Departure of the Author for Europe--Arrival at Larnaka,
in Cyprus--Hospitality of M. Vondiziano, British
vice-consul--Tours in the island--Leucosia--The Greek
archbishop--City walls--Lepers--Cytherea--Monastery of
St. Chrysostom--Famagusta--Return to Larnaka--Carnival
amusements--Houses--Amour of Signor Baldo--Murder of Prince
George Morusi--History of Signor Brunoni--Cypriote women
not remarkable for beauty--Superstitious notions--The
Greek archbishop and his dragoman Giorgaki--Insurrection
of Turks--How quelled by Cara Pasha--Pusillanimity of
the consuls--Thunder-storm--Lenten diet--Malignant
fevers--Excursion in the interior--Idalia--Leucosia--M.
Brens--Robbery in the governor’s palace--Proceedings against the
suspected--Intolerance towards freemasons.
On Saturday, January 18th, 1817, at two o’clock in the morning, I took
leave of Lady Hester, Miss Williams, and Mr. N.; and, after a short
night’s rest, mounted my horse soon after sunrise, and departed from
Abra (may I be excused for saying it?) amidst the tears and good wishes
of the peasants, who followed me with blessings to the end of the
village green. M. Beaudin accompanied me, he having returned from Acre
on the 29th of December.
We passed the tomb of Nebby Yunez (the Prophet Jonas), after it the
river Damûr, and, at sunset, stopped at the Guffer el Naamy, abreast
of the village of Naamy, which is on the hill, and from which the
Guffer, or toll-house, takes its name. Our provision mule was better
stocked than usual, and we made an excellent dinner on cold pasty of
gazelle-venison, tarts, and plum-cake, besides cold fowls, and some
other good things, with which Miss Williams was desirous of making my
last day’s travelling in Syria agreeable.
Next morning at daylight we mounted our horses, and, about a quarter
of a mile from the Guffer, we passed a cemetery, which is called Kebûr
el Yahûd (the Jews’ tombs). It is nearly facing a ruined tower, called
Burge el Rehán (the myrtle tower). The greater part of these tombs are
oblong parallelograms, simply hollowed out of the rock; but others were
elevated above its level, by having the rock cut away around them.
To go from Guffer el Naamy to Beyrout took us four hours. The ride
was very beautiful during the last two hours, on a sandy soil, amidst
olive plantations, and where the cultivation of the land was evidently
attended to.
We were received in the house of the British agent. I was fortunate
enough to find a schooner in the roads, bound for Cyprus, on board of
which I took my passage. The vessel was Greek, from Eno, commanded by
Captain Gregorio; but, as she was not to sail immediately, I returned
on shore. M. Beaudin left me the next day. The British agent had just
been very properly exercising his consular authority on a Venetian
adventurer, who had endeavoured to pass himself off as a British
officer of infantry, wearing regimentals. His right to the dress was
disputed, and he was obliged to doff it.
On Tuesday, January 21st, just before sunset, I embarked. There were
on board thirty-five passengers, Turkish pilgrims on their return from
Mecca. I had paid for a berth in the cabin, which was only nine feet
square; but, as my luggage was stowed away there, and there were four
Turks cabin passengers besides myself, I resolved to sleep on deck,
although the season was not that in which exposure to the night air is
agreeable. The long-boat was hoisted in and put amidships, into which
also four Turks immediately got, two of whom seemed to be very sick
from the motion of the vessel, as I then thought. We put to sea with
little wind. About three in the morning, a northerly breeze sprung up,
and carried us on under reefed topsails. I lay down on the lee-side of
the deck, wrapped up in my lambskin pelisse, which made an excellent
bed.
On Wednesday, the 22nd, when daylight broke, everybody was sea-sick.
About two o’clock in the afternoon, we saw Cyprus. The wind continued
fresh, and at sunset we were within five or six leagues of Larnaka.
We hauled off for the night. I lay down on the deck as before, but was
prevented from sleeping by groans which came from the long-boat, and,
on inquiring what was the matter, I found that the two Turks who were
ill had the dysentery. Soon afterwards one died; and the melancholy
situation of the other was augmented by the intolerable effluvia, which
it was impossible to prevent. A young Turk, ragged and poor, but of
very interesting mien, was remarkable for the attention which he had
paid to the two sick men, and now continued to the survivor, although
he was himself dreadfully sea-sick: nor shall ever my testimony be
wanting to the exemplary conduct and obedience which old age invariably
receives from the Mahometan youth, relation or not, known or unknown.
At daylight we anchored in Larnaka roads. The dead Turk was immediately
conveyed on shore, but not to the usual landing-place, lest the
knowledge of a death in so short a passage should excite suspicions of
plague, and cause the vessel to be put under quarantine; a precaution,
which the preponderance the Greeks and Franks had in the island enabled
them to enforce, but which was so easily evaded. I did not, however,
wish to leave any uneasiness, from subsequent discovery, in the mind
of the gentleman to whose house I was going, and I accordingly wrote
a note to say that a Turk had died of dysentery during our passage,
and that there was no suspicion of plague in the case. Mr. Anthony
Vondiziano, the British vice-consul, relied on my assertion, and
received me forthwith into his house at Larnaka.
A Cephalonian by birth, he settled early at Cyprus, where he married
the daughter of the English dragoman, by whom he had now six daughters.
This increase of family induced him to build a pavilion, over the
gateway of his courtyard and away from the house, entirely for the
reception of strangers; and as so many English have lived in it, and as
besides it may serve for a specimen of the modern edifices of Cyprus, a
drawing of it is given.
[Illustration: ENGLISH CONSUL’S HOUSE AT LARNAKA.]
M. Vondiziano has often been mentioned by travellers for the hospitable
reception which he gave to the English. An ample fortune enabled him
to do this with less inconvenience than some others who represented
the British nation: but this circumstance ought not to diminish the
feeling of obligation for hospitality exercised sometimes (as in my own
person), for weeks and even months together.
The arrival of a traveller at the consular house is generally a signal
for visits from all those who are in habits of friendship with the
consul, impelled by curiosity and the desire of news. Four or five days
were thus consumed, in which time I had made the acquaintance of half
the people of the place.
A common subject of conversation for the entertainment of travellers
is the history of those who have preceded them in the same route. Some
gentlemen would be pleased to hear the things that were said of them;
but I shall be excused from mentioning personal anecdotes, excepting
where they have some reference to Eastern customs.[104]
As there was no vessel about to sail for Europe, I resolved to make an
excursion into the interior of the island.
On Monday, January 28th, accompanied by Giovanni, (whom I had brought
with me from Syria) I left Larnarka for Leucosia, the capital of the
island, and called by the Franks Nicosia. The weather was cold, and,
although I was clad in my lambskin pelisse, my fingers became quite
benumbed. The first part of the road lay through a few fields of
onions, artichokes, and other vegetables, cultivated for the supply of
Larnaka market and of the vessels in the roads: but there were no trees
whatever, and the soil had a bare appearance, being half covered with
shingles. Two leagues from Larnaka we crossed the river Parthenia, and
reached some low hills running apparently from the north-east side of
the bay of Larnaka to the conical mountain now called _the Mountain
of the Cross_. At the distance of four leagues, we arrived at
Athegainos (pronounced by the modern Greeks Atheyanós), where we were
to sleep.
Athegainos was a straggling village, containing probably seventy or
eighty houses: it was nevertheless one of the largest on the island,
the whole population of which it is said does not exceed 15,000 souls.
Each cottage was enclosed by a very large yard, hedged in by a fence of
prickly acacias, forming three sides of it, the fourth being buildings.
The entrance was by large folding gates. Within, was a small room for
travellers, the only furniture of which was a deal table placed on
trestles to sleep on, with a cushion and mat on it. The floor was mud,
uneven as the soil out of doors. Beyond this was a cow-lodge; then the
cottage for the family, a stable for the mules, a straw room, and a
lodge; in all five: the whole built of sunburnt bricks, with flat roofs
on rafters covered with canes laid close together. There was a well in
the yard. Such was the construction of all the houses in the village.
