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July 12th-Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., gazetted to be the Administrator of the Island of Cyprus, under the style of H.M.'s High Commissioner and Commander-inChief. (Published in the Gazette of Tuesday, July 16th.)

The ceremonial of the surrender of Cyprus to Great Britain, was completed at Nicosia, the capital, by Admiral Lord John Hay, Acting Governor.

July 13th-Sir Garnet Wolseley, and Staff, left London for Cyprus.

July 17th-Sir Garnet Wolseley, and Staff, reached Malta on their way to Cyprus. Four hundred Indian troops from Malta disembarked at Larnaca, in Cyprus.

July 18th-Sir Garnet Wolseley, and the greater part of the British and Indian troops intended to form the Cyprus garrison,

sailed from Malta.

July 22nd-Sir Garnet Wolseley landed at Larnaca, took the oaths of allegiance and of office, and assumed the government.

The British Garrison in Cyprus was composed as follows:

High Commissioner and Lieutenant-General Sir G. J. Wolseley, G.C.M.G., Staff.
Commander in Chief

Chief of the Staff

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K.C.B.

Brevet Colonel G. R. Greaves, C.B. half-pay late
70th F.

Assistant Military Secre- Brevet Lieut.-Colonel B. C. Russell, C.B. 13th

tary

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Hussars.

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Deputy Commissary General A. W. Downes, C.B.

Commissary (Ordnance).... Commissary T. Sparkes.

31st Company, Royal Engineers.

F Battery 2nd Brigade, Royal Artillery.

42nd Royal Highlanders.

71st Highland Light Infantry.

101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers.

Detachments of the Army Service and Army Hospital Corps.

2 Companies Bombay Sappers and Miners.

2 Companies Madras Sappers and Miners.

1st Bombay Lancers.

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British
Troops.

Indian troops.

31st Bengal Native Infantry.

2nd Goorhka Regiment.

25th Madras Native Infantry.

SUMMARY OF THE DATES OF THE CHIEF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF CYPRUS

No exact dates with regard to the early colonization of Cyprus can be ascertained: Eratosthenes gives B.C. 1045, as the approximate date of the first Phoenician settlements, but the island was inhabited many centuries before this period.

B.C. 1000. Revolt against the sovereignty of Hiram, King of Tyre. Tribute paid to Sargon, King of Assyria, by the Cypriote Kings.

Invasion by Apries, King of Egypt.

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707.

594.

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Cyprus brought under Egyptian rule by King Amasis.
The Cypriote Kings tender allegiance to Cambyses, King of
Persia.

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Conquest of part of Cyprus by the Greeks under Pausanias.
Peace of Antalcidas. Cyprus became a Persian possession.
The Cypriote Kings declared in favour of Alexander the
Great.

On the death of Alexander, Cyprus was allotted to Antigonus.
Commencement of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Cyprus.
Cyprus annexed by the Roman Empire.

Visit of Paul and Barnabas, and conversion of Sergius Paulus.
Insurrection by the Jews, and massacre of Greek population.
Cyprus became part of the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire.
Invasion by the Arabs, and destruction of Salamis.
Cyprus conquered by the Saracens in the reign of Haroun-el-
Rashid.

Cyprus regained by the Byzantine Empire.

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Conquest of Cyprus by Richard I of England, and sale to the
Templars.

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Commencement of the Lusignan dynasty.

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1393.

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1425.

Famagusta taken by the Genoese, and held by them for 90 years. Invasion of Cyprus by the Egyptians, after which the island became tributary to Egypt.

1489.
1546.

The Venetian Republic annexed Cyprus.

Serious rebellion in the island.

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1571.

Famagusta besieged, and taken by the Turks.

1573.

Cyprus ceded by treaty to the Porte by the Venetian Republic.

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"" 1764. Insurrection and civil war in Cyprus.

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CHAPTER II.

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.

THE Island of Cyprus is situated in the north-east part of the Situation. eastern basin of the Mediterranean, with Asia Minor to the north of it and Syria to the east, between latitude 34° 30' to 35° 41' N., and longitude 32° 15' to 34° 35' 30" E.

