Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879 Part 17

We frequently had them first boiled and then pounded in a mortar to a paste, then mixed with boiling water and strained through a sieve; after which cream should be added, together with the required seasonings for a soup. I imagine that the common green crabs of the English coasts, which are caught in such numbers and thrown away by the fishermen, would be almost as good if treated in the same manner for potage.

The calm monotony of a life at Trooditissa was disturbed every now and then at distant intervals by trifling events which only served to prove that peculiar characters existed in the otherwise heavenly atmosphere which showed our connection with the world below.

One night a burglar attempted an entrance; but the man (who was a carpenter) having been previously suspected, was watched, and having been seen in the middle of the night to place a ladder against the outer gallery, by which he ascended, and with false keys opened a door that led to the store-room of the monastery, he was suddenly pounced upon by two strong young priests and fairly captured. On the following morning the monks applied to me, and as usual I vainly pleaded my unofficial position. I was either to do or to say something. If the man was sent to Limasol, thirty-five miles distant, the monks would have the trouble and expense of appearing as prosecutors; the robber would be imprisoned for perhaps a couple of years, during which his family would starve. I could offer no advice. I simply told them that if any robber should attempt to enter my tent I should not send him to Limasol, but I should endeavour to make the tent so disagreeable to him that he would never be tempted to revisit the premises from the attraction of pleasing a.s.sociations. I explained to the monks that although a severe thrashing with stout mulberry sticks would, if laid on by two stout fellows, have a most beneficial effect upon the burglar, and save all the trouble of a reference to Limasol, at the same time that the innocent wife and family would not be thrown upon their relatives, they must not accept my views of punishment as any suggestion under the present circ.u.mstances.

About half an hour after this conversation I heard a sound of well-inflicted blows, accompanied by cries which certainly denoted a disagreeable physical sensation, within the courtyard of the monastery, and to my astonishment I found that my interpreter and willing cook Christo had volunteered as one of the executioners, and the burglar, having been severely thrashed, was turned out of the monastery and thrust down the path towards the depths of Phyni. Christo was a very good fellow, and he sometimes reminded me of a terrier ready to obey or take a hint from his master upon any active subject, while at others, in his calmer moments, he resembled King Henry's knights, who interpreted their monarch's wishes respecting Thomas a-Becket.

On 6th June we had been somewhat startled by the sudden appearance in the afternoon of a man perfectly naked, who marched down the approach from the spring and entered the monastery-yard in a dignified and stage-like att.i.tude as though he had the sole right of entree. At first sight I thought he was mad, but on reference to the monks I discovered he was perfectly sane. It appeared that he was a Greek about forty-five years of age, who was a native of Kyrenia, and for some offence twenty years ago he had been ordered by the priests to do penance in this extraordinary manner. His body, originally white, had become quite as brown as that of an Arab of the desert; he possessed no clothing nor property of any kind, not even a blanket during winter; but he wandered about the mountains and visited monasteries and certain villages, where he obtained food as charity. He would never accept money (probably from the absence of pockets), neither would he venture near Turkish villages, as he had several times received a thrashing from the men for thus presenting himself before their women, and it is to be regretted that the Cypriotes had not followed the Turkish example, which would have quickly cured his eccentricity. He was a strong, well-built man, with good muscular development; his head was bald with the exception of a little hair upon either side, and he was interesting to a certain extent as an example of what a European can endure when totally exposed to the sun and weather. Sometimes he slept like a wild animal beneath a rock among the mountains, or in a cave, when such a luxurious retreat might offer a refuge; at other times he was received and sheltered by the priests or people. This individual's name was Christodilos, and according to my notes taken at the time, he is described as "originally a labourer of Kyrenia; parents dead: one brother and two sisters living."

CHAPTER XVI.

SOMETHING ABOUT TAXATION.

The monastery gardens of Trooditissa at the close of July exhibited the great fruit-producing power of the soil and climate at this high alt.i.tude, but at the same time they were examples of the arbitrary and vexatious system of Turkish taxation, which remains unchanged and is still enforced by the British authorities. I shall describe this in detail, and leave the question of possibility of development under such wholesale tyranny to the judgment of the public. It is difficult to conceive how any persons can expect that Europeans, especially Englishmen, will become landowners and settle in Cyprus when subjected to such unfair and irritating restrictions.

