. But in recent years the Sublime Porte, before adjudging them at Constantinople, authorized the governor of the island to receive and transmit local offers, and these offers were generally made for the dimes divided into five portions-the dimes of the Messorie, of Larnaca, Limasol, Paphos, and Kyrinia. In this way a very advantageous competition was established. The smaller the lots into which the dimes were divided the greater the number of competitors. The dimes were leased from the 13th of March of each year, but it was never found expedient to adjudicate them until after the "latter" rains of spring, when the prospects of the agricultural year could be fairly estimated. The treasury had no expense whatever in the collection. The revenue from the dimes is certain to increase rapidly and considerably, and this will afford the treasury an opportunity of favoring by reductions certain products which it may be for the interest of the country to encourage. Thus it will be very wise to abolish all dimes upon the product of trees. The loss from such a measure will not amount to 7.000l. per annum, and the advantage will be immense in encouraging the plantation of trees the surest remedy against drought. It will also greatly facilitate the collection of the revenue, for the tax upon the fruit of trees is paid in very small sums, and gives a disproportionate amount of trouble. We now come to the taxes direct and indirect, but it may be well to draw attention to the fact, that in the salt and dime revenues we have found more than half of all the revenues of the island. Of indirect taxes that derived from customs is the most important. The customs tarif established by treaty represents eight per cent. upon all imports and one per cent. upon all exports. The justice of these proportions it is difficult to prove the inconvenience of it is very great. Thus the collection of an export duty of one per cent. is scarcely worth the trouble - the gain is nearly all expended in collection, and great trouble is given to the merchant for very little benefit to the treasury. There appears to be only one of two things to do, either to diminish the import duty and increase proportionately the export duty, or, better still, abolish the export duty. The custom-house administration in Turkey is exceptionally good, and greatly better in the provinces than at Constantinople. The system of accounts gives an effective control, and the fact that all the employés of the custom-house are punctually paid out of encashments before these are accounted for to the treasury has had a great influence in raising the standard of integrity in that branch of the civil service in Turkey. To his Excellency Kiani Pasha are due the reforms in the custom-house service, and while he was at its head the comptabilité of the department was quite equal to that of most European countries. The new administrators of Cyprus will find it an easy task to continue the work of reform which his Excellency so well began. The monopoly of weighing and measuring produces about 2,300l. per annun. This revenue is leased out by the government annually in the same way as the dimes, but it is a revenue which ought to be devoted to municipal purposes. Stamps and a fee upon the transfer of property produce about 3,300l. This revenue may with advantage be considerably increased, and indeed the increase is justified by the better commercial facilities and superior administration of justice which are assured by British rule. Since I left the island a tobacco monopoly has been instituted, which yielded in 1875, 3.300/., and in 1876, 7,000l. All such institutions are, however, in direct antagonism to British notions, and only justifiable when extreme financial pressure exists. The chief direct tax is one called "verghi," which is a personal tax levied upon all householders and bread-winners in the island. The treasury does not directly either apportion or collect the tax. Each village has to contribute a fixed amount to the treasury, for the payment of which the villagers as a whole are responsible. The notables of the village apportion the quantum of the tax to be paid by each breadwinner according to his means, and as they judge just. As may be imagined, absolute justice is not always meted out, but on the other hand it would be difficult to find a better system. Proportionately, the well-to-do pay less than the laboring man, for the simple reason that the former have most to do with the distribution of the tax. The sum usually paid by a working man not proprietor of land, is about twelve shillings per annum. His gross income may be estimated at twelve pounds, so that the tax represents an income tax, without deductions, of one shilling per pound. Few of the peasant farmers, how ever, paid more than two pounds ten shillings, and as their incomes frequently amount to one hundred pounds, their personal contribution only represented an income-tax of sixpence per pound. The large proprietors, not peasants, did not contribute their just share of this tax, and the Mohammedan proprietors especially got off easily. It will be necessary to obtain accurate statistics of the contributions of each class, and adjust the burden more equitably. Many of the villages will be found to be considerably in arrear of their payments. Years of drought always left their mark in arrears of village contributions, and considerable sums must be due to the Porte from this cause. I hope, however, that the Porte will forego all such claims, as it would be impossible to allow the Turkish authorities