The distance from Cape St. Andrea, the north-east extremity of the island, to the nearest point of the Coast of Syria in the neighbourhood of Latakieh, is about 60 miles; Cape Kormakiti on the northern shore is about 41 miles from Cape Anamour in Cilicia. Larnaca, on the southern shore, the chief port of the island, is 258 miles from Port Said, and 1,117 miles from the harbour of Valetta in Malta.*

The estimates of the area of Cyprus differ considerably, in con- Extent and sequence, no doubt, of the imperfect manner in which the island shape. has been surveyed. Keith Johnston's estimate is 3,678 square miles, Drs. Unger and Kotschy state it to be 3,788 square miles, other writers believe it to be 4,200 or 4,500 square miles, but these last measurements appear to be considerably above the mark. Cyprus is larger than either Corsica or Crete, the areas of which islands are 3,377 and 3,327 square miles respectively, and the only Mediterranean islands which surpass it in extent are Sardinia and Sicily. The greatest length of Cyprus from west-south-west to east-north-east, between Cape Drepano and Cape St. Andrea, is 140 miles, and the greatest breadth from north to south, between Cape Kormakiti and Cape Gata, is 59 miles.

The greater part of the island is in shape somewhat of an irregular parallelogram, about 100 miles long from west to east, and from 59 to 33 miles in breadth; the remainder consists of a peninsula about 40 miles long and from ten to three miles broad, projecting in an east-north-east direction, and terminating at Cape St. Andrea. The ancients compared the shape of the island to that of an outspread deer's skin or fleece, of which the tail was the long peninsula above mentioned; a glance at the map will show that the fancied resemblance was not inappropriate.

On the north coast are Cape Kormakiti (the north-west Capes.t extremity), Cape Plakoti, and Cape St. Andrea (the north-east

• These measurements are given in English miles of 691 to the degree, and are taken from Kiepert's Map of the Ottoman Empire. From Larnaca to Valetta is 970

nautical miles.

+ The Capes, gulfs, bays, roadsteads and harbours are described in the Coast Report at Chapter V, here they are only named.

Gulfs and bays.

Roadsteads

extremity). On the west coast, Cape Kokkino, Pomo Point, Cape Arnauti, or St. Epiphanio, the ancient Acamas (the most western point), Cape Drepano, and Cape Baffo, or Papho. On the south coast; Cape Bianco, Cape Zephgari, Cape Gata (the southern point of the island), Carrubiere Point, Cape Kiti, and Cape Pila. On the east coast, Cape Greco (the south-east extremity of the island), Cape Elæa, Pyrila Point, and Cape Peda, or Monastery Point. In allusion to these numerous capes the island was at one time called by the ancients, Cerastis, or horn island.

Famagusta Bay, or the Bay of Salamis, on the east; Larnaca Bay, Akrotiri (Limasol) Bay, and the Gulf of Piscopi on the south; the Gulfs of Khrysokho, and Morpho, or Pentagia, in the northwest part of the island.

The Roadsteads are at Famagusta, Larnaca, and Limasol. and harbours. Formerly there were harbours at Salamis, Famagusta, Baffo, and Cerinea, but the piers are now in a ruined state, and the interiors choked with sand and mud. (See Chapter V.)

Towns and large villages.*

Mountains.

In the interior, Nicosia (the capital), Kythræa, Vatili, Athienou, Dali, Lithrodonda, Kilani (Gilan), Omodos, Lefka.

On or close to the coast:

South-Larnaca. Limasol, Kolossi, Piskopi, Avdimu, Pysouri,

Kuklia.

West-Baffo, Ktima, Poli tou Khrysokho, Soli, Morpho.
North-Cerinea, Lapethus, Acanthou, Kantara, Karpas (Rhizo
Karpasso).

East-Famagusta, Varoschia, Salamis (in ruins).

