Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
By Maturin M. Ballou.
THE STORY OF MALTA. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
EQUATORIAL AMERICA. Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique,
Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South America. Crown 8vo,
$1.50.
AZTEC LAND. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
THE NEW ELDORADO. A Summer Journey to Alaska. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
ALASKA. The New Eldorado. A Summer Journey to Alaska. _Tourist's
Edition_, with 4 maps. 16mo, $1.00.
DUE WEST; or, ROUND THE WORLD IN TEN MONTHS. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
DUE SOUTH; or, CUBA PAST AND PRESENT. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS; or, TRAVELS IN AUSTRALASIA. Crown
8vo, $1.50.
DUE NORTH; or, GLIMPSES OF SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA. Crown 8vo, $
1.50.
GENIUS IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
EDGE-TOOLS OF SPEECH. Selected and edited by Mr. BALLOU. 8vo,
$3.50.
A TREASURY OF THOUGHT. An Encyclopaedia of Quotations. 8vo, full gilt,
$3.50.
PEARLS OF THOUGHT. 16mo, full gilt, $1.25.
NOTABLE THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. Crown 8vo, $1.50.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY,
BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
THE STORY OF MALTA
BY
MATURIN M. BALLOU
"_This precious stone set in the silver sea_"
[Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1893
Copyright, 1893,
BY MATURIN M. BALLOU.
_All rights reserved._
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
PREFACE.
Perhaps the strongest recommendation for faithful books of travel lies
in the fact that intelligent people consult the best maps while perusing
them, and thus familiarize themselves with important facts in geography.
Such books are especially advantageous to the young, too many of whom
are inclined to neglect this all-important branch of education. Although
Malta appears upon the map as a mere speck, on account of its
superficial area being comparatively so diminutive, yet the patient
reader who is not already familiar with its absorbing story will find
herein a new field of historic and romantic interest, exceeding that
which pertains to any other of the numerous Mediterranean islands. In
all his experience as a traveler, the author has failed to discover any
locality of similar dimensions which embraces so thrilling a history, or
whose present aspect is more attractive and picturesque. Since the
opening of the Suez Canal, it has become the maritime halfway house
between Europe and Asia, which imparts to it vast commercial importance,
and causes it to be visited by many people who, but for the force of
circumstances, would probably never have become conversant with its
singularly beautiful surroundings, or its fascinating capital, the
unique city of Valletta.
Specialists, students of antiquity, geologists, and lovers of the early
development of art, together with many others, visit Malta to avail
themselves of its rare old library; to view the mouldering monuments of
a commercial people who lived here three thousand years ago; to examine
the peculiar geological strata of the island; to study its quaint
examples of statuary, tapestry, and paintings; to collect skeletons and
bones of extinct races of animals, still to be found in its spacious
caves and beneath the surface of the ground. The average tourist has not
been attracted hither, and little realizes the pleasurable experiences
which await the intelligent and observant visitor.
While preparing these pages for the press, the author has received a
letter, written by an experienced traveler, from which he quotes as
follows: "The reading of your book entitled 'Due North' promptly sent me
to view the glories of the 'Midnight Sun,' at the North Cape. I thank
you sincerely for the inspiration." Perhaps these pen-pictures of the
Queen of the Mediterranean may influence others in a similar manner.
M. M. B.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Geographical Position of Malta.--A Pivotal Location.--Warden
of the Great Inland Sea.--First Sight of the Group.--How
to reach the Island.--Early Inhabitants.--Language of the
People.--Phoenician Colonists.--Arabian Dynasty.--A Piratical
Rendezvous.--Suez Canal.--Two Sorts of Travelers.--Gibraltar.
--Harbor of Valletta.--A Place of Arms.--Various Bays of the
Group.--Dimensions.--Extensive Commerce of the Port. 1
CHAPTER II.
Island of Hyperia.--Where St. Paul was Wrecked.--An
Historical Bay.--Rock-Cut Tombs.--Curious and Unique
Antiquities.--Sovereignty of the Knights of St. John.--An
Anomalous Brotherhood.--Sailor-Monks.--Ancient Galleys.--A
Famous Barbary Corsair.--Antique Norwegian Vessel.--Navy of
the Knights.--Barbaric Warfare.--About the Maltese Nobility.
--Romantic History.--"Arabian Nights."--Valletta the Beautiful. 21
CHAPTER III.
The Maltese Group.--Comino.--Cave Life.--Verdant Gozo.--Isle
of Filfla.--Curious Lizards.--Loss of an Ironclad.--Mysterious
Wheel-Tracks.--Earthquakes.--Population.--Military Depot.--
Youthful Soldiers.--Quarantine.--Arrival of the Knights.--
Immorality.--Harbor Defenses.--Land Fortifications.--Charming
Photographic View.--The Stars and Stripes Abroad.--The
Eight-Pointed Maltese Cross.--Peculiar Sunset Scene. 41
CHAPTER IV.
The Soil of Malta.--Imports and Exports.--Absence of Trees.
--Equable Climate.--Three Crops Annually.--Use of Fertilizers.
--Ignorant and Pious Peasantry.--Food of the People.--Maltese
Women.--Oriental Customs.--Roman Catholic Influence.--
Improvisation.--Early Marriages.--A Resort for the Pope.--Low
Wages.--Beggars.--Wind Storms.--Blood Oranges.--The Carob-Tree.
--Maltese Lace.--Sailing along the Shore. 64
CHAPTER V.
The Climate of Malta.--The Furious Gregale.--Liability to
Sunstroke.--The African Sirocco.--Cloudless Days.--A Health
Resort.--English Church.--View of AEtna.--Volcanic Disturbances.
--Will Malta Eventually Disappear?--Native Flora.--Flower-Girls
of Valletta.--Absence of Lