ble, to get away, and at length hired a boat to carry me to the island of Cyprus, from whence I concluded, that I should find no sort of difficulty in procuring a conveyance to Latichea, and so proceed by my first intended route. I accordingly arrived at Cyprus in perfect safety, where, to my great sorrow and astonishment, I found that an epidemical fever, equal in its effects to a plague, prevailed: however, there was no alternative; I must run the risque, and I dismissed the boat that carried me from Alexandria.

Although the etymologies of the names of places are of very little importance, and most frequently uncertain I think it probable that the learned are right, who assert the name of this is derived from Cyprus, or Cypress

with which shrubs the island abounds. It had, in ancient times, a number of other names one of which was Paphia, whence Venus, who was worshipped in it, was called the Paphian Goddess. It lies thirty miles west of Syria, whither I was bound, stretching from the south-west to the north-east, one hundred and fifty miles in length, and seventy in breadth, in the widest part of-it.

This island holds a very high rank in classic lore-It gave birth to some great philosophers and considerable poets The Apostle Barnabas was a native of it, and assisted by, St. Paul, first introduced Christianity among them. Famagusta, a town on the eastern part of the island, opposite to the shore of Syria, is the ancient Sa lamis, built by Teucer the son of Telamon, and brother of Ajax.

Symisso, on the south-east, the best port in Cyprus, is the Amathus mentioned by Virgil, in his Eneid, and by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. And Baffo, on the Western coast, is the Paphos of antiquity, famous for the Temple of Venus.

As the branches of an empire most remote from the great seat of government are always more despotically governed than those near the source of redress, Cyprus has been continually ruled with a rod of iron since it came into the hands of the Turks. While it was under the dominion of Christians, it was well peopled, having

no less than eight hundred or a thousand villages in it, besides several handsome cities; but the Turks have spread ruin and desolation over the country, and it is now so thinly inhabited, that more than half the lands lie uncultivated.

The air of this island is now for the most part unwholesome, owing to the damps arising from the many fens and marshes with which the country abounds—while, there being but few springs or rivers in the island, the want of a plentiful fall of rain, at proper periods, distresses the inhabitants very much in another way; and by means of the uncultivated state of the country, they are greatly infested with poisonous reptiles of various kinds.

The most remarkable mountain in Cyprus is called Olympusa name common to several other mountains in Greece, particularly to that in Thessaly, so famous in the poetry of the ancients. That in Cyprus is about fifty miles in circumference: great part of it is covered with woods; and at the foot of it are fixe vineyards, which produce admirable wine, not only in a sufficiency for their own consumption, but some also for exportation. And although the greater part of the island lies uncultivated, as I have before observed, it produces a sufficient quantity of corn, unless in seasons when the harvest fails, in which case the people are easily supplied from the continent." They have, besides, cattle enough for their own consumption. Many parts of the country abound in wild fowl, and several sorts of game, and they have plenty of fish upon the sea coasts.

The trade of Cyprus is not inconsiderable, and carried on chiefly by Jews and Armenians: the commodities in which they deal are wine, oil, cotton, wool, salt, silk, and turpentine-besides, it produces several sorts of earth, fit for the use of painters, particularly red, black, and yellow.

Its most wonderful production, however, is the famous stone (Asbestos) inextinguishable, or (Amiantos) impollutus, so called from its extraordinary property of resisting fire. It is related that the ancients made out of this stone a kind of thread that would remain unconsumed in the most intense fire. It is even said, that some experi

ments have been made in modern days, which have sufficiently proved that the thing is not a fiction. In such extraordinary questions as this, though I do not positively contradict, I always suspend my belief, till something stronger than mere assertion is offered to convince me.

There is one dreadful mischief to which this island is subject. In the hot season, locusts come from the Continent, in swarms so vast and so thick as to darken the

sky like clouds. Those would certainly devour all the fruits of the earth, if they were not driven to sea by a north wind that usually blows at the time of their coming. When that wind happens to fail, which fortunately is seldom, the consequence is a total demolition of the fruits of the country.

