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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 358 View PDF version of this page above the sea. A t Trooditissa monastery there are trees that were planted by the hands of the old monk, my informant, only twenty years ago, which are equal in size to a growth of fifty years in England. The planting of walnuts should certainly be encouraged, as the wood is extremely valuable ; at the same time that the crop yields an annual revenue.
The preservation and extension of the woods and forests throughout the mountainous districts of Cyprus are a simple affair, which only requires capital fend common sense combined with the usual necessary texperience. There are other portions of the island which require a different treatment.
It is the fashion to accredit every portion of Cyprus as tree-bearing in its early history, but if the student will compare the large population reported to have existed at that time with the superficial area of the island, it will be plainly seen that a very large proportion must have been under cultivation, otherwise I supplies must have been imported. I have before mentioned my opinion that the hard bare surface of the denuded cretaceous hills could never have borne 1 timber, neither do I believe in the traditions concern-
I ing forests in the plain of Messaria, for the simple reason that it must have been the cereal-producing area of the island.
The ancient forests must have existed where the vestiges remain to the present day, in which localities the natural inclination of the soil is to produce trees, which are still represented, in spite of the hideous destruction perpetrated by the inhabitants during many centuries. These positions include the entire Carpas district, together with the long range of compact limestone mountains forming the northern wall of the
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