Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 139.pdf/20

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AN INDISCRETION IN THE LIFE OF AN HEIRESS.
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tons of locust-beans. Both these trees require to be grafted, else the fruit is not good, and the graft used is simply the insertion into the stem of a shoot — in the case of the olive, of what the natives call the male olive-tree, and in the case of the caroub, of an already grafted caroub-tree. The trees grow spontaneously, and are grafted after they have attained a certain height. Our host, Haggi Sava, has grafted the most of all his caroub-trees during his lifetime, and increases his wealth yearly by the same simple means. This leads me to say that in the district of Paphos there are extensive tracts of wild olive-trees which only wait for the hand of man to graft them.

I could with pleasure continue to carry the reader along with us in our pleasant tour from Bellapais to Kyrinia, thence by Lapithos to Morphon, thence by lovely Soli to the convent of Chico, near the, summit of Mount Troados; thence to Paphos, old and new; thence, retracing our steps, to Limasol, by the ruins of ancient Curium, and from Limasol to Larnaca, accomplishing the whole tour, without any great fatigue, in twenty-one days. But I gladly leave the pleasant task to the more able pen of some equally fortunate tourist, of whom I hope ere long the names may be "legion." The public will, however, do well to refuse to read all impressions of Cyprus written before next April, and to prepare themselves for most lugubrious accounts from the pens of all summer excursionists.

This leads me to say a few words in conclusion on the climate of Cyprus. The island is very commonly called unhealthy, but I object to the expression until I know what is meant. If it is meant that Englishmen cannot go out there during the summer months without a considerable risk of catching fever and ague, I admit its correctness. But I ask to what country, with the thermometer generally about 90° in the shade, can Englishmen, with their national love of heavy eating, and of alcoholic liquors, be sent without incurring a considerable risk of sickness of some kind? It will be found, however, that a large proportion of those who go to Cyprus enjoy as good health as they can hope for in any country. Further, I object to blaming the climate for evils which result from defective sanitary regulations, and especially from the over-crowding, without previous preparation, of towns without sewers or street-cleansers, surrounded by stagnant pools and by all that the laziness and indifference of man can accomplish to infect the air. I would judge of the healthiness or unhealthiness of the climate from its effects upon those who, from long wont, live in accordance with its requirements, and who inhabit places free from exceptional and removable disadvantages. Judged by this standard, the climate of Cyprus cannot be declared unhealthy. It is inhabited, and has been from time immemorial, by a perfectly healthy and robust native population, free from all serious sickness, and living to a hale old age. A climate of which this can be said is not justly called unhealthy. Facts, however, often carry more conviction than reasoning, and it is a fact that I lived in Larnaca, and went about the island summer and winter during nine years, and never enjoyed better health anywhere. My sister did so during four years with a similar experience. The consular changes which I witnessed during my residence there were of three French consuls, three Italian consuls, three British and two American consuls, and the only casualties amongst them were the death of a French consul from cholera and of an Italian consul when absent from the island. All the others, although disgusted with an inactive life destitute of social resources, left the island in perfectly robust health, and never suffered from any serious sickness. Of the pernicious fevers which destroy many lives, reported by Dr. Clarke — who spent ten days in the island — I can only say that I never heard of them during my residence, although they may have existed before my arrival. Of the dreadful asps, taruntulas, etc., I admit that they exist, but I only found specimens after considerable search.

R. Hamilton Lang. August 9, 1878.




From The New Quarterly Review.

AN INDISCRETION IN THE LIFE OF AN HEIRESS.

Part I.

CHAPTER I.

When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words;
Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Isabel.

The congregation in Tollamore church were singing the evening hymn, the people gently swaying backwards and forwards like trees in a soft breeze. The heads of the village children, who sat in the gallery, were inclined to one side as they uttered