The mountains of Cyprus are the chief topographical feature of the country. They consist of two main systems, which are separate and distinct. The northern range, called the Karpas Mountains, and, towards their western extremity, the Cerinea Mountains, forms a continuous chain bordering the northern shore from Cape St. Andrea to Cape Kormakiti, a distance of about 100 miles. The summit of this range consists throughout of a narrow, but rocky and rugged, ridge, which is generally within about three miles of the coast. At the foot of the northern slope, which is very abrupt, there is a narrow and fertile plain, which is well watered and has a productive soil. On the south side the country falls to the large plain of Messaria, which occupies the centre of the island.

Throughout the eastern portion of the range, the elevations do not exceed 2,000) feet, but in the centre and west are higher summits: viz., Kantara, 2,020 feet above the sea; Pentadaktylon, 2,480 feet; Buffavento, 3,240 feet; Mount Elias, 2,810 feet; and St. Hilarion, 3,340 feet.†

On the summits of Kantara, Buffavento and St. Hilarion are ruined castles, and there are several monasteries, some of which are also in ruins.

The streams flowing from this chain of mountains are merely brooks and mountain torrents, and are short and unimportant.

The second range of mountains is the most extensive as well

* Nearly all these towns and villages are fully described in Chapters III and IV. These are the heights given on the Admiralty Chart, No. 2074; the figures of other authorities are but very slightly different.

as the most lofty; it occupies the whole of the western and southwestern portions of the island, and trending thence along the south coast, terminates in the isolated peak called Monte S. Croce, or Stavrovouni (Oros Stavro), about 12 miles west of Larnaca. The highest summit of this range, which is also the most elevated point in Cyprus, is now known as Mount Troodos, 6,590 feet; this summit is said to be the ancient Olympus, though it is also asserted that the mountain designated by Strabo under that name is evidently Stavrovouni (2,300 feet). Other lofty summits in this chain are Mount Adelphé, 5,383 feet, and Mount Makhera, 4,730 feet* This range throws off on all sides subordinate ranges, or spurs, of considerable altitude, one of these extends to Cape Arnauti, and fills up the north-western extremity of the island. Other spurs, called the Kikko mountains, of which the highest summit is 3,863 feet above sea level, branch off northwards, from the western part of the range, towards Pomo Point, and numerous ramifications extend from Mount Troodos and Mount Makhera towards the southern coast.

Lastly, from Stavrovouni a succession of low hills run eastward towards Cape Greco.

The northern slopes of the Olympus range are somewhat bold and rugged, but the southern side is still more so, presenting a deeply serrated outline, with partially wooded slopes; the trees found here are chiefly pines of several varieties, oaks, cypresses, &c. The valleys are very deep, and have steep sides which are generally covered with a luxuriant growth of arbutus, olives, myrtles, carobs, junipers, oleanders, and other shrubs.

The rivers of Cyprus are nearly all mere mountain torrents, Rivers. with rough and stony beds which are generally dry in summer. None of the rivers are navigable. After the spring and winter rains, the water rushes with violence down the slopes of the mountains, fills up, and then breaks out from, the narrow water-courses, overflowing the surrounding country, and depositing upon it a rich alluvial earth, which enriches the soil, and to which much of its fertility is due. This tendency of the streams to overflow their banks at certain seasons, has, however, an evil effect in the production of large marshes, which breed miasma and cause fevers; to drain these marshes and bank up the channels of the rivers, are, perhaps, amongst the engineering works most urgently needed in Cyprus. The variable condition of the water in the rivers at different times of the year is probably the reason why no fish are to be found in them. The chief rivers of Cyprus which have received names are mentioned below; the list may perhaps appear long for an island of this size, but it must be borne in mind that only the two first-named-the Pedias and the Idalia-are of any real importance at present, the others being almost without exception mountain torrents which cannot be relied upon to have water in their channels except immediately after rain.

The largest river in the island is the Pedias; it rises amongst

These are the heights of the Admiralty Chart. Von Löher's measurement of Mount Troodos is 6190 feet, and Unger makes all the heights slightly different from those given above,

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