The whole island, as well as particular towns, was entirely consecrated to the goddess Venus, who thence was called Venus Cypria, or Dea Cypria, and is represented by the poets as taking a peculiar pleasure in visiting it; and this unquestionably arose from the loose habits and lascivious temperament of the women there, who certainly are, at this time, not remarkable for chastity.

I must confess, however, that I felt great pleasure in entering Cyprus; it was, as I have already stated, classic ground, and dedicated to the Queen of Love. But a traveller who visits it with hopes of amusement, will be much disappointed; for in no one particular did it seem to me to resemble that Cypress famed in the Heathen Story and Mythology. Of the Cyprian Queen's favors the ladies seemed to boast no one mark, save the most nauseous, disgusting lewdness; and the natural fertility of the soil is half lost beneath the oppressive yoke of the servants of the Turkish government. Thus, in the extraordinary revolutions that human affairs are incessantly undergoing, that island which for its superior beauties was supposed to be the residence of love, which gave birth to the philosophers Zeno, Appollonius, and Xenophon, is now a miserable, half-cultivated spot, peopled with a mixture of wretched Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Christians-groaning under the tyranny of a barbarous despotic abuse of delegated power-infested with locusts which devour the fruits of the earth-and disgraced by a

race of ignominious women, who esteem it to be an act of religion to prostitute themselves to all strangers.

Our Richard the First made a conquest of this island. on his way to the Holy Land, and conferred the royalty of it on Guy Lusignan, King of Jerusalem. The Ve.. netians possessed themselves of it in the year 1480-but, in the sixteenth century, the Turks dispossessed them, and have ever since kept it under the yoke I should have. remarked that their wine is excellent.

Continuing my route, I hired another boat, after only, forty-eight hours stay at Cyprus, and proceeded for La tichea, which, as I have somewhere before mentioned, is a considerable sea-port town of Syria, built on a promontory of land, which, running into the sea, occasions its being continually refreshed with breezes. Fortune, who had hitherto been not very liberal in her dispensations, now favored me; for, just as I arrived at Latichea, a caravan was preparing. The consul of the Turkish Company at Cyprus received me with great politeness and hospitality gave me a letter to the resident at Latichea; and by his instruction and assistance, after a very short stay, I set out on my way to Aleppo with the

caravan.

As I shall hereafter have occasion more particularly to describe the nature of those caravans, I shall, for the present, tell you, that this was composed of no other beasts of burden than mules and asses, of which there were not less than three or four hundred in number.

Mounted on a mule, I travelled along, well pleased with the fertile appearance of the country, and delighted with the serenity of the air-We were, as well as I can now recollect, near ten days on the road; during which time we travelled only in the morning early, and in the heat of the day reposed under the shade of trees.

I was informed, that if, instead of going to Latichea, I had gone to Scandaroon (otherwise Alexandretta), Į should in the road from thence to Aleppo, have travelled through a country, in which the most singular and extravagant customs prevail that exist in any country emerged from barbarism Several of those I heard; but one in in particular was, that the men prostituted their wives

and daughters to all comers and that this originated from a principal of religion, though there was every reason to believe, that, like many of their religious institutions, it was made at last subservient to the gratification of avarice.

On my way to Aleppo I was met by a Mr.

an

English gentleman, who had heard of my coming, and who, in the most kind and hospitable manner, insisted upon my living at his house instead of the British cansul's, where I should otherwise have resided during my stay there; and his manner of asking me was so engag ing, interesting, and impressive, that I found it impossible to refuse him.

As the great public caravan had departed from Aleppo before my arrival, and the expence of forming a private one on my account was too great, as I was travelling on my own account, and had no dispatches to authorise or enforce my departure, or bear me out in the expence; I was constrained to remain at Aleppo till some eligible mode of travelling occurred, or another public caravan was formed. This delay gave me an opportunity of seeing and informing myself of the city and surrounding country; the result of which, I shall, in as short a manner as possible, relate to you in a future let

ter.

It also gave occasion to one of those unhappy incidents which I have often had occasion to lament, not from any consciousness of direct criminality, but for the scope it gave to misrepresentation, and the injury which that misrepresentation did me in the opinion of some of my friends.

END OF PART FIRST.

M