to this custom in his prediction concerning the day of judgment:*"two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be takeu, and the other left."

In these little cottages we found very large establishments for bees, but all the honey thus made is demanded by the governor; so that keeping these insects is only considered as the means of an additional tax. The manner, however, in which the honey is collected, is so curious, and so worthy of imitation, that it merits a particular description: the contrivance is very simple, and was doubtless suggested by the more ancient custom, still used in the Crimea, of harbouring bees in cylinders made frour the bark of trees. They build up a wall formed entirely of earthen cylinders, each about three feet in length, placed, one above the other, horizontally, and closed at their extremities with mortar. This wall is then covered with a shed, and upwards of one hundred swarms may thus be maintained within a very small compass Close to this village grew the largest carob tree we noticed in all our travels. It is, by some, called St. John's bread tree: the ceratonia siliqua of Linnæus. It was covered with fruit, the pods being then green, and had attained the size of our largest English oaks. We could neither discover nor hear of antiquities near this village; except one large reservoir for water, pointed out as an ancient work, although probably of Venetian origin. This is still in a perfect state, lined with square blocks of stone, about twenty-five feet deep, and fifteen feet wide. It is situated in a field close to the village.

Two hours before sun rise, we again set out for Nicotia.The road lay through an open country; but high mountains were every where in view, as on the preceding evening. Some of these, as we drew nearer to them, exhibited very remarkable forms, standing insulated, and with flat tops, like what are usually called table mountains. On our right, we observed one that rose out of a fine plain, having a most perfect conical form, excepting that its vertex appeared truncated parallel to its base. Upon the road we noticed distinct masses of the purest transparent selenites, or crystallized sulphat of lime, as diaphanous as the most limpid specimens from Montmartre, near Paris. It.

*Matt. xxiv. 41.

The bee hives of Egypt, and of Palæstine, are of the same kind. Those of Egypt," says Hasselquist, are made of coaldust and clay, which being well blended together. they form of the mixture a hollow cylinder, of a span diameter, and as long as they please, from six to twelve feet: this is dried in the sun, and becomes so hard, that it may be handled at will. I saw some thousands of these hives at a village between Da piata and Mansora.' Hasselquist's Voy. and Trav. p. 236. Lond. 1766.

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seemed as if they had been dropped by caravans passing the road; although we could learn nothing, either of the place whence they were derived, or the purpose for which they were intended. A ridge of mountains bounded all the view in front of our route: at length, at the distance of two hours and a half from Attién, we beheld the city of Nicotia, situated in the middle of one of the fine plains common in this part of the island, at the base of one extremity of the mountain barrier. As we advanced toward it, we were struck with the magnitude of its fortifications: these, although neglected, still remain nearly entire, surpassing, in extent and beauty, those of almost every other city. The moat is half a mile wide; it is now dry, or at best an unwholesome swamp. Beneath the walls, the bed of this moat abruptly terminates in a deep and wide fosse. The ramparts are still mounted with a few pieces of artillery. The road winds round the walls toward the gate, which had once a portcullis. We found the entrance filled with beggars. The guard demands a toll from all Greeks passing through. As we rode into the town, we met a long train of women, dressed in white robes, the beautiful costume of the capital, filling the air with their lamentations. Some of these were of the middle age, but all were handsome as they came on, they exposed their faces and breasts to public view, tearing their hair, and weeping pi teously. In the midst of the procession rode a Turk upon an ass, smoking his pipe in the most tranquil manner, and wholly indifferent to their cries. Upon inquiring the cause of this tu mult, we were told that these women were all prostitutes, whom the governor bad banished the city, and whom they were therefore conducting beyond the gates. Their dress was modelled after a very ancient form, and highly elegant it consisted entirely of fine white linea, so disposed as to veil at ouce the whole figure, unless when pusposely cast aside; and it fell to the ground in long graceful folds.

We went to the house of Mr. Sékis, (the English Dragoman, as he is vulgarly called,) a rich Armenian merchant, who enjoys the English protection for transacting whatsoever business their nation may have with the governor. His house was in all respects a palace, possessing the highest degree of oriental magnificence. The apartments were not only spacious, but they were adorned with studied elegance; the floors being furnished with the finest mats brought from Grand Cairo, and the divans covered with sattin, set round with embroidered cushions. The windows of the rooms, as in all oriental houses,

were near the roof, and small, although numerous, and placed close to each other. They had double casements, one being of painted glass, surrounded by carved work, as in the old Gothic palaces of England. These perhaps derived their original form from the east, during the crusades. So many instances occur to strengthen the opinion, that I may be liable to unnecessary repetition, when allusion is made to this style of building. The custom of having the floor raised in the upper part of a chamber, where the superiors sit, as in our old halls, is strictly oriental: it is the same in the tents of the Tartars. We were permitted to view the charem. This always cousists of a summer and a winter apartment. The first was a large square room, surrounded by divans; the last an oblong chamber, where the divans were placed parallel to each other, one on either side, lengthways; and at the upper extremity was the fireplace, resembling our ancient English hearths.

