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singers, Euclos, belonged to Cyprus, and it was also the native place of Stasinos, the author of one of the celebrated poems of antiquity-the Cyprian Iliad or "Kypria," which is sometimes wrongly attributed to Homer. The principal industries of Cyprus are leather-tanning and dyeing, and silk-weaving. The tanneries at Nicosia turn out from 1,500 to 2,000 bales of leather per annum; it is exported principally to Syria and Egypt. The silk-weaving is chiefly a domestic industry carried on in their own houses, with very primitive looms, by girls and women ; they show much skill and taste in their work, and produce an exceedingly fine silk net, as well as tasteful embroidery. English cotton cloths are imported to the island, and dyed or printed in brilliant colours for divans or coverlets, and then re-exported to Syria, Smyrna, and Constantinople. When the olive crop is good, soap is made in considerable quantities, and, in addition to the wines, a good brandy is also made.

Much has been written, and very opposite accounts have been given, of the climate of Cyprus: thus, while some writers have described the island as a paradise, others have declared it to be almost unfit for the habitation of man. The former have certainly indulged, to some extent, in romance, while the latter have probably merely written in accordance with their own very limited experience-acquired in many cases during a stay of only a few days in the island; writers in some English newspapers have also made much capital of this alleged extreme unhealthiness of the island, endeavouring thereby to prove that the Government had selected for occupation an island which must infallibly prove a grave for every Englishman doomed to reside there.

The truth is that, owing to its situation and the mountainous nature of the country, Cyprus possesses some of the climatic characteristics of the three adjacent quarters of the globe, and within a limited space there is in summer an extreme range of temperature varying according to the altitudes at which observations are made. During the rainy season (October to February), there are almost tropical rains; for the next three or four months the climate is delightful, with only slight rains, but from the middle of June to the middle of September the heat is very great, and it is immediately after the rains and during the first heat that fevers prevail, especially in the low lands near the coast.

When our expedition first landed in Cyprus, the soldiers were under the disadvantage of arriving in a climate to which they

were unaccustomed before the hot season was over, and they were at first obliged to be under canvas, and not far from the sea-shore. With the usual adherence of the British soldier to the habits of his native land, and the difficulty he commonly experiences in adapting himself to altered conditions, he would naturally be liable to be attacked by the prevalent fevers. There are but few of our colonial, or indeed Mediterranean, possessions where the partaking of a heavy meal in the hottest portion of the day, and a somewhat free indulgence in spirituous liquors, would not have been followed by similar or worse results, though the existence of proper barrack and hospital accommodation would diminish the proportion of fatal cases. The fact that the Cypriotes are and always have been a strong and healthy people must be taken as a proof that the climate cannot be very unhealthy, and it should be no more difficult for Englishmen to become acclimatised in this island than in any other of our widely scattered possessions, especially when improved sanitary arrangements shall have removed the most fruitful sources of disease, viz. : over-crowding and want of proper drainage and ventilation. Most Englishmen who have resided for any length of time in Cyprus concur in stating that with proper precautions, such as avoiding linen clothing, cold drinks, unripe fruit, and much exposure to the dews of evening and the low morning temperature, they have enjoyed excellent health.

The foregoing outline, brief as it is, may serve to give some idea of the natural products and capabilities of Cyprus, and of the field which exists for the employment of English capital in the development of the agricultural and mineral wealth of the island. But not only on account of its natural riches is the possession of Cyprus important to England. Its position as a naval and military station is a most commanding one, and will, so soon as we have deepened and restored the old harbour of Famagusta, be entirely unequalled. Situated as it is at a distance of only about 200 miles from Port Saïd, it is really the key to the Suez Canal, and thus completely protects our communications with India by that route, and enables us to avoid the necessity of landing in Egypt an armed force. Further, the island is but 100 miles from Iskendroon or Alexandretta, a seaport which will, in all probability, be the terminus of the Euphrates Valley Railway when that long-talked-of line is constructed. Even until that time it is to us the quickest route by which to reach the Tigris Valley, and thus check any ambitious

designs which Russia, now that she has possession of Kars, may attempt to carry out. And, independently of any warlike ideas, we have in Cyprus a storehouse for the whole trade of the Levant, and of Arabia, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Since, also, it has been determined that the Turkish Empire must be maintained—and it can only be effectively kept up by steadfast endeavours to improve the condition of both Christian and Mahomedan subjects-the example set by the English in the introduction of reforms into the Government of the neighbouring island of Cyprus will surely be the most effectual mode of inducing the Porte to introduce similar reforms throughout the Empire. Both before and after the Christian era, the importance of Cyprus was constantly recognised, and its possession struggled for by Power after Power; but these, while acknowledging her importance, did nothing to increase her prosperity, looking on her simply as a huge and inexhaustible dockyard, where they might build and equip their navies, a military district where they might levy forces, or a territory from which some extra tribute might be extorted. Under an enlightened and Christian Government with whom revenue is not the only consideration, but who will carefully consider what is best for the prosperity of the island and its inhabitants, the ancient glories of Cyprus may in a great measure return to her, and if this should prove to be the case, future generations of Englishmen will acknowledge the wisdom of the step taken by the present Government in securing possession of an island so famous in history, and so rich in natural resources.