to prosecute them, and very disagreeable for British agents to exact them. In the majority of cases, the villagers would contest the exactitude of the account furnished, invoking payments made to the provincial treasurers which were misappropriated. A tax upon sheep and goats produced a revenue of 6.000l. net. This tax was leased annually by the government in the same manner as the tithes of land. If I remember right, the amount paid for each sheep or goat was four-and-a-half piastres annually, while the average value of each animal at that time was only thirty piastres, and the annual income from it did not exceed twenty piastres. As the proprietor of a flock of about six hundred head, I found the tax exorbitantly heavy; but the peasant shepherds relieve themselves from great part of its burden by cheating the collector in regard to the number of their flocks. The rate fixed was the same all over the Turkish empire, and this produced great injustice, as the sheep of Roumelia are worth three times as much as those of Cyprus. The last item of revenue which has to be mentioned is the indemnity paid by the Christian population for exemption from military service. Either this tax upon the Christian population must now be abol ished or it must be extended to the Mohammedan population as well; seeing that both will in future be exempted from military service. The sum produced by the tax is only 7,000l., and it would seem most expedient to abolish it altogether. From this brief and general survey of the taxation of Cyprus under Turkish rule there appears to me to be much cause for satisfaction to the British taxpayer. We have seen that the revenue derived from the island amounts to about 180,000l., and | vessel being obliged to go out to sea for that nearly a quarter of the whole is de- safety. January and February are gener rived from a property belonging exclu- ally the most stormy months, and it then sively to the government, and which is frequently happens that ships in the roadvery slightly burthensome to the inhabi- steads can hold no communication with tants of the island. The tithes contribute the shore during several days. But there more than one-third of the whole, and this is no especial danger whatever in ironsource of revenue is certain to increase in clads or any seaworthy vessel with good proportion to the development of the agri- anchors lying off Larnaca, Limasol, or cultural resources of the island. Customs Famagusta, in the worst of the winter contribute 23,000l., and this income will months. At Famagusta the Venetians also be largely augmented from the im- had a little harbor of sufficient size to hold portations necessitated by a greatly in- a small fleet of ships of the tonnage of that creased population. British administration day. The harbor is now much filled up, will certainly be more costly than that of but at a moderate expense could be the Turkish government, but as a set-off cleared and repaired. The sea-wall is still against that increase there will be an en-sufficient to cause calm water within the larged income. It will only, therefore, be harbor, and I remember a French steamer mismanagement which can make Cyprus a of the Frassinet Company entering the burden to the imperial treasury, and the remedy for this mismanagement will speedily be found when accounts are published. The only urgent necessity is that the accounts connected with the general administration of the island should not be mixed up with those which concern imperial interests. For works of general utility, such as irrigation, roads, and government offices, the local administration may well be debited with the interest upon the capital thus judiciously and economically expended, but the imperial treasury alone has to support the cost of barrack accomwodation, a harbor for ironclads, and military depots. It has frequently been said that Cyprus is unsuitable for imperial purposes in consequence of its complete want of harbors, in which the British fleet may find shelter. This defect must be acknowledged, but it is, I think, greatly exaggerated. In all the roadsteads on the southern coast of the island ships have the very best holdingground, and, with proper care, may ride out any storm without the least danger. It is otherwise on the northern coast, where the sea-room is more restricted; but the northern coast will never be of value for imperial purposes. The great disadvantage of the roadsteads upon the southern coast is the shallowness of the water, which runs out a considerable distance from the shore, and over which an ugly surf breaks in stormy weather. Anchored within the line of that surf, no vessel will hold in a storm, and in consequence native craft which have not enough of chain to lie outside come ashore yearly in considerable numbers; but during the nine years of my residence in Cyprus no casualty occurred to a European vessel at anchor, nor do I ever remember any such harbor and lying in it for some days, when undergoing repairs which could only be made in calm water. I confess that I cannot pretend to be a compe tent authority, but I feel convinced that no difficulty will be experienced in greatly enlarging the Venetian harbor of Famagusta, and providing good shelter there for large vessels. Such a harbor will be an immense boon to the shipping which fre quents that part of the Mediterranean, for there is no shelter for vessels along all the coast of Syria. Any outlay, therefore, incurred in the construction of a harbor at Famagusta would confer great advantages upon very extensive