Alexander Drummond: Travellers’ accounts concerning Cyprus in: Excerpta Cypria Materials for a History of Cyprus translated and transcribed by Claude Delaval Cobham

Travelogues concerning Cyprus include valuable information about many aspects of life in the island, among other about the appearance of its inhabitants. Clothing is the first item one observes when coming into contact with the people in a foreign country, and is pivotal in creating a first impression of the local population. Travellers refer also to the raw materials and the textiles used for making clothes.   Alexander Drummond, Esquire, His Majesty’s Consul at Aleppo, started from London May 11, 1744, and reached Larnaca March 6, 1745, leaving Cyprus again on May 15 for Alexandretta and Aleppo. He returned for a short tour in the island in April, 1750. In his most important account on Cyprus, published in a series of letters, Drummond included some interesting comments about the appearance, especially of ladies: “As the ancient dames of this island were so remarkably distinguished”, he thought that he “should say something of the modern Cyprian ladies”. He observed that “even the Franc, or European, ladies dress in the Grecian mode, which is wantonly superb, though, in my opinion, not so agreeable as our own. Yet the ornaments of the head are graceful and noble; and when I have seen some pretty women of condition sitting upon a divan, this part of their dress hath struck my imagination with the ideas of Helen, Andromache, and other beauties of antiquity, inspiring me with a distant awe, while the rest of their attire invited me to a nearer approach.” (Cobham 1908, 276). Furthermore, Drummond records in detail the fabrics, which were manufactured locally: “Of cotton dimities, with a little silk, they make about 10,000 pieces, of ten pics each, the pic being equal to 27 inches: of qutuni and basma, coarse kinds of cotton-satin, about 15,000 pieces: of bitani, or broad cotton cloth, about 1,000 pieces: of coarse silk handkerchiefs very bad, 20,000 pieces: of skimity, which is a kind of cotton-linen, about 40,000 pieces; and of a thin coarse, cotton shirting a great quantity..” (Cobham 1908, 282). As far as exports were concerned, Cyprus sent abroad mainly agricultural products and raw materials. Among other exports, Drummond mentions “40,000 okes of silk, 3,000 quintals of cotton, and 500 quintals of sheep’s wool” (Cobham 1908, 281). He also informs us that  “The import consists in broad-cloth, by far the greatest part of which is from France, and some from a new manufactory at Venice; a few bales come from Great Britain, but none, as yet from Holland;”. He adds that all sorts of silk manufactures were imported, but there was “no great quantity of any article consumed”, due to the poverty of the inhabitants (Cobham 1908, 282).