The peasants there had but one occupation, that of carriers, owing
to their central situation between Larnaka and Leucosia. They, their
wives, and children, seemed filthy in their persons and habits. They
however ate with knives and forks, sat on chairs, and slept on beds
raised from the ground: in all which circumstances they differed from
the Christians and Turks of Syria, and by some persons will, on that
account, be supposed to be further advanced in civilization.
We left Athegainos early in the morning, and, at a small distance on
the left, passed a mountain of about a mile long, in shape like an
inverted hog-trough. Two or three others, of the same form, might be
seen in different directions. On the left was a small conical mountain,
the top of which looked like a ruin, but it was the strata of the rock
which assumed that appearance. Beyond it was a stream, called Zalia;
but neither this nor the one passed on the preceding day flows in
summer.
A long range of mountains lay before us, stretching from the north part
of the island to the level of Leucosia. Our road was west, somewhat
northerly. Near the stream of Zalia was a Turkish village, and over the
stream a small but neat bridge. The valley through which the Zalia
runs had scattered olive trees planted in it; and we saw near the road,
on the right and on the left, two single houses of three stories high,
larger and better-looking than any we had yet observed out of Larnaka.
These, my guide told me, belonged to Turkish agas, or gentlemen.
The face of the country had hitherto varied but little from a level,
and the chain of low hills over which we had come was approached by so
gradual a rise, and quitted by so gentle a descent, as to be almost
imperceptible. In about two hours, we came in sight of the minarets
of Leucosia, of which I counted seven. Two of these, belonging to the
church of St. Sophia, towered above the others. Within a quarter of
a mile of the city, upon the brow of an elevation, we enjoyed a full
view of the place, which, from the number of palm and cypress trees
interspersed among the houses, wore a picturesque appearance. The
walls, I observed, were broader at the base than the summit. Close to
the gate of the city was an infirmary for lepers--a small house, from
which pitiable objects, consuming with disease, issued, to the number
of thirty or forty, importuning for alms. A long, vaulted gateway,
lighted half way through by a pierced dome, led us into the streets.
The custom-house officer, placed at the entrance, questioned me on
my luggage, but suffered me to proceed. We turned short to the left
into the Christian quarter, where lived the archbishop, to whom I
had a letter of introduction. On alighting, I was ushered into his
presence by several priests, and found a man about forty-five years
old, handsome in person, and richly attired in a sable pelisse. His
address was pleasing; and, when he had read the letter I presented,
he received me with much politeness, expressing great regard for the
British nation. But, as French travellers, and those of other nations,
relate that the like expressions have been used to them, it will be
excusable if we suppose that the natural urbanity of the priest caused
him to give an equal share of civility to all strangers. His name was
Cyprianus, and he had sprung from a peasant family.
Coffee and pipes were served, after which, it being now noon, the time
of the first repast of the Orientals, we went to table. If a number
of servants could constitute greatness, this prelate might vie with
the first duke in England; for we had no fewer than twenty to wait
at table, and I was told that he had fifty in the palace. The repast
was what is called excellent in Turkey, but would seem strange to a
European.
The archbishop received great reverence from his followers. No Greek
sat down in his presence, except when commanded to do so. Such as
entered the room prostrated themselves (which means that they bent
forward until they touched the floor with their hands), and bared the
head, a degree of servility which the Turks, their masters, have not
exacted from them, proving that men, when tyrannized over, become
themselves vile, and exercise the same or even more, tyranny towards
their inferiors. The Englishman thinks he degrades himself when he
kisses the pope’s toe; the Greek licks the very dust on which the
archbishop walks. I say nothing of the archbishop’s privilege of
signing his name with red ink, and of wearing the purple, so often
mentioned by other travellers; or of his having two janissaries at
his gate, which latter distinction is a concession made to him by the
Turkish government, as head of the only recognized Christian church.
Eastern enjoyment, or a priest’s idleness, was exemplified in the
mode in which the archbishop washed his hands after dinner. The chair
in which he sat was swung round by his attendants (grace having been
said), and another arm-chair was brought, with the back between his
knees, on the seat of which was placed a broad basin. The arms of the
chair afforded support to his arms; and, whilst the water was poured on
his hands, the back prevented the wet from falling on his clothes. His
palace was roomy, but old and patched. Facing the palace was a handsome
new building, that would do honour to any potentate in Europe. This was
a college, founded from the funds of the church, for the instruction
of youth, having professors of ancient and modern Greek, of Arabic, of
Italian, and of church music. The exercises of some of the scholars
were shown to me, and I listened with advantage to a lecture of one
of the professors. One scholar, a student principally in Italian, had
made a progress that was quite astonishing; and I read a very clever
Italian composition, written by him in his capacity of secretary to the
archbishop, the fruits of knowledge acquired in one year. The edifice
consisted of a vestibule, from which branched two saloons, with sofas
at the extremities and tables in the middle. Out of these saloons, to
the left and right, were four apartments, making eight altogether,
where the professors taught. The latter rooms had desks and benches for
the pupils.
I visited, in the afternoon, the church of St. Sophia, converted into
a mosque by the Turks when the Venetians lost Cyprus to them. The
interior was lofty, consisting of a nave, supported by five massive
Saxon-like pillars on either side. At the bottom was a semicircular
window, where, as well as up the side aisles, the pillars were of less
dimensions. There were several old carpets spread on the ground, one
of which was very large.[105] The governor’s palace, whither I next
went, was an irregular building, with a large courtyard, and a corridor
round the first and upper story. Such private houses as I entered were
commodious, spacious, and of great neatness.
The walls of the city were of considerable thickness, broad enough,
on the ramparts, to admit two carriages abreast. They had bastions
at small distances, faced with sunburnt bricks, whilst the curtains
were faced with stone. The bastions probably had been repaired since
the time of Pococke, for they no longer represented a semicircle, as
he describes them, but were an imperfect triangle, with truncated
corners. On the three bastions nearest to the Famagusta gate were eight
or ten pieces of cannon. There were three gates--that of Paphos, that
of Famagusta, and a third which I did not note down. Some embrasures
of turf, very recently made, were observable, and were constructed
probably during the time of a recent insurrection in Cyprus, to which
I shall presently advert. In Leucosia the guard was set every night on
the walls, and the watches were cried.
On Wednesday, the 30th, I went to see the lepers at the city gate.
There were among them persons of both sexes and of all ages; some
with the joints of the fingers gone, some with blotches, and all more
or less deformed. Most of them were people of low birth, generally
peasants; some were Moslems and some were Christians. The little
information I obtained from them amounted to this; that those who lost
the first joints of their hands had nails growing on the second; that
the heat of a fire was invariably pernicious, visibly increasing their
complaint; that sleep and appetite were not diminished generally by
it; that hot water had not the same effect on them as the heat of a
fire. One told me that, when first attacked in the fingers, he thought
he saved them by having the actual cautery applied to both his arms.
Another said he had been in the leper-house thirty-five years. Men and
women lived promiscuously, but I could not learn whether any children
had resulted from this intercourse. It may, however, here be observed,
that there was a woman in the village of Abra who had lost the first
phalanges of both hands by leprosy, yet this woman had a daughter,
who was well-looking, healthy, and the mother of five most beautiful
children, all free from every symptom of the grandmother’s complaint.
I spent the evening with the archbishop. The title of the prelate
is μακάριοτάτος (_most blessed_.) His _archimandrites_ was a man of
peculiarly venerable appearance. But the most learned person that
it was my fortune to see in Leucosia was Andreas, dragoman to the
archbishop, whose business lay in transacting the affairs of government
between the governor of the island and the archbishop. There were
numerous baths in Leucosia.
I took leave of my host over-night, and, on the morning of the 31st
January, prosecuted my journey for Cytherea, now called Cherki, the
true situation of the ancient Cytherea being assigned to a spot one
league south of Cherki. After riding half an hour, we passed the river
Pedias, close to which was a small Turkish village, called Miamillia.
The bed of the river was deep; for the soil through which it ran was
loose and sandy, and easy to be washed away by a rapid stream. At that
time, as the rains had ceased some days, the water that flowed was no
more than a rivulet. The road was parallel to the chain of mountains,
called (from a five-fingered inequality on the ridge which was on our
left) Pentedactylus. In two hours’ time we reached Cytherea.