shipping interests, and in a few years a revenue of some im portance might be obtained from harbor dues. Famagusta also presents great advantages for a military depot. In the time of the Venetians it must have sufficed for a population of fully thirty thousand inhabitants, and the walls of most of the houses are still standing. The town is surrounded by a ditch, and inclosed within well-built walls of strong masonry, which are in good repair. For the accommodation of a garrison of ten thousand men little more would be needed than restoring the stones to their former places, covering the houses, and delivering the place from the stagnant pools which surround it and the mounds of débris which encumber it. Famagusta might thus be come the imperial military station, while Leufcosia or Nicosia, in the centre of the island, was the seat of the local government. With all these "dry-as-dust" details about taxes and administration my readers must be sufficiently tired, and will feel pleased to change the subject. Equally glad were my sister and I to vary our life grateful shade of the wooded valleys through which we pass, the fine grain crops, and the well-tilled land prepared for cotton, we may easily comprehend the wealth of the past, and indulge in hopes for the future. After enjoying the hospitable cheer of Mrs. Matei, and sleeping comfortably without unpacking our beds, we start next morning, as soon as it is day, for Leufcosia or Nicosia, the capital of the island, three-and-a-half hours distant. About half-way we come upon a large bed of oyster-shells-jolly big oysters, such as are got in England, not the puny ones of Constantinople — and in the first moments of surprise we feel inclined to ask what oystermonger has been throwing out his shells here. Getting down, we pick up some of the finest specimens, thoroughly petrified, and in no danger of giving an indigestion, and look around to see where the sea was which left these disconsolate esculents stranded high and dry. We see ourselves in the midst of a remarkable country of hill and valley, which seems to speak of volcanic action during which the sea retired, and left dry land between the Bay of Morphou and that of Salamis. --- in Cyprus with a yearly excursion of three | our cavalcade passing, and the contrast weeks into the interior of the island. reminds us that the world has not everyEvery year we went as much as possible where been progressing. But in the over new ground, and so got to know the island from end to end. I hope many of my readers may decide upon following our example, and I desire for them a great treat when I wish them as much happiness as we experienced. It was always about the middle of April when we started, just as settled weather might be fairly expected, and when the trees were still clad in foliage, the mountain streams boisterous in their fulness, and the fields rich in waying corn, or carpeted in green. Our preparations were simple, for we made up our minds before starting to become, for the time being, children of nature, accepting the homely fare with which the land could furnish us. The only exception in this respect was in providing ourselves with coffee, tea, claret, and brandy · the last only for medicinal purposes. Each had a travelling-bed, which folded into small compass, with its pliable mattress, pillows, sheets, and quilt; and the cavalcade, as it started, was as follows. First a muleteer on his donkey, which all followed, and which was always the freshest at the end of the day's journey. Next came, on a mule, my cawass Hasen, bristling with pistols and dangling a sword, from vanity, not necessity; then your humble servant on his own horse, and my sister on hers. The worthy old Arab groom, Mohammed, who followed on a mule, would allow no one ever to interpose between him and my sister's horse, which he watched with a kind of paternal solicitude. Next came Jacob, my servant, factotum, and paymaster; and behind him a muleteer, on his donkey, followed by a pack-mule, with the beds and bedding. Thus we started about two o'clock in the afternoon, and made our first halt at the hospitable country-seat of an Italian gentleman and large landed proprietor at Nisso, four hours distant from Larnaca. On the way we had passed through the ancient Idalium, and just as we entered it had looked up to a slight rising ground on the left, where was the site of the temple of Venus, which I uncovered, thus recalling pleasant reminiscenes of intensely interesting days. All the valley lying to the left of the village of Dali was a vast cemetery, which the men of Dali turned over. The beautiful earrings of gold and the elegant vases which these tombs contained, speak of a wealth and refinement in past days far greater than is to be found amongst the simple Daliotes who crowd around to see Just as the sun begins to feel warm we are passing on our left a little village in no way very attractive, and notice two or three men and women approach us asking alms. Had we been on the other road to Nicosia by Athienou, similar poor creatures would have offered us a drink of water from an aqueduct which crosses the road. From the noses, in some, eaten away, and in others, the fingers rapidly disappearing, we shudder before the sad victims of leprosy, which in these poor creatures we see before us, and then learn that that little village is solely inhabited by lepers, who procure themselves a liveli. hood by begging alms and cultivating a little soil around the village. It is a sad sight to notice the different stages of the