NOTE.

J. R. ROYLE.

The following works have afforded me much valuable information, viz. :—

"CYPRUS ITS CITIES, TOMBS, AND TEMPLES," by General di Cesnola;

"CYPRUS," Consul R. H. Lang;

"DIE INSEL CYPERN IN IHRER HEUTIGEN GESTALT," Victor Graf Folliot de Crenneville. Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th Ed., art. Cyprus.

38

THE TEMPERANCE REFRESHMENT HOUSE

MOVEMENT.

THERE are probably few, if any, among the social, philanthropic, and religious movements of the present day of greater importance than that which forms the heading of this paper. Temperance refreshment houses were common enough years ago under the title of coffee-houses, and as late as the year 1715 there were something like 2,000 registered in the metropolis alone. Charles II by a proclamation endeavoured to put down these establishments, but failed; and within the period of a single generation, coffee-houses which had sprung up in London had become household words in their own day, and many of their names are familiar to readers of the history of that time. Though open to the public generally, each house seems to have had its special clique of frequenters, and practically became a kind of club for social intercourse. There was Wills' Coffee-House, where the great John Dryden spent so much of his time, where he had a chair in the chimney corner during the winter, and a seat in the balcony during the summer. There was Button's Coffee-House hard by, and there might be seen day after day Addison and Steel discussing their coffee and tobacco, and things in general; and then there was Tom's Coffee-House, where Johnson, Garrick, Foote, and Sir Philip Francis, the supposed author of Junius's Letters, spent much of their time; and the Rainbow, which Charles II had tried to suppress. The old coffee-houses also in many instances assumed a specific character from the class of clients which resorted to them. But gradually they were converted into fashionable clubs, while for the great bulk of the people public-houses and beershops took their place, and eventually became the only places to which the working classes could resort for refreshment and recreation, the ordinary coffeehouses of more recent times offering little attraction for either.

Such being the case, there has sprung up, though somewhat tardily, a recognition of the great fact that one of the chief needs of the day is a multiplication of temperance refreshment houses; the word "temperance" being used not in an offensive sense towards persons who are really temperate in their use of alcoholic drinks, but in a modern and common sense as implying total abstinence from such beverages. Under the term of "temperance" refreshment houses will come the cafés, coffee taverns, coffee palaces, cocoa and chocolate houses and rooms, coffee

public-houses, and other similar establishments. The working classes, and the middle classes also, have as it were a right to demand the provision for them of such places of resort, where they can obtain refreshment without being thrown into the company of the ordinary frequenters of public-houses. It is hard upon them to be placed in the way of temptation, and to be almost forced into it when they need refreshment or an interval of rest and recreation. It is hardly necessary now-a-days to enlarge on the terrible evils that accrue from drunkenness in this country. These are recognised on all hands. Drunkenness demoralises and pauperises a very large proportion of the people of the land, rendering them careless both of their souls and bodies; it fills our hospitals, workhouses, and gaols; it brutalises its victims, making them little better, or rather making them worse, than "the beasts that perish;" it is the prolific source of evils innumerable, and goes far to render inoperative the various works and agencies carried on for the religious, social, and moral good of the community. We all see and acknowledge this now; and, happily be it added, many are the earnest workers endeavouring to eradicate this social canker, that would eat out the very life of the nation were it not for their labours. The cause of temperance is advancing; and recently it was stated publicly that there are now no less than 4,000,000 of total abstainers among us. Of course, the highest ground on which to urge immortal beings to eschew intemperance is religion, for drunkenness is not only a moral degradation, but a sin. Unfortunately, however, there are many who will not listen to religious appeals. Moral suasion then becomes another lever for work in the cause of temperance, and the advocacy of "the pledge" on considerations of expediency. But these and other means which might be mentioned, though much good has been done by them, require supplementing, especially in reference to those who bear the honourable name of "the working classes." As long as for these almost the only places for refreshment, whether it be food or drink, are ordinary publichouses and gin palaces, so long will the temperance movement be greatly hindered. In our large centres of population there are thousands of workmen, and others too of a superior class socially, who perforce must take one or two meals near their work daily, and far away from their homes. Working men have had few places hitherto to resort to but public-houses where they could get their own bit of meat, a chop or a steak, cooked for them, or already

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