We

About half an hour after our arrival, the worthy old Armeniau came home; and throwing himself at full length upon the divan, began to fan himself with a bunch of coloured feathers, while his secretary opened and red to him our letters. Refreshments were instantly served, and pipes brought by his attendants: soon after this he proposed that we should accompany him to the governor's. As we descended, he showed us his beautiful garden, filled with standard apricot trees laden with ripe fruit, and our wine, as he said, for dinner, already cooling in marble fountains, beneath the shade of orange, citron, lemou, fig, viue, and pomegranate trees. entered the court yard of the governor's palace, and observed several beautiful horses, richly caparisoned, standing without any attendants, each fastened by a chain to its fore leg, and to a spike in the ground. This custom exists, as a kind of parade, in almost all the palace yards of pachas who are governors, and are called Mussuleem.* We were conducted first into the chamber of the dragoman, or interpreter, where we found a crowd of persons assembled upon business. Here again pipes were brought, while our firmans were examined, and some questious put, concerning the state of affairs in Egypt, the death of the Emperor Paul, and the victory gained by Nelson over the Danes. We were then led through seve

*The Dutch ambassadors from the East India Company to China, in the middle of the seventeenth century, observed the same custom of exhibiting state horses in the court of the emperor's palace at Pekin. See Nievhoff's Account of the Embassy, as published by Ogilby, p. 126. Lond. 1669.

veral passages, until we came to the governor's apartment, who having heard our names and business, desired us to be seated upon the divan opposite to him. As this man affected all that haughtiness with which Franks were formerly received, in times when the English name was not quite so much respected as it is now in Turkey, I shall particularly specify the cere mony attending our visit. The custom shown in the reception of strangers, is the same over all the Ottoman empire; and in all countries the punctilios of hospitality are best exercised by proud men. It is only our equals who lay aside

ceremony.*

The governor of Cyprus was no pacha, nor had he any other rank than what his wealth had procured in his tempo rary station at Nicotia; an honour annually purchased of the Capudan Pacha, as before stated, by the highest bidder. One short year of dominion, wholly dedicated to the exercise of a vain ostentation, and to unbounded rapacity, was there fore all that awaited him, in return for the expenditure whereby the post had been obtained. It was truly amusing, therefore, to see the manuer of displaying his new soverignty. Our credentials were of a very superior nature; because, in addition to our firman, we carried with us letters from the Capudan Pacha, and the commander in chief, both of the fleet and of the army. At sight of these, however, his new-made excellency affected to turn up his nose, muttering between his teeth the expressive word djowrt with considerable emphasis, and taking up the skirts of his pelisse, (as our venerable friend the Armenian kneeled before him, to act as our interpreter,) that they might not be defiled by the touch of an infidel. This insolence was the more remarkable, as the Turks, except when in a state of open rebellion, generally salute the Grand Siguior's firman: even the haughty pacha of Acre always made sign of obeisance when it was produced. After thus endeavouring to make us feel our inferiority, he next strove to dazzle our senses with his splendour and greatness.

*Persons of enlightened understanding, whatsoever be their rank, know very well that real greatness is best displayed by affability and condescension. I remember hearing an Italian physician at Naples, a man of the world, who had studied human nature well, and travelled much, give this advice to a young practitioner, who was be ginning, his career: If thou be called," said he, to attend a man of real high birth, with an accomplished mind, throw thyself into the best chair in his room, and make thyself at home with him; but if the summons be to a new made dignitary, to one of newly acquired wealth, or to a tradesman who has retired from business, stand till he bids thee sit, and then take the humblest seat that offers."

† A term used by the Turks to express either a dog or an infidels

Having clapped his hands, a swarm of attendants, most magnificently habited, came into the room, bearing gilded goblets filled with lemonade and sorbet, which they presented to us. A high priest of the dervishes then entered, and prostrated himself before the governor, touching his lips with his fingers, crossing his hands upon his breast, and raising his thumbs afterward to his ears. All these marks of reverence ended, he rose and took his station upon the divan, on the left side of the governor. Next came a fresh party of slaves, bringing long pipes of jasmine wood with amber beads, to all the party; these were suddenly followed by another host of myrmidons in long white vests, having white turbans on their heads, who covered us with magnificent cloths of sky-blue silk, spangled and embroidered with gold. They also presented to us preserved fruits and other sweetmeats; suatching away the embroidered cloths, to cover us again with others of white satin, still more sumptuous than before. Then they brought coffee, in gold cups studded with diamonds; and the cloths were once more taken away. After this, there came slaves kneeling before us with burning odours in silver censers, which they held beneath our noses; and finally, a man, passing rapidly round, spattered all our faces, hands, and clothes, with rosewater; a compliment so little expected at the time, and so zealously administered, that we began to wipe from our face and eyes the honours which had almost blinded us. The principal dragoman belonging to the governor next presented each of us with an embroidered handkerchief; "gifts," he said, "by which infidels of rank were always distinguished in their interviews with his master." The handkerchief consisted of embroidered muslin, and was enclosed in a piece of red erape. These presents we in vain solicited permission to decline; adding, that "as private individuals, meanly habited, in the view of travelling expeditiously through the island, we hoped he would not form his ideas of Englishmen of rank either from our appearance or pretensions.' Upon further conversation, we found that all intercourse with Baffa and the western side of the island was cut off by the plague, which had begun to show itself even in the neighbourhood of Nicotia: we therefore resolved to return to our more humble host in the village of Attién the same night; when, to our great surprise, the governor requested that we would spend a

*This method of summoning slaves to the presence of their master is common all over the Turkish empire.