disease. Some are still comparatively fresh and fair, upon others the gradual death has made considerable progress. And yet, how insensible they seem to the dreadful reality! They clamor for food, and seem as thoughtless as other men. We are glad when, a few minutes past this village, we find ourselves on the breast of a plateau, and see Nicosia lying before us, in what seems nearly the centre of a valley at the base of the rugged peaked hills of the northern range of mountains. The view is very picturesque, and espe cially striking, because it comes upon us the Five Fingers, from its resemblance to unexpectedly. The tall minarets of the the half-closed fist, with the thumb extendonce Catholic Cathedral of St. Sophia, the ed. The next is Mount Buffavento, three zinc roofs of the Greek churches glisten- thousand two hundred feet above the level ing in the sunshine, and the rich foliage of the sea. On the summit of the next is which surrounds all the houses, invest the the ruin of an old castle, and close to it first view of Nicosia with a peculiar charm. | the one hundred chambers cut out of the A quarter-of-an-hour's further ride brings rock. Along all that range of mountains us to the city gateway. The town is com- are found quarries of stone, excellent for pletely surrounded by a ditch and well-building, and most durable. In Nicosia built fortifications. It is entered by four we find ourselves in the centre of a great gateways, that of Larnaca, Famagusta, plain, richly covered with grain, and Kyrinia, and Morpho. The gate of Lar-stretching for sixty miles from sea to sea. naca, through which we are now passing, The highest point of the southern range, looks as if it belonged to primeval times. five thousand three hundred and eighty It is formed of massive, rough-cut wood, feet, is still glistening with snow, and richly of about nine inches thick, and the primi- covered with pines. tive fastening is simply a large, square-cut beam, fastened on a pivot to the one half of the door, and inserted, when closed, into an iron catch upon the other. When we enter the town, all the beauty which we saw from the outside is dispelled. We pass along ill-paved, narrow streets, the nasal organs rapidly attest that no attention is paid to the cleansing of the town, and the ruined houses here and the broken aqueducts there serve as a signboard to declare that we are in the neglected.domains of the crescent and the star. With difficulty we pass through the bazaars, which are crowded with donkeys, mules, and camels bringing produce, and a noisy rabble squabbling over their sales and purchases. From this troublesome crowd, after. having rested and refreshed ourselves, we gladly repair to the Church of St. Sophia. The iron chain under which we must stoop in order to enter reminds us disagreeably, as it is intended to do, that this once Christian cathedral is now sacred to Mohammed. The change has affected the architecture as disagreeably as it does our feelings. The minarets blemish the external view just as the dirty mats, faded carpets, and trumpery pulpits destroy the interior. It requires some effort of the imagination to restore the building in thought to its once solemn and sacred aspect, when during three centuries the kings of Cyprus were crowned within its walls with royal pageant. We venture, with considerable misgiving, to disturb the repose of myriads of fleas, and cause to be uncovered the marble slabs on the floor which mark the graves of some of the Lusignan kings. But we are glad to get up into the minarets, and look out upon the grand beauties of nature which are before us. The peaks of the northern range of hills are very fantastic in their cutting. One is called Pentadactylon, or The next afternoon we start for Bellapais, or Dellapais, a convent built in the time of the Lusignans for white-robed nuns. We cross the ridge of hills by a pass near the village of Dikom, and, after winding through wooded valleys for nearly an hour, get the first view of the fine ruins. We go at once inside, and pass to the left, into what was the refectory. Hardly can we tear ourselves away from the exquisite view which meets our eye on looking out from the windows. I will not attempt to describe it. The common sentiment which rises to our lips is that here we would like to stay. It is not like Naples, it is not like Constantinople, it is not like the Lebanon, but it is a sweet sylvan scene which speaks of peace and plenty. Ere many months pass I doubt not the old monastery will have been restored to its pristine completeness, and will shelter British functionaries instead of the white-robed nuns of the past. On leaving the monastery we accepted the hospitality of a very quaint but worthy man, Haggi Sava, a notable of the village, blessed with the luxury of a onestoryed house in the midst of a dense orchard of fruit-trees of every kind. On another occasion, in the month of September, in walking through these orchards I was astonished to observe the ground thickly strewed with fallen bitter oranges, and wondered why this waste. On inquiry it was explained to me that it was not worth while gathering them, for the price which they could obtain in Nicosia barely covered the cost of carriage. My sister thought this would be a paradise to marmalade Keiller of Dundee. The fruittrees are chiefly, and in some cases only, valued for their flowers, from which are made deliciously fragrant waters. The caroub and olive trees are in great abundance in this district, and our host gathers yearly, from his own property, two hundred |