NO PRODUCE CAN BE REMOVED FROM ANY GARDEN UNTIL IT SHALL HAVE BEEN VALUED FOR TAXATION BY THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL APPOINTED FOR THAT PURPOSE, at the rate of 10 per cent. ad valorem.

At first sight this system appears incredible, but upon an examination of the details our wonder ceases at the general absence of cultivated vegetables and the propagation of superior qualities of fruits. If the object of the government were purposely to repress all horticultural enterprise, and to drive the inhabitants to the Nebuchadnezzar-like grazing upon wild herbs, the present system would a.s.suredly accomplish the baneful end. The Cypriotes are called indolent, and are blamed by travellers for their apathy in contenting themselves with wild vegetables, when their soil is eminently adapted in the varying alt.i.tudes and climates for the production of the finest qualities of fruits and green-stuffs. I will imagine that an Englishman of any cla.s.s may be placed in the following position of a cultivator, which he a.s.suredly would be, if foolish enough to become a proprietor in Cyprus.

I am at this moment looking down from the shade of the great walnut-tree upon the terraced gardens and orchards beneath, which are rich in potatoes of excellent quality, onions, beet-root, &c.; together with walnuts, pears, apples, plums, filberts, figs, and mulberries. The pears and plums are of several varieties, some will ripen late, others are now fit to gather, but nothing can be touched until the valuer shall arrive; he is expected in ten days; by which time many of the plums will have fallen to the ground, and the swarming rats will have eaten half the pears. The shepherds' children and the various monastery boys live in the boughs like monkeys, and devour the fruit ripe or unripe, from morning till evening, with extraordinary impunity; women who arrive from the low country with children to be christened place them upon the ground, and climb the pear-trees; neither colic nor cholera is known in this sanctified locality. The natives of the low country who arrive at the monastery daily with their laden mules from villages upon the other side of the mountains, en route to Limasol, immediately ascend the attractive trees and feast upon the plums; at the same time they fill their handkerchiefs and pockets with pears, &c., as food during their return journey. "There will not be much trouble for the valuer when he arrives," I remarked to the monks, "if you allow such wholesale robbery of your orchards."

"On the contrary," they replied, "the difficulty will be increased; we never sell the produce of the gardens, which is kept for the support of all those who visit us, but we have much trouble with the valuation of the fruits for taxation. It is hard that we shall have to pay for what the public consume at our expense, but it will be thus arranged. . . .

The valuer will arrive, and he will find some trees laden with unripe fruit, others that have been stripped by plunder; the potatoes, &c., will be still in the ground. We shall have a person to represent our interests in the valuation as a check upon the official; but in the end he will have his own way. We shall explain that certain trees are naked, as the fruit became ripe and was stolen by the boys. 'Then you ought to have taken more care of it,' he will reply; 'how many okes of plums were there upon those trees?' We shall have to guess the amount. 'Nonsense!'

he will exclaim to whatever figure we may mention, 'there must have been double that quant.i.ty: I shall write down 1500 (if we declared 1000), which will split the difference.' ("Splitting the difference" is the usual method of arranging an Oriental dispute, as instanced by Solomon's well-known suggestion of dividing the baby.).

"We shall protest," continued the monks, "and this kind of inquisitorial haggling will take place concerning every tree, until the valuer shall have concluded his labour, and about one-third more than the actual produce of the orchards will have been booked against us; upon which we must pay a tax of 10 per cent., at the same time that the risks of insects, rats, and the expenses of gathering remain to the debit of the garden. In fact," said the poor old monks, "our produce is a trouble to us, as personally we derive no benefit; the public eat the fruit, and the government eats the taxes."