I had a letter of introduction to a farmer, named Petráki, the chief
person in the village. Though a rustic, he had nevertheless a spacious
house and six house-servants, always a serious consideration to the
traveller, who, as he casts his eye over them, and marks the alacrity
with which they run to serve him and neglect their master, is obliged
to check his self-complacence, by the recollection that all this is but
a larger draft on his purse when he departs. I ate some excellent pork,
boiled down to a jelly and dressed with a sour sauce in the manner of
the French. The female part of the family, although seen occasionally
bustling about in the duties of the house, did not sit down to table
with us.
Cytherea was a long, straggling village, producing a great quantity
of cotton and oil, and making abundance of silk. The oil was esteemed
the best in the island. From the foot of Mount Pentedactylus issued a
copious spring, in a stream which, in its course, turned twenty-four
mills, besides irrigating the grounds and orchards. My host told me
that the delicious atmosphere of Cytherea brought on him frequent
visits from the Turks of Leucosia, who came as often as two or three
times a week to take the air, and were generally entertained at his
expense. He expressed himself an ardent well-wisher to the cause of
the Franks, and prayed for the moment when they would relieve Cyprus
from the yoke of the Turks: but his prayers for the emancipation of
the Greeks, I fear, were mercenary; for he said he should like to know
whether any great changes threatened the Turkish empire, as, in that
case, he might be spared the expence of a _barattery_, or license,
which he was about to purchase.
A barattery was formerly a patent, which might be purchased from the
Turkish government by Christian subjects. It cost 3000 piasters;
and by it the purchaser was entitled to leave his property to his
children, to wear certain coloured clothes and yellow shoes, and to
some other privileges, not permitted to rayahs or unredeemed Greeks.
It was the practice in the golden days of the European ambassadors at
Constantinople to make a traffic of these baraterries; but the evil
grew to such a height, that the Porte was obliged to interfere.
The peasants’ cottages were built of bricks dried in the sun, and,
apparently, were comfortable enough. I could discover no antiquities or
inscriptions.
Early in the afternoon, we remounted our mules, and, partly retracing
our steps, proceeded in a north-west direction to the monastery of
Chrysostomus, up the side of Pentedactylus, at the summit almost of
which is built the monastery. The foot of the mountain is of a barren
argillaceous soil, producing nothing but a few stunted firs, and some
oleanders in the watercourses. This whitish gray coloured soil ceased,
and after it came the upper chain, which was of a reddish coloured rock.
We arrived at St. Chrysostom’s about sunset. The spot was not devoid
of beauty, being a semicircular flat, indented in the side of the
mountain. In front of it was a miserable hamlet. Two or three
cypresses, with some vines and lemon trees, made up an orchard, which
could not fail of being an embellishment to the place in the summer
season: at present, it was robbed of its verdure. We found in the
monastery one monk, an old woman, and a boy. Some rice, which I had
with me, a little leben, procured from the hamlet, and some rammakins,
dressed in oil, afforded a comfortable supper: and, after the priest
had entertained me with a description of the milordi who had been
there, my guide, the muleteer, produced from his wallet a violin, which
he played on in a manner by no means disagreeable--yet he was but a
rough peasant. I was then left to repose, wrapped up, as was my custom,
in my lambskin pelisse, and without bed or covering. In this way no
fleas molested me.
The following morning, at sunrise, I visited the ruins that overhang
the monastery, and which go by the name of τὰ σπητια της ρεανος. The
ascent was difficult, and, for nearly the whole way, impracticable to
mules. On reaching the summit, which here was a peak, I enjoyed an
extensive prospect both to the south, over the land I had traversed,
and to the north along the coast. Between the mountains and the sea,
to the north, there was a sloping plain from one to three miles in
breadth, and running east and west as far as the eye could see. Towards
the west it appeared to be well wooded; and it had already been
described to me as affording the most beautiful scenery in the island.
From this point was seen Lapithus, whose true name is Lampua. It is
called, by the Turks, Lapta. The high mountains seen to the west are
called Τρυγῳδὸς, pronounced Truothos.
Having satisfied myself with the view, I turned to the ruins. They
consisted of four or five stone houses, of tolerably solid but modern
structure, built one above the other, and which once were connected by
steps in the rock, now crumbled away. The uppermost was a church, and
those beneath seemed to have been parts of a monastery; both because
such places were commonly built on the most elevated spots, and because
there was nothing castellated in the walls. The situation was certainly
as well fitted for a place of strength as for a monastery; but
ruins, in Syria at least, of the nature of a fortress always showed
crenelated battlements, loopholes, or something appropriate to defence,
of which this had none.
We descended to the monastery, where I breakfasted, and then departed
for Famagusta. Cytherea lay in my route; and, in passing through it
again, as I beheld its verdant foliage and its purling rivulets, there
seemed to be nothing but the hand of love and refinement wanting to
make it yet one of the most picturesque spots in nature. Its situation,
at the foot of a mountain, on a slope, with an extensive plain in
front, is not unlike Bâlbec, but in more diminutive proportions.
We kept along the lower chain of hills, in an easterly direction,
and passed through two Turkish villages. Round one of these the land
was cultivated with the utmost neatness. In Cyprus the husbandman’s
annoyance is the squill plant, which springs up amidst the corn almost
every where. Here it had been so carefully destroyed, that not one
was to be seen. My guide lost his road, and it was necessary to make
inquiries at one of the cottages; but, wherever we knocked, a voice
from within cried out either--“There are no men at home;” or, “The men
are at plough;” and, as Turkish women do not appear before strangers,
we were considerably embarrassed. At last, however, we met an obliging
peasant, who, taking me for a Mahometan Arab, walked nearly a mile to
put us right, and excused himself that he could go no farther, on the
plea of having his cattle to drive in.
About one league farther on, in a south-easterly direction, we reached
a Christian village, called Marathon. The sun had set, and there was a
gleam across the landscape, just enough to give to every thing around
an illusive appearance. The women were returning from the well with
water on their heads; and their white dresses, as they floated in the
wind, gave them a look not unlike what my imagination pictured the
maidens of earlier times to have been on this once happy island. Alas!
an unseemly reality soon dissipated these visions of fancy. I was led
to the house of a Greek papas, who, seeing the guest with whom he was
about to be burdened for the night, bawled, in a stentorian voice, to a
dirty wife and half a dozen children, and, by his rough hands, uncombed
beard, and the dexterity with which he housed his cows, showed himself
to be more of a labourer and husbandman than of an ecclesiastic. His
lodging, nevertheless, was commodious, and, when he found that he
should be paid, his welcome was hearty.
As it was now full moon, we took advantage of its light, and departed
next morning two hours before daylight. We passed several little
villages and hamlets on our way: and, keeping an easterly direction, we
reached the sea-shore about eleven o’clock, near to a large red brick
monastery, called St. Barnabas. We then turned short to the right,
towards Famagusta, compelled to take this circuitous route, owing to
the swamps made by the River Pedias in this season of the year. These
were so extensive, that the former possessors of the country had
constructed a long causeway and bridge over the extremity of it, where
the water of the river discharged itself by an outlet into the sea.
When we were safe over the bridge, we arrived, in about half an
hour, at the monastery of St. Luke, which is abreast of the city of
Famagusta. It belonged to the Greeks, and was a sort of spacious
cottage, kept by a single monk, who received us with a forced smile,
not having the most distant idea that I was a Frank. Nor could I, for
some time, persuade him that I was one, so much did my dress, my tanned
face, and the language I spoke in to my servant, disguise me: for the
priest did not understand Arabic, and therefore was not able to detect
my foreign accent.
It was customary for Christians to take up their lodgings either
there or in the village of Merash, close by, there being, as I was
told, a law that no Christian should lodge in the town of Famagusta.
Prohibitions of this sort, however, were probably not strictly enforced
towards Franks; as no inhabitant of Famagusta would, I am persuaded,
have been so uncivil as to eject a Frank traveller, who demanded
merely a night’s lodging.
After dinner, I walked with the priest to the town. We made the circuit
of the fortifications, which are very considerable. We then visited the
port, the ancient church of St. Sophia, now a ruined Gothic edifice,
and afterwards betook ourselves to the coffee-house, to smoke a pipe.
Some Turks, who were sitting on the benches at the door, made me
welcome, and severally desired the waiter to present me with a cup of
coffee, which is a mark of civility they show to a friend, or to one
whom they have not seen for some time. I came away with much good will
in my heart towards them.
On the following morning, the 2nd of February, we departed betimes,
in order to arrive early at Larnaka, as the appearance of the sky
indicated the approach of a storm. We marched two hours by moonlight,
as on the preceding day, over an uncultivated champaign country. When
the sun rose, we found ourselves abreast of a Christian village.
The land around it attracted my notice by the high state of its
cultivation. The soil itself seemed rich, being of a fine red mould.
Soon afterwards, we again came upon uncultivated plains, which lasted
for two leagues more, and then reached the village of Ormethia, on the
sea-shore, where the English consul had a country-house, at which I
alighted. Giovanni procured such provisions as the place afforded,
and I rested and ate something. One league before coming to Ormethia,
there grew a low shrub like the juniper, which covered the soil as far
as the village. From Ormethia to Larnaka, the road lay by the sea-side.
At three o’clock I reached Mr. Vondiziano’s, having been absent seven
days. Cyprus afforded more accommodation for travellers than Syria; for
at every little distance there generally was a convent, where was to be
found a sufficiency of most necessaries. In most parts, the roads were
good.
I had arrived in Cyprus in the middle of carnival; and, as the
Catholics formed the greater portion of the Franks, this festival was
celebrated with much gaiety. There were two faro-tables constantly
open, to which fathers, mothers, and children, resorted together. In
adjoining rooms were balls; and dissipation exerted its most baneful
effects on the morals and constitutions of young and old. At the
end of the faro-room, an elevated sofa afforded the spectators an
opportunity at once of smoking and of enjoying the game. The transition
from the sober and grave habits of those I had just left in Syria
to the tumultuous assemblies of those I was now among, formed a
striking contrast, which somewhat shocked me, and was, upon the whole,
favourable to the Mahometans.
The Frank society was composed of a few individuals of every nation
in Europe. In Europe, the Turks are cried down as barbarians; no
doubt because arts, and sciences, and polite letters, are so little
cultivated among them; but in Cyprus the epithet was applied to them
because they did not gamble, dance, and drink wine: and, affecting an
opposite extreme, the Franks ran into excesses unknown in the countries
they sprang from. But, in a society made up of parts so heterogeneous,
and which could never, from the constant clashing of its religious
and social institutions, amalgamate, no wonder that the whole had
a tendency to confusion, which could only serve to let loose men’s
vicious propensities without confirming their virtuous dispositions.
Each consul was the head of the subjects of the nation he represented:
he was a king to them, and nothing to others. Hence the friendship of
the consul was immunity from laws, and his enmity a bugbear to the poor
only; for the wealthy did not hesitate to change masters, when those
they acknowledged were no longer sufficiently complaisant; and there
were persons, who, by what is called “changing protection,” had been
English, French, Swedish, Ragusan, and Danish, subjects, in the course
of a few years.
Larnaka, as to its buildings, represented, in some manner, a large
country village in England. The houses were straggling, and built of
sun-dried bricks; they were, nevertheless, not devoid of neatness
in their exterior; and, in their interior, they were commodious,
spacious, and, in some instances, handsome. They were mostly of two
stories, having generally a large courtyard, with a coach entrance for
their calèches. All had window casements, with weatherboard blinds.
There were no fireplaces in their rooms, nor was it ever cold enough
for two days following to make a fire desirable. In some of the best
furnished houses, there was much richness and even elegance displayed
in the furniture, as far as French clocks, fine chandeliers, lamps
on pedestals, good prints, tables, beaufets, and sofas, can be so
considered.
I made a ground-plan of a house at Citi, near Larnaka, considered as
one of the best country-houses in the neighbourhood. It was built
of sun-dried bricks; and, being neither plastered nor whitewashed
externally, had a sombre appearance, like the cottages on the banks
of the Nile; indeed, throughout Cyprus, there were many marks of its
intercourse with Egypt. This house was two stories high. The whole of
the buildings were walled in. A garden, containing orange and lemon
trees, attached to it, was irrigated by a Persian wheel, turned by a
mule. Citi is about two leagues and a half from Larnaka; and its name
is a corruption of the ancient Citium.
The calèches in use in Cyprus were like clumsy cabriolets, being a rude
single-horse chaise, without an apron or splashing board, guided by a
driver who sat on the shaft. All the houses had large ovens. The water
of Larnaka is not what I should call bad, but Pococke has pronounced
it to be so. Lamb, mutton, game, and pork were plentiful, and beef was
generally to be had.
The Christian inhabitants of this island had little purity of
blood. The Franks were not Europeans, and the Greeks, intermarrying
perpetually with the Franks, had ceased to have the characteristics of
their own nation. I do not, however, wish to speak disrespectfully of
persons who were generally so very kind to me.
The habits of living of a Greek family in Cyprus may be gathered from
that with which I was staying. Many Greek families, although mixing in
free intercourse with Europeans, retained much of their nationality.
Their wives very seldom frequented places of diversion, had fewer
parties, and, when at home, confined themselves to the gynæceum and
nursery, where they were employed in household affairs, and the care of
their children. During more than a month, there were two persons only
who came and dined in a family way with Mr. Vondiziano, and these were
relations. His wife’s brother was preceptor to his eldest girl; and
for the three next there was a priest, who taught them to read the New
Testament and some homilies, which works were in Hellenic Greek. They
learned to write likewise, and I believe a little ciphering. We retired
to our separate rooms, generally about seven o’clock at night, and
the whole family was often in bed at eight, to rise with the sun next
morning.
There is a story of somewhat ancient date, which was told me by Mr.
Vondiziano, touching two merchants, Englishmen, who, when residents
in Larnaka, finding their affairs unprosperous, resolved to quit the
island with éclat. Their names I will conceal out of delicacy to their
children. They invited a very large party to a splendid fête, and, in
the midst of it, disappeared, and, embarking on board a vessel prepared
for the purpose in the roads, they sailed for Europe, leaving their
creditors all the spoils in biscuits, wax-candles, and French wines.
I was fortunate enough to procure some antiquities at Larnaka, one of
which, of whitest marble, in shape like a tailor’s goose, the handle
finished off by two lions’ heads, was dug out of the ruins of Citium,
and seemed to intimate that the ancients confined their doors against
blasts of wind in the same way that is done now-a-days. It is now in
the possession of Newman Smith, Esq. of Croydon Lodge.
Soon after my arrival, the whole island was thrown into commotion, by
an event which it will not be amiss to relate, as illustrative of the
state of society in Cyprus. The dragoman of the Austrian consul, a
Greek by birth, and of the Greek persuasion, but enjoying by his post a
Frank protection, had an only daughter twelve years of age, beautiful
as the day. Her father, adhering to the customs of his nation, kept her
confined to the house, secluding her from the sight of everybody but
her relations, and allowing her the privilege of going to mass three
times a year only, in company with them, on the grand holydays of
their religion. Her charms, however, were the talk of every circle. She
was sought for in marriage by several Greek gentlemen; but the father’s
ambition led him to hope for still more advantageous proposals, and
each suitor was declined in turn.
There was a Ragusan merchant resident in Larnaka, about thirty-five
years of age, very rich, and, from his wealth, held in much
consideration. He was the brother of one of the consuls. The
maiden excited his desires, and he resolved to attempt the illicit
gratification of them. The father possessed a little farm in the
country, to which he went occasionally to superintend his agricultural
business. Constantine, (for that was the Ragusan’s name) had secured
in his interests a Turkish woman, who, under the cloak of a suppliant,
obtained admission into the house. She made known his passion to
the girl, whose vanity was gratified by the admiration of a man so
distinguished in her eyes, whilst she felt besides a predilection
towards Franks, because they were known to allow their wives greater
liberty than the Greeks.
During the absence of the father at his farm, the maid-servant, who was
her duenna, betrayed her trust, and Constantine was introduced into the
house, where he effected his dishonourable purposes. He repeated his
visits, as occasions offered, for some time, until she found herself
pregnant. Alarmed at her condition, she informed her lover of it, and
begged him to bring her a potion to procure abortion. He soothed her
alarms, and desired her to be under no apprehension; assuring her that,
in bearing him a child, she would but secure a testimony of their love,
and a pledge of the promise he had given her of soon making her his
wife.
Her increasing size could not escape the observation of her father,
who, unsuspicious of the real cause, was amused with a story of female
complaints, for which some old woman’s nostrum was pretended to be
applied. Some months passed on in this way, until, on the 8th of
February, a few days after my landing on the island, the distressed
girl escaped from her father’s house to that of a friend, and there,
with tears in her eyes, and overwhelmed with shame and confusion,
disclosed her situation.
The news spread like wildfire, and the outcry against Constantine knew
no bounds: but, with the assurance of impunity, he appeared at a public
ball the same evening, and, as some persons maliciously remarked, was
the admiration of the fair sex more than he ever had been. The Greeks,
however, in a body, took up the cause, with a determination to make him
their victim, unless he rendered ample satisfaction to their injured
honour. They made a party affair of it: for, of seven vice-consuls who
resided at Cyprus, three were Greek, who held together against those
who were of Frank extraction. Constantine was called upon to repair
the dishonour done to the young lady, and, through her, to the Greek
nation, by marriage. The archbishop of the island was written to, and
application was made to the Turkish governor, who put Constantine under
arrest, so that he seemed to have no alternative but to comply.
He alleged, however, in excuse of what he had done, that he was not
the only one who had enjoyed the favours of the girl--that the father,
who lived in concubinage with his maid-servant before the eyes of
this young creature, could not expect her to escape the influence
of so bad an example. He cited the Germanic law, to which they were
both amenable, and by which a fine of money only was awarded to the
aggrieved party, in case of seduction, which he was ready to pay. He
asserted that he had made no promise of marriage, and, consequently,
could not be compelled to take her for his wife. He insinuated that the
girl was artful enough to have planned the whole affair, in the hope of
thus ensuring herself a good match, aware that, both in the order of
events and from her father’s situation and small fortune, she could not
expect to be so well married in any other way. Finally, he declared,
that, whatever might be the consequence, he repudiated her. He knew, he
said, the vindictive spirit of the Greeks; and, if they had resolved on
assassinating him, why, let the worst happen: he had made his will, and
would abide by the event. Added to all this, several of the inhabitants
spoke of the practice the young lady had of secretly going to the
house-door, and of saluting young men as they passed by; whilst,
whenever she saw ladies coming, she disappeared, as if conscious of
doing something improper.
The father and the Greek party, on the contrary side, said that the
girl was too young and too innocent to have acted otherwise than from
the impulses of nature and the suggestions of her seducer; whilst
the go-between, when interrogated, testified to the admission of
Constantine only to the house. They produced two rings given by him as
tokens of a promise of marriage.
The affair was thus advocated with the utmost bitterness of party
spirit on both sides. Constantine, finding that threats were thrown out
against his life, stirred very little from home: and it was thought
that resort would be had to the ambassador of Austria at Constantinople
to decide on the case: but here another difficulty intervened.
Whenever the consuls were at variance, the Turks took advantage of
their quarrels, and it was only by their union that they could make
a stand against them. The girl, therefore, was at last sacrificed to
political reasons, and Constantine consented to pay a certain sum as
her dowry to any one who would marry her. This, with the distribution
of a few douceurs, quieted the outcry. A person was not long wanting,
who offered himself as her husband; but his low rank in society and
mercenary character precluded the unfortunate victim from the hopes of
happiness for the rest of her life.
In 1812, when, as it was said at the instigation of the French
ambassador, much persecution was exercised against the family of the
Morûsis, at that time enjoying the highest dignities which the Porte
awards to her Greek subjects, one of them, Prince George Morûsi, was
banished to Cyprus, where he lived for a few weeks unmolested, and
in great privacy. I was making a visit with Signor Vondiziano to a
person named Bosovitch, inhabiting a large house at the strand of
Larnaka, when, the conversation turning on beheading, a person who was
present said, “It was on this sofa I saw the Prince George Morûsi so
barbarously murdered;” and he proceeded to relate the way in which it
was done. “We had just risen from dinner, and the prince had reseated
himself to smoke his pipe, when a slight bustle was heard on the
staircase, and an armed Turk, with two others behind, entered the
room. They looked steadily for half a minute at us, and the prince,
who beheld them, dropped his pipe, turned pale as ashes, and fell back
almost inanimate: for he apprehended immediately what business they
were come upon. The first Turk advanced to him, and shot him through
the body. We were three of us present: we leaped from the sofa, and,
as the murderers paid no attention to us, we got out of the room into
the passage. There everything was in confusion; and, in the midst of
it, the chaplain of the prince pulled me aside. ‘Secrete these things
immediately,’ he said, and gave me a watch with some jewels and rings;
all which I afterwards restored to the family at a proper time. Whilst
this was doing, the Turks, to make their work sure, had strangled the
prince with a girdle, and had dragged the body into the passage. They
then retreated by the street door, no one daring to follow or cry after
them.
“When they were out of sight, we went immediately to the governor, and
told him what we had seen. He pretended astonishment and horror at the
deed, and immediately gave orders to his police officers to search the
town and bring the assassins before him. This farce was carried on some
days, although every one knew that the soldiers were the governor’s
men, and that he had authority from the Porte for what he had done.”
Let me now narrate a story of a different nature, and of a more
innocent and enlivening cast. The conversation of Larnaka turned much
upon it, as soon as Signor Constantine’s affair had blown over. Signor
Brunoni’s history was singular. He was about to quit Cyprus for Italy,
and was reputed to carry with him a fortune estimated at half a million
of piasters, or £15,000 sterling.
An Italian by birth, he belonged originally to the fraternity of monks
of St. Francis, called in the Levant the monks of the Holy Land. He
was a lay brother; and, it is said, disgusted with his calling, he
obtained from Rome a dispensation to throw off his frock. As soon as
he returned to the world, he professed himself a doctor; and, being of
a handsome presence and of insinuating manners, he established himself
so effectually in the good-will of the people of Leucosia, the capital,
that, at the end of twenty-five years, when he left the place to reside
at Larnaka, on the sea-coast, he was escorted on his way to town by the
principal inhabitants, as a testimony of the respect they bore him.
On coming to Larnaka he continued to exercise his profession, and, at
the same time, turned merchant. But his neighbours were surprised to
see that, on a sudden, he threw a capital into his business, superior
to that of the oldest and wealthiest merchants. Shortly afterwards he
sent his eldest son, a lad, to Italy, under pretence of giving him a
good education; but reports soon reached the island that the son had
purchased, in his father’s name, a large estate for some thousands
of pounds. Many were the surmises and conjectures how he had amassed
so much wealth, when at last a trifling circumstance led to the
discovery. Signor Brunoni offered for sale to a friend a large silver
lamp, saying it had been the property of the pope, but was sold during
his holiness’s troubles, and had, from hand to hand, come into the
possession of his son, who, thinking it would suit some devout person
of Cyprus, had sent it to him. Some one, to whom it was shown, on
examining the lamp, discovered on the back of it the name of Seneca,
and recollected that a wealthy Venetian family of that name once
flourished in Cyprus. He talked of the coincidence, until it was asked
whether Signor Brunoni might not have found a hidden treasure: and
then it was that, by degrees, the following account came to light. It
appeared that, adjoining to his own residence at Leucosia, lived a poor
single woman, in a small house, but which was her own property. This
woman hired herself to Signor Brunoni as a servant; and, after living
with him some years, she, in a moment of confidence, showed him some
papers she had in a chest, which she had inherited from her father with
the house. One of these was an indication to a treasure buried under
the house. Brunoni pretended to take time to look over them, copied
them, and secretly resolved to make the search. He first purchased
the house for a trifle, then joined it to his own as a surgery, and
succeeded, to his great joy, in finding what he was in search of.
