‘Cyprus.’ [‎46v] (92/184)

86
CYPRUS.
Birds of prey.
Reptiles find
insects.
The country about Kuklia, Pysouri, Baffo, and the Maratassa
valley are the parts of the island where game most abounds.
Hitherto neither game or fish have been preserved m any way,
and both shooting and fishing are allowed anywhere, so long as the
crops are not injured. Gunpowder is, however, a gcmnnmen
monopoly, and peasants cannot obtain it without a declaration
signed before the Cadi, and other expensive formalities. Then
again, the Greeks never carry guns, for a Mussulman law, strictly
enforced by the local authorities, prevents Christians from bearing
any other firearms but pistols, which may be worn at the girdle
while travelling or after dark, as a protection against robbers.
Travellers and' tourists have, however, never been considered as
Christians so far as this decree went. Under the new government,
the establishment of a close season for game may naturally be ex-
Of birds of prey, eagles, vultures, buzzards, falcons, and hawks
are very common.
Of reptiles and noxious insects there are asps, other snakes
which are said not to be venomous, scorpions, tarantulas, and
locusts. Some travellers have related startling stories regarding
the dangers to be encountered from the reptiles. Gaudry mentions
that he saw an ass stung by an asp, and it died in a few hours ; he
also says that deaths among the natives are frequent from asp
bites ; that asps are generally found in the standing corn and that
reapers attach little bells to their sickles to frighten the snakes
away. That venomous reptiles do exist in the island can scarcely
be doubted, but most of the reports as to their number and dead
liness are circulated by writers who have paid a flying visit to the
island, and have lent a credulous ear to the stories of timid natives,
or who have really no personal knowledge whatever of the country ,
whilst residents who have travelled on foot and on horseback
throughout Cyprus, state positively that they have never been
bitten.* The peasantry have a great dread of asps, and indeed of
all snakes, as they consider them unlucky, and it is an almost
universal practice to wear high boots as a protection; still many o
their tales which have been both believed and repeated are much
exaggerated. General di Cesnola mentions that the site oi the
ancient Curium is a favourite resort of asps, and he says that once
when excavating at Mulasha, a hufi, or asp, was encountered, and
the sight of it was sufficient to deter the diggers from further ex
ploration at that spot. . .1
V larcre species of snake is said to be common m the north
western part of the island, but it is harmless; the asps are
described to be of middling length, great thickness, of a blackish
hue and with a blunt tail. Sonnini describes a large spider, which
he calls the galcode of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , as existing 111 Cyprus, and says
* Dr. Clarke spent ten clays in Cyprus, and gives a most melanclioly account both
of the climate, and of the dangers of venomous reptiles; his work has “ucl
quoted by pessimists, but Consul Lang, who resided nine years in the island, and
travelled allover it, says that he could only find specimens of asps and tarantulas after
considerable search, and that he never heard of the pernicious fevers reported by
Dr. Clarke, though they might possibly have existed before his arm al.