"* (*Savile's Cyprus, p. 142.)
St. Paul and St. Barnabas visited the island A.D. 45, and the conversion
of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul at Paphos, by their preaching, was the
first seed of Christianity implanted in Cyprus at the period when the
inhabitants were steeped in heathenism; but some of the superstitions at
present existing are hardly less degrading than pagan rites, and in the
kissing of the Virgin's cave at Trooditissa for the purpose already
described, we can trace an affinity with the ancient worship of Venus.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ON POLICE, FOOD, CLIMATE, &C.
The population of Cyprus is about 200,000, of which number more than
three-fourths belong to the Greek Church; nevertheless the minority of
Turks completely dominated prior to the British occupation. Although the
Cypriote is, as I have described, courteous, gentle, and affectionate in
his domestic circle, he is at the same time cunning and addicted to
petty larceny, and in all your dealings with these apparently easy-going
people you must exercise the same acuteness that is so absolutely
necessary in England. There are few great crimes in proportion to the
population, nor do we ever hear of such atrocities as those classes of
murders which so frequently blacken the page of our modern history.
Homicide is more common than actual murder, and is often the result of a
sudden quarrel where knives are drawn, and a fatal stab in passion
constitutes the offence.
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