My wife
found fault with the neglect of cleanliness, as their teeth, although
even, were totally uncared for. On the following morning they all
assembled and exhibited a show of nice white teeth, as they had followed
her advice and cleaned them with wood-ashes and their forefingers, in
lieu of a toothbrush. We saw these children again a month afterwards
upon our return, and they ran across the fields to meet us, at once
opening their mouths to show that they had not forgotten the lesson, and
that their teeth were properly attended to. I pitied all these poor
people: they are downtrodden and miserable in mind and body. Instead of
squeezing them for taxes they should be supported and encouraged by
government assistance in every manner possible. Centuries of oppression
and neglect in addition to a deceptive climate have rendered them the
mere slaves of circumstances, but they exhibit a patience and stolid
endurance which is beyond all praise; and when Cyprus shall belong
absolutely to Great Britain, so that the Cypriotes shall feel that they
are British subjects, they will become the most amenable and contented
people in the Empire.
The usual difficulty exists in passing through this island which is felt
by most English travellers in wild countries. The sick invariably
assemble, believing that your medical knowledge will produce miraculous
cures; and the lame, halt, and blind besiege you even cripples from
their birth are brought by their hopeful mothers to receive something
from your medicine-chest that will restore them to strength.
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