" If this theory
is correct the Cypriotes, who climb to these dizzy heights to build some
walls among the precipices that will act as an agricultural trap to
catch some few square yards of soil, must be simply madmen; but I have
not found them wanting either in brains or industry when working
independently for their own profit; where they are positively wanting,
is in ready money. All strangers who take an interest in agriculture
must be struck with the extraordinary pains taken by the natives to save
the soil from water-wash, to which I have already alluded; but this
peculiarity is the more striking when we observe the dangerous positions
to which they have been driven by a desire to increase their lands.
In a ride from our camp to St. Hilarion I carefully remarked throughout
the extremely rugged nature of the route that no plot, however minute,
had been neglected. In one rocky nook buried among the cliffs was a
little cottage, with hanging gardens all terraced by exceedingly high
walls, yet affording the smallest superficial area for cultivation. This
is discernible with a powerful telescope from the base of the mountains,
although to the naked eye it appears like a cluster of barren rocks,
tinged with the green of fruit-trees growing from the clefts. If such
labour had been expended to produce a picturesque effect the object
might be appreciated, but that it should be profitable is beyond belief.
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