The gnarled, weird appearance of these ancient groves of such gigantic dimensions contrasted sadly with the treeless expanse beyond, and proved that Cyprus had for very many centuries been the victim of neglect. The olive is indigenous to the island, and the low scrub jungles of Baffo, the Carpas district, and other portions abound with the wild species, which can be rendered fruitful by grafting. In selecting trees for the extension of forests, there is a common-sense rule to guide us by observing those varieties which are indigenous to the country; these can be obtained at the lowest cost, and their success is almost assured, as no time need be lost from the day of their removal to the new plantation. Such trees as are rendered fruitful by grafting offer peculiar advantages, as the stocks already exist upon which superior varieties may be connected. The principal food of the Cypriotes consists of olives, beans, bread, and onions; they seldom eat what we should call "cooked food;" whether this is owing to the scarcity of fuel, or whether it is natural in this climate to avoid flesh, I cannot determine: some say the people are too poor, and cannot afford mutton at twopence a pound, while at the same time they will not kill the oxen that are required for purposes of draught; they refuse the milk of cows, and only use that of sheep or goats. The fact remains that the country people seldom eat butcher's meat, but subsist upon olives, oil, bread, cheese, and vegetables. Under these circumstances it would be natural to suppose that the accepted articles of consumption would be highly cultivated and superior in quality; but the reverse is the fact. The olive-oil is so inferior that foreign oil is imported from France for the use of the upper classes; the olives are of a poor description, and, as a rule, few vegetables are cultivated except in the immediate vicinity of town markets, the agricultural population or country people being too careless to excel in horticulture, and depending mainly upon the wild vegetables which the soil produces in abundance. If the people are too inert to improve the qualities and to extend the cultivation of vegetables, it is easy to comprehend their neglect of the tree-planting so necessary to the climatic requirements of this island.