The woman lived with him always afterwards, and, when he quitted
the island, he settled a pension on her. But what renders the truth
of the story more probable, if confirmation were wanting, is, that
discoveries of this sort were by no means rare. Venetian families would
transmit from Venice notices of treasures concealed by their ancestors
in Cyprus, and left by them at their expulsion by the Turks in the
fifteenth century. But a griping government, and the impossibility
of searching houses and places which had passed into the hands of
strangers, had prevented those entrusted with these documents from
acting upon them. Instances occurred very frequently of several coins
of the same stamp being offered for sale in quick succession. Many a
man had been known to disappear on a sudden from the island, and it
had been ascertained afterwards that he had fled from his country,
to enjoy, without risk, the fruits of a fortunate discovery. For if
it were but whispered that an Ottoman subject had found concealed
treasures, the government claimed them; and the distrust which existed
in the official authorities, lest a part should be withheld, often
subjected the finder to blows and even torture.
It would appear affectation in my readers to say, that they do not feel
a desire to know whether the women at Cyprus retain any of those charms
and of that amiability which once drew down the protection of the
goddess of beauty on the isle. I reluctantly confess that the favours
of that deity were no longer so manifest as of old, although votaries
were not wanting at her shrine; but yet some exceptions ought to be
made.[106]
The voices of the Cypriot women had something in them peculiarly
dissonant, and they all seemed to speak in a false tone, nor did use
ever make these shrill accents agreeable. They were not, in general,
beautiful, nor was their dress graceful, being in no sense calculated
to display their shapes. Seen from behind, they resembled nothing so
much as a horse in a mantua-maker’s show-room, with a dress appended
to it. In their habits they were indolent; they were not good although
niggardly housewives. They were oftener to be seen at the windows and
doors of their houses than elsewhere, looking at passengers with the
most idle curiosity. They were addicted to the grossest superstitions.
For example: when oil is spilt from a lamp, a cruet, or otherwise,
some dire misfortune is supposed to overhang the family; and, upon
one occasion, having the misfortune to upset a lamp, I saw the eyes
of the servants turned upon me, as on one whose presence foreboded
evil. A neighbour would in vain attempt to obtain a light from the
adjoining house, if applied for after sunset. These superstitions are
harmless enough; but they become hurtful when they interfere with
the cultivation of a useful study. Thus, a labourer on the estate of
a gentleman of Larnaka struck upon the head of a statue, as he was
ploughing. Curiosity induced him to clear away the soil from it; but
when he saw the features (as it was of remarkably white marble), he
took them for those of a spirit, and ran away. He bethought himself
of going to the priest, who, hearing his story, accompanied him to the
spot, and there found the head; which, under pretence of exorcising,
he carried home, and presented to his patron, a Greek. His patron
was proud of a handsome piece of ancient sculpture, and gave it a
conspicuous situation in his house. It so happened, that, immediately
afterwards, there was an epidemical disorder in Cyprus. The effects
of it were felt in every house, and the possessor of the marble head
did not escape. At last his sisters, unmarried ladies, who lived with
him, conceived that the bust had brought the malady upon them. In vain
he attempted to convince them of the absurdity of such a notion: they
persisted, and he was obliged to give the bust away.
They rule their servants by caprice, and educate their children by fits
of anger and indulgence.
The manufactures of Cyprus are chiefly coarse printed cottons for
furniture, which are of lively chintz patterns, and remarkably cheap.
The principal articles imported at this time into Cyprus were German
looking-glasses, queen’s and other earthenware, sugar, syrups and
liqueurs, cloth, Lyons’ stuffs, Manchester goods, glass, &c.
The Greek spoken at Cyprus is as corrupt as that in any part of the
Turkish empire. An attempt to enumerate the words that have been
introduced into it from other tongues would be to select almost all the
expressions of eating, drinking, visiting, and business, common to the
Turkish, Arabic, Italian, and French languages. An example of each will
suffice.
Arabic.--Τι χαβαρι εχει; what news is there? from _kaber_,
_news_.
Italian.--Καμνειν μιαν βισιταν], to pay a visit: from _visita_.
French.--Το εκαμεν εξακταμεντε, we have done it exactly: from
_exactement_.
Turkish.--Γοκσα; or not? from _yok_.
Ditto.--Ρεζιλες, disputes.
The ῤ is aspirated in pronunciation at Cyprus, which is not done, I
believe, elsewhere in the Greek islands.
Living at Cyprus was extremely cheap: but the term means nothing, when
applied as relative to England; for all countries almost are cheap
in comparison with it, and hence to Englishmen a great advantage is
afforded wherever they travel. Compared with the adjacent districts of
Syria and Caramania, living in Cyprus was cheap even then.
Cyprus still felt the effects of an insurrection which had convulsed
the island some time before. To understand the causes of it, it is
necessary to premise, that the Greeks enjoyed so much influence in
Cyprus, as to be able often to displace a governor who had become
obnoxious to them; not by an act of authority (for they had none in
the eye of the law), but by representations to the Porte, backed by
money. At the head of the Greek party was the archbishop. The one who
held the crosier before the reigning archbishop was so infirm, that
he employed, in all transactions with the government, his dragoman,
named Hadji Georgaki, a man of great talents, which he perverted to
the purposes of intrigue. To such a height had this man’s power grown,
that he was supposed, by his machinations, to have removed more than
one motsellem, or governor; and it was thought that no one could hold
that dignity long, who had not previously entered into a friendly
understanding with him.
In this way, Hadji Georgaki’s measures were generally uncontrolled,
and he proceeded to the length of oppressing Turks and Christians
indiscriminately, which was ill borne by the Turks, who submit
reluctantly to authority exercised over them by an infidel; but not
unwillingly by the Greeks themselves, who cared not to lose a portion
of their substance, if their oppressors were to be fellow-sufferers.
At length, however, the complaint of the Turks found its way to
Constantinople, and Hadji Georgaki thought fit to go in person to the
capital to counteract the machinations of his enemies; which, by force
of bribes, he succeeded in doing, and returned triumphantly to Cyprus.
The hatred of the Turks against the dragoman now knew no bounds; and,
finding they could not obtain justice from the Porte, they resolved
to take the cause into their own hands. They accordingly laid a plot
to seize the person of Hadji Georgaki, and to take away his life,
but he was apprized of it in time to escape to Larnaka, where (after
concealing himself some days in a consular house) he embarked for the
Archipelago, and betook himself again to Constantinople. The Turks,
having lost their victim, and committed themselves too far to recede,
hoisted the standard of rebellion, and were headed by the governor.
The Greeks were oppressed without appeal, and complaints poured into
Constantinople, demanding relief.
The Porte now saw that energetic measures must be resorted to, and
looked about for a proper man to execute its commands. Cara Pasha,
a subtile chieftain, versed in intrigue, and who would stick at no
means to effect his ends, was selected for the purpose. He embarked
from the opposite coast of Asia with a large body of troops, and,
landing, marched strait for Leucosia: but Leucosia, a fortified place,
was so well defended by the rebels, that he found himself unable to
carry it by assault. He accordingly sat down before the city, having
seized on the flour-mills at Cytherea as the best means of straitening
the besieged, who had no means, except by hand and mule-mills, of
grinding corn within the walls. The archbishop and the chief Greeks
found themselves shut in with the rebels. The former, fearing for his
personal safety, and pretending to be alarmed only for that of his
flock, wrote letters to the different consuls at Larnaka, begging them
to intercede with the pasha for a truce, and to endeavour to settle the
affair any how so that he might escape; signifying that, if hostilities
commenced, he and the Greeks should be massacred. For it was the
artifice of the rebels to hold out the threat, knowing how much could
be done by the archbishop, if made a party in the affair.
The consuls, pleased with the importance they were likely to acquire
in becoming mediators, set off, to the number of five, for Leucosia.
They made known their business to the pasha, who eagerly availed
himself of an opportunity which he thought was thus afforded him of
getting within the walls. He accordingly treated them with great
distinction, and expressed himself disposed to accede to any thing
which their negociations might effect. A correspondence was immediately
entered upon, and thirty days passed in messages to and fro; the
rebels endeavouring to obtain permission to leave Leucosia with their
property, and the pasha, on his side, offering them their lives and
property, but with the condition that they should remain where they
were. The rebels were at last brought to consent to these terms, on a
solemn promise being made to the consuls by the pasha that their lives
should be saved.
