Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879Baker, Samuel White, Sir
History
Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879
Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Cyprus -- Description and travel
The first night is always novel, in spite of old experiences. We pricked
our hands in raking up thorny plants, but a useful implement, which
combined the broad hoe on one side with a light pick on the other,
lessened our labour, and we produced a blaze; this was bright but
transient, as the fuel was unsubstantial. The dinner was quickly warmed,
as it consisted of tins of preserved meats; and, climbing up the ladder,
the gipsy van presented such a picture of luxury that if the world were
girded by a good road instead of a useless equator I should like to be
perpetually circum-vanning it.
On the following morning the thermometer marked 40 degrees. The natives
were early at work, ploughing land that was to remain fallow until the
following season. The oxen were sleek and in good condition, and not
inferior in weight to the well-known red animals of North Devon.
Although the native plough is of the unchanged and primitive pattern
that is illustrated on the walls of Egyptian temples, it is well adapted
for the work required in the rough and stony ground of Cyprus. I was
surprised to see the depth which these exceedingly light implements
attained, with apparent ease to the pair of oxen; this was not less than
eight inches, and the furrows were regular, but not turned completely
over. The ploughshare is not adapted for cutting the roots of weeds by
means of a flat surface and a sharp edge, but the rounded top of the
native iron passes beneath the soil and breaks it up like the wave
produced by the ram-bow of a vessel. The plough, when complete, does not
exceed forty pounds in weight, and it is conveniently carried, together
with the labourer, upon the same donkey, when travelling from a distance
to the morning's work. European settlers in Cyprus should be cautious
before superseding the native plough by the massive European pattern;
there are certain soils where the powerful iron plough, or even the
double implement, might be worked with advantage, but as a general rule
I should advise an agriculturist to wait patiently at the commencement
of his operations, and to gain practical experience of the country
before he expends capital in the purchase of European inventions. There
can be no doubt that by degrees important improvements may be introduced
that will benefit the Cypriote farmer, although it will be long before
his primitive method will be abandoned. The great difficulty in Cyprus
consists in reducing the soil to a fine surface; huge lumps of tenacious
earth are turned up by the plough, which, under the baking influence of
the sun, become as hard as sun-dried bricks. The native method of
crushing is exceedingly rude and ineffective. A heavy plank about
sixteen feet long and three inches thick, furnished with two rings, is
dragged by oxen over the surface; which generally remains in so rough a
state that walking over the field is most laborious. There are many
stone columns lying useless among the heaps of ruins so common in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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