There were curious distinctions and exceptions in this arbitrary form of taxation: if a fruit-tree grew within the monastery courtyard it was exempt; thus the great walnut-tree beneath which we camped was free. It was really cheering to find that we were living under some object that was not taxed in Cyprus; but the monk continued, and somewhat dispelled the illusion . . . "This tree produced in one year 20,000 walnuts, and it averages from 12,000 to 15,000; but when the crops of our other trees are estimated, the official valuer always insists upon a false maximum, so as to include the crop of the courtyard walnut in the total amount for taxation."

The potatoes, like all other horticultural productions, are valued while growing, and the same system of extravagant estimate is pursued.

This system is a blight of the gravest character upon the local industry of the inhabitants, and it is a suicidal and unstatesmanlike policy that crushes and extinguishes all enterprise. What Englishman would submit to such a prying and humiliating position? And still it is expected that the resources of the island will be developed by British capital! The great want for the supply of the princ.i.p.al towns is market-gardens.

Imagine an English practical market-gardener, fresh from the ten-mile radius of Covent Garden, where despatch and prompt.i.tude mean fortune and success: he could not cut his cauliflowers in Cyprus until his crop of unblown plants had been valued by an official and while he might be waiting for this well-hated spirit of evil, his cauliflower-heads would have expanded into coral-like projections and have become utterly valueless except for pig-feeding. I cannot conceive a more extravagant instance of oppression than this system of taxation, which throws enormous powers of extortion into the hands of the official valuer. This person can oppose by delays and superlative estimates the vital interests of the proprietors; if the property is large, the owner will be only too glad to silence his opposition by a considerable bribe; the poor must alike contribute, or submit to be the victim of delays which, with perishable articles such as vegetables, represent his ruin. Is it surprising that the villages of the desolate plain of Messaria are for the most part devoid of fruit-trees? We are preaching to the Cypriotes the advantage of planting around their dwellings, as though they were such idiots as to be ignorant that "he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind." If they plant fruit-trees under the present laws they are planting curses which will entail the misery of inquisitorial visits and the most objectionable and oppressive form of an unjust taxation. As the law at present stands, the amount of fruit is ridiculously small, and the quality inferior, while cultivated vegetables are difficult to obtain. Can any other result be expected under the paralysing effect of Turkish laws? which unfortunately British officials have the questionable honour of administering.

I have heard officials condemn in the strongest terms the laws they are obliged to enforce. There are few persons who are obtuse to the sense of injustice, but at the same time the suggestion has been expressed that an extreme difficulty would be experienced should the taxes be collected in any other form than dimes. I cannot see the slightest truth in this disclaimer of responsibility for Turkish evils, and I believe the present difficulty might be overcome with little trouble by a system of rating the land ad valorem.

The soil and general value of properties in Cyprus vary as in England and other countries according to quality and position. There is land contiguous to market towns of much higher value than the same quality of soil in remote districts; there are farms supplied with water either naturally or artificially, which are far more valuable than others which are dependent upon favourable seasons. Land which formerly produced madder was of extreme value, and should have been adjudged accordingly; but why should not all properties of every description throughout Cyprus be rated and taxed in due proportion? The valuation should be arranged by local councils. The vineyards which produced the expensive wines should be rated higher than those of inferior quality. Gardens should be rated according to their distance from a market; fields in proportion to their water-supply and the quality of the soil. The Cypriotes do not complain of the amount of 10 per cent. taxation under the name of dimes, but they naturally object to the arbitrary and vexatious system of inquisitorial visits, together with the delays and loss of time occasioned by the old Turkish system. "Rate us, and let us know the limit of our responsibility"--that is the natural desire of the inhabitants. If the industries of the country are to be developed they must be unfettered; but if weighed down by restrictions and vexatious interference, they will hardly discover the benefit of a change to British masters.

Some people in Cyprus make use of an argument in favour of the present system of dimes or collecting in kind by tenths, which does not commend itself by logical reasoning. They say, "if you rate the land ad valorem, and establish a monetary payment of 10 per cent., you will simply burden the poor land-holder with debt during a season of drought, when his property will produce nothing. According to the present system he and the government alike share the risk of seasons; if the land produces nothing, there can be no dimes." It does not appear to have occurred to these reasoners that in such seasons of scarcity the taxation could be easily reduced as a temporary measure of relief according to the valuation of the local medjlis or council; but I claim the necessity of artificial irrigation that will secure the land from such meteorological disasters, and will enable both the cultivator and the government to calculate upon a dependable average of crops, instead of existing upon the fluctuations of variable seasons.

The district of Larnaca will offer a fair example of the usual methods of taxation, and as the figures have been most kindly supplied by the authorities of the division, they can be thoroughly relied upon.

The revenues of the district (Larnaca) are derived from the following sources:--

1. Dimes (i.e. tenths of the produce)--in some instances may be paid in kind.

2. Property Tax--4 piastres per 1000 upon the value of immovable property, such as buildings, land, trees; this is cla.s.sed as 1st cla.s.s Verghi.

3. Charge upon Income derived from Rents--40 piastres per 1000; cla.s.sed as 2nd cla.s.s Verghi.

4. Charge on Trade Profits--30 piastres per 1000; 3rd cla.s.s Verghi.

5. Exemption from Military Service--this tax levied upon Christians only, at the rate of 5000 piastres for 180 males.

6. Duty upon Sale of Horses, Mules, Donkeys, Camels, and Cattle--1 piastre in every 40 upon price; also tax on goods weighed by public measurer.

7. Tax on Flocks of Sheep and Goats--2.5 piastres per head.

This is not levied until the animal shall be one year old.

In 1877 the amount received was--

Piastres. Paras.

1. Dimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822,000 2. Property Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221,897 24 3. Rent Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,089 32 4. Tax on Trade-Profits . . . . . . . . . . . 65,340 20 5. Military Exemption. . . . . . . . . . . . . 153,333 25 6. Sales of Animals, Measures, &c. . . . . . . 450,000 7. Sheep and Goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200,000 _______ ___

1,932,659 101

The return of sheep and goats in the district of Larnaca during the year 1878, and comprising 36 villages, was rendered as 47,841.

The following taxes are payable by inhabitants of Scala and the neighbourhood:--

JANUARY, 1879.

1. The t.i.the of agricultural produce, including silk, payable in some cases in kind, in others in money.

2. Tax in lieu of military service, 5000 copper piastres for 180 Christian males.

3. Verghi (a), 4 per 1000 on the purchasing value of houses, land, or immovable property.

4. Verghi (b), 4 per cent. on the rent of immovable property, or houses not occupied by their owners.

5. Verghi (c), 3 per cent. on profits and professions.

6. Tax on sheep, 2.5 silver piastres each.

7. Tax on goats, 2 silver piastres each.

8. Tax on pigs, 3 silver piastres each.

9. Tax on wood and charcoal. Wood for carpenters' uses pays 20 per cent. on the value at the place of production, and a further 5 per cent. on the amount of the tax on coming into the town.

Firewood pays 12 per cent. on the value at the place of production, and a further 5 per cent. as above.

Charcoal pays 2 piastres per 100 okes.

10. Tax on goods weighed, one half para per oke. (In the case of wood and charcoal, hay, chopped straw, lime, and onions, the tax begins at a weight of 50 okes, and at a rate of 5 paras for 50 okes.) 11. Tax on grain measured, 2 paras per kilo paid by the buyer, and 2 paras per kilo paid by the seller. If measured for the sole convenience of the owner, 2 paras per kilo.

12. Octroi. Every load brought from the villages to the town pays a tax of one oke per load, or in money, according to the market rate of the goods.

13. Tax on the sale of mules, horses, donkeys, oxen, and camels in the town, 1 para per piastre of the price.

14. Property tax (munic.i.p.al) paid by owners:-- On houses let to tenants, 5 per cent. per annum.

On houses inhabited by the owners, 3 per cent. per annum.

15. Tax on camels (M.) 2 shillings each per annum.

16. Tax on carts (M.) belonging to and working in Larnaca and Marina townships, 1*. each per annum.

17. Corvee. Forced labour on roads four days a year.

18. Shop licences (M.) in cla.s.ses, 10*, 5*., 2*., 1*., 10 shillings.