On an appointed day the gates were thrown open, and the pasha and
the consuls marched in together in procession. The day was spent in
merriment, and most persons thought the pasha honourable in his
intentions. Night came, and the consuls retired to their respective
houses, where they were to sleep. It was then that the pasha began
to play his treacherous game. Despatching soldiers in different
directions, he secretly caused to be seized, at the same moment,
thirteen rebels, who were brought to the palace and beheaded
immediately. Their relations flew to the consuls, whilst these
executions were yet going on, and told them that the pasha had not
respected the compact made between them. Monsieur Regnault, the French
consul, as first in rank among them, despatched his dragoman to the
pasha, and bade him hold his hand and respect the treaty. The dragoman,
a timid Levantine, arrived whilst the bow-string was yet at work.
Fainting and trembling, his tongue faltered, and his representations
were unheeded by a man, who, in having made the consuls the tools of
his perfidy, could well ask them why they meddled between the Porte and
its subjects.
The next morning, when the day dawned, the pasha sent for the consuls.
Monsieur Regnault at first refused to attend on him, but his timid
associates advised him not to offend so sanguinary a man, and he
accompanied them. The pasha received them not like one convicted of
treachery, but as a magistrate vested with an authority in which they
had no part. He read to them the firman of the Porte, commanding him to
exterminate the rebels; and excused the mode in which he had effected
it, by saying that no faith could be kept with them. He then invested
each consul with a pelisse of one thousand piasters value, and, when
they had suffered this, they went away, held their peace, and returned
humbled to Larnaka.
To add to the disgrace which this whole transaction brought on the
consuls, when the pasha afterwards came to Larnaka, previous to
his embarkation for Latakia, they invited him alternately to their
houses, where he made himself drunk with brandy, which he asked for
incessantly; and, retiring to vomit, returned to drink again. These
scenes were renewed from house to house, and often lasted through the
night. And here Monsieur Regnault was destined to betray a second time
the folly of meddling in affairs that did not concern him, however good
and honourable the motive; for when, on the evening of the massacre,
he had favoured the escape of certain rebels, and had caused them
to be secreted in his house at Larnaka, the pasha sent a detachment
of troops, and compelled him to give them up. Two, however, of the
leaders, named Hadj Mustafa and Delli Omàr, escaped. The latter was
for some time secreted at Signor Vondiziano’s, until an opportunity
offered for stealing on board a ship and sailing for Syria. The whole
affair cost a vast deal of money to the island, which was obliged to
maintain so many troops; and the pasha enriched himself individually by
presents extorted by terror, and by avanies levied on each rich person
who could in any manner be implicated in the rebellion. The troops
themselves departed with their arms covered with gold.
Will it then be said, after this, by writers and travellers, that the
Turks are a nation devoid of animation, activity, or enterprise? Rather
let us look on them as unmoved by the tranquil occupations of virtuous
minds, and by the ordinary pursuits which agitate a Christian’s bosom,
because they play a deeper game, and are to be excited to energy only
where the stakes are fortune and life: but we must not charge them with
dullness or inactivity.
The information acquired respecting Hadji Georgaki induced the pasha
to denounce him to the Porte. On his arrival at Constantinople, after
his flight, he had concealed himself at the village of Arnaûtkui on the
Bosphorus, until by fresh bribes he could judge himself sufficiently
protected at court; after which he appeared in public. But, his work
not having been well done, one day he was seized and beheaded. His
house was despoiled at Leucosia, and in the floor of one room was found
a trap-door leading by steps to a stone vault, where immense treasures
were discovered. When at Leucosia, I descended into this place, and
was satisfied more than ever that such means of concealment were often
resorted to by the natives of these countries.
The archbishop, in this conflict, saw himself deprived of half the
authority which before, by peculiar privileges, had belonged to the
see of Cyprus. For, up to this time, no judicial proceedings could be
enforced against a Greek subject without his presence, personally or by
deputy: now the motsellems of Leucosia, Larnaka, and Famagusta, were
vested with the same authority as the governors of other cities of the
empire.
The archbishop had once been an οικονομος, or commissary, and served as
purveyor in the camp of the vizir, who conducted an army against the
French in Egypt.
From the 3rd of February continued rain had fallen. The weather had
become exceedingly tempestuous, and a succession of storms rendered it
impossible for vessels to take in their cargoes; for Larnaka has no
harbour, and vessels coming for a freight lie at anchor in the bay,
and receive their merchandize by boats from the shore. There was a
polacca brig loading for Marseilles, by which I had resolved to take my
passage: but there was little prospect that she would be ready for some
time, for the reasons assigned above.
On the 24th of February, after a very tempestuous night, the house
of Mr. Caridi, (whose wife was sister to Mr. Vondiziano) was struck
by lightning, which, after taking an irregular course through four
chambers, breaking in its way a looking-glass, singeing a coverlet,
and bursting a door, entered the wall of the house, which wall was of
burnt brick. It so happened that there was a New Testament in Greek
lying by the mirror; the mirror was broken, but the Testament remained
uninjured. This book immediately acquired a degree of sanctity equal to
what a τέμενος, (_temenos_) would have done among the ancients.
But what amused me greatly was to see Mr. Caridi obliged to keep open
house for three days, that people might view the book and compliment
him on the miracle. His wife was much inclined to make a vow to go to
Mount Athos, and return thanks for the signal deliverance. The same
house was soon afterwards visited by another hurricane, when a gust
of wind carried away a staircase, which led from the ground floor to
the upper story, and which was on the outside, as is customary in the
island.
Lent had now begun, and I resolved to live with Mr. Vondiziano’s family
as if I had been of their own religion, in order to see how I could
bear a meager diet. Yet he would not suffer me to do so entirely,
apprehensive that it would not agree with my constitution. The eldest
of Signor Vondiziano’s daughters, about twelve years old, had been so
schooled by their confessor, that she fed on bread and olives only.
Our meals consisted generally of rice soup, made with oil, instead of
meat or butter; fish done in oil; wild and garden artichokes; salads,
peas, beans, or other vegetables, fried in oil; botarga, caviare,
olives, anchovies; and some other things, which I forget. The children
vied with each other in undergoing privations of this kind: and the
maid-servants were their abettors. Signor Vondiziano, under the plea of
a weak stomach, obtained an exemption for himself twice a week.
In this way time wore on, but the weather did not change for the
better: even the passage between Syria and Cyprus was interrupted. The
drought of the preceding year was now more than overbalanced by the
flooding rains; and, from the standing pools which they made, fevers
and endemic maladies were anticipated.
The inhabitants of Larnaka, and, after them, travellers, have
attributed the malignant fevers, which almost annually infest that
town to a small lake of stagnant water, which lay between Larnaka and
the Marina. As this lake is not more than a few hundred yards across
in its longest diameter, it seems inadequate to the production of such
extensive effects. There would appear to be sufficient reason in the
sudden change of temperature which takes place at sunset, wherever in
these latitudes there are low flats, in which heat is confined by day,
and vapours are condensed by night. Even in the winter, after a sunny
day, there was, at the close of it, such a chill suddenly pervading the
atmosphere, as to give an instantaneous check to perspiration in any
one incautiously exposed to it. In the spring and autumn, this must
necessarily be more sensibly felt; as the quantity of vapour carried
into the atmosphere is greater from the greater heat, and the system
is then more easily acted upon, at one time from the sudden cessation
of a renovated circulation, at another from the sudden contraction of
relaxed pores.
Tired of waiting for the vessel’s departure, I resolved on another
excursion into the interior; and, on the 21st of March, I set off with
two mules, which cost me eleven piasters and a half per diem, for
Leucosia. I was desirous, this time, of taking the road through Idalia;
but my guide, who wished to pass the night at his own village, turned
from the road which led to Idalia into that to Athegainon, imagining
that, when once there, I could do no more than fume and talk, without
any positive mischief to him. But I knew a Greek’s shifts well enough
to suspect that the direction he took was not the right one, as I
had previously instructed myself respecting the way. Accordingly, I
suffered him to take the lead for about two hundred yards, and then
suddenly, without apprizing him, turned off in a northerly direction.
He did not look round, until I and my servant were almost out of sight;
when, discovering what I had done, he came hurrying after me.
Idalia, now called Dali, is five leagues from Larnaka, west by north.
It proved to be a village of eighty houses, twenty of which were
Turkish, and sixty Christian. It had four _papases_, or priests. I
was lodged at the ξενοδοκε̃ ιον, or public lodging, than which nothing
could be more wretched. I went the following morning to see the site
of ancient Idalia, to the south-east, over a fine plain of whitish
soil. Half a dozen stones of rude workmanship, at a spot where the
hills form a bogáz, or ravine, were all that now remained. My guide
was very anxious that I should sit down and look around me; because,
he said, the last Englishman who had been there had done the same: and
I was inclined, therefore, to believe, that he had no other reason
for calling these scattered stones ruins of Idalia, than because this
Englishman had told him so. On my return to the village, I inquired for
coins and statues, as is customary with travellers, and found, at a
papas’s, a small woman’s head, in marble. I mounted my mule to depart,
and, in passing a heap of stones and rubbish by the church, I observed
what I thought to be the drapery of a statue peep out. I alighted, and
found a statue in high relief, about twenty inches long, without a
head, done in alabaster. This I brought away with me.
The road lay through hills, where I occasionally caught a glimpse of
Leucosia; but did not enjoy the complete view until within a quarter of
an hour’s distance from it. The day was beautifully fine. On my arrival
at the monastery, the archbishop received me civilly, but with a
settled gloom on his countenance, the cause of which will be presently
shown. His dinner, as being Lent fare, was no better than the repasts
which I had left behind me at Larnaka.
I visited, on the following day, Mâlem Anthony Brins, a native of
Tripoli in Syria, who may pass as a person of some mark in the eyes of
Europeans, as having been Monsieur Volney’s teacher in Arabic, when
living at Mar Hanneh, on Mount Lebanon.[107]
Brins was now a merchant, living in affluence at Leucosia. His house
was spacious and agreeable. Ali Bey had paid him a long visit during
his stay at Leucosia. He spoke of that traveller as ill able to support
the character of a Moslem, either by his exercise of the rites of the
Mahometan religion, or by his general language and demeanour.
Let us now revert to the cause of the archbishop’s gloominess. About
a week before this my second visit to Leucosia, a large sum of money,
amounting to about twenty purses, or nearly £500, had been stolen in
the night from the room where Andréa, the archbishop’s dragoman, sat
every day for the purpose of transacting the business of the island
between the governor and his master. In the bottom of the chest which
was rifled, human ordure was left, as if to add insult to theft. It is
to be observed that the palace of the governor, in which this room was
situated, was enclosed in a quadrangular court, and had but one outlet.
At break of day, Andrea’s servant went, as was his custom, to put the
room in order, when, finding the door forced and papers scattered in
confusion on the floor, he ran back in dismay to inform his master, who
hastened to see what had happened. The palace was soon in an uproar,
and the extraordinary event of burglary committed in the very residence
of the governor was considered as without a parallel.
When the first tumult was over, Andrea’s servant, the porter of the
gate, who was a Turk, and three Christians, employed near these rooms,
were apprehended. The _tufenkgi bashi_ (or head of the police,
whose apartment was immediately under the treasury, and where it was
supposed no noise could have been made without his hearing it), was
suspected; as was Signor Andrea himself. Over these two persons, though
not imprisoned, a guard was set to see that they did not escape.
It is usual with the Turks, when suspicion rests on particular persons,
to resort to torture for a confirmation of their doubts. Accordingly,
after four or five days, persons, to the number of thirty-two, having
been arrested, and all these but six having proved their innocence
(which six were, the porter, Andrea’s servant, and three Greeks,
with a woman, the wife of one of them), the suspected were confined
in separate rooms, and the investigation was begun in the following
manner. Meal barley, wetted, was made up into boluses of a large size,
and one of these was given to each of the accused. If he swallowed it,
he was innocent; if guilty, it was supposed to be impossible to do so.
Let it not, however, be imagined that the Turks place more reliance on
evidence of this sort than we do. But they know that guilt sometimes
betrays itself in superstitious trials, where the regular process of
justice would be balked. Andrea’s servant was most cruelly tormented.
He was placed on a cross, like that on which we represent St. Andrew
to have been crucified. His temples were screwed by the pressure of
a diadem of what are vulgarly called knuckle bones. Hot stones were
applied to his head, hot irons to his flesh. Inflammable matter was
smeared on him, and then ignited; and he was prevented from sleeping by
persons placed near him for that purpose. On the other Greeks and on
the gatekeeper the same torture was exercised.[108]
For the woman, a mode of torture was resorted to which may be called a
refinement on cruelty. The trousers worn by women in these countries
are exceedingly large, and tied at the ancles and waist. The plan
pursued with her was this. A cat was put into the trowsers, which,
being pricked and beaten, and unable to escape, grows furious, and
tears the thighs and legs of the sufferer with his teeth and claws.
It was in the midst of this dreadful investigation that I arrived at
Leucosia; and, walking the next day by the palace, I was startled by
the sight of a man dangling by the neck to the iron grating of one of
the palace windows, from fifteen to twenty feet from the ground. This
was the porter, who had been hanged in this way, just as he was about
to expire from the tortures he had undergone. As the investigation
advanced, it was rumoured that an Armenian seràf (banker to the
governor, and the rival of Andrea’s influence among the Turks) had
invented this nefarious plot for the purpose of ruining Andrea. The
servant of the latter died soon afterwards of his sufferings.
In the mean time, Andrea himself was exposed to the greatest danger,
for his enemies were powerful; and, although the proofs of his
innocence were satisfactory at home, he knew that such representations
might be made at Constantinople as would totally change the face of
things. And the event justified his apprehensions; for, although
the cause was still under investigation when I left Cyprus, and the
certainty of the Armenian’s plot became every day more apparent, the
affair was not finished without a great sacrifice of money on the
part of the archbishop; whilst Andrea, to avert a continuance of the
persecution, sold off his household furniture and pictures, which he
had recently imported from Italy, and reduced his establishment and his
dress to so humble a guise, that envious and malevolent people should
not have it in their power to allege anything against him.[109]
I got back to Larnaka just before Easter day. It fell this year on the
6th of April, and to a dull Lent succeeded visiting and festivities.
Mass was celebrated at midnight, and, this over, the ceremony of
kissing the cheek and saluting each other with “Christ is risen,”
began. By 10 o’clock, Mr. Vondiziano’s courtyard was filled with drums
and dancers, whilst in the saloon was the bishop with a party of
priests chanting.
A circumstance, however, somewhat interrupted the harmony of the
inhabitants. On the restoration of Louis XVIII., and the arrival of a
new ambassador at Constantinople, religion had again raised her head,
and the Catholic priests attempted to resume the influence which they
had once so extensively enjoyed, even in these distant colonies. The
freemasons were supposed to have been the fomenters of all the insults
which the priests had suffered for so many years during the revolution,
and the anathemas of the preachers were now levelled principally
against them.
This spirit of persecution was encouraged by the arrival of the Abbé
de Masure, almoner to the French ambassador, who denounced them as
the machinators of all evil, political and moral. It is customary for
Roman Catholics to confess themselves before receiving the sacrament
at Easter; and, according to the new order of things, the French
consul and the nation (for so the few individuals of each country
style themselves) went to confession. Three, who were freemasons, were
sent back, unless they would give up their masonic diplomas, which, of
course, they refused to do. Nor was the matter settled until the consul
threatened to imprison the priest, if he withheld absolution any longer
from the individuals in question.
I dismissed my servant Giovanni, who was to return to Syria, where he
proposed marrying a young person to whom he had been affianced three
or four years. Wishing to make the best recompence in my power to a
man, who, though he sometimes gave me reason, as has been related, to
be angry with him, still had served me faithfully, I had previously
presented him, on quitting Abra, with the best part of the furniture
my cottage contained; and I now made him a present of a few articles
for his bride, and of a sum of money for himself.