Long ago I was quartered in Malta for three years, and I greatly
enjoyed my life there, especially the boating and the bathing.
After the South African War the people of Malta very kindly sent me a
beautiful present, and, I suppose on account of my known love of
boating, it took the form of a silver model of a sailing dghaisa. It
was so accurately and carefully made that not only did it include oars
and boat-hooks, etc., but even the thole-pins and the scoop for
bailing out water.
I was, of course, delighted to see the place again after twenty years'
absence, and to see so many of my old friends. Nothing seemed very
much changed in all that time, except that the Boy Scouts had come
into existence there as in every other important part of the British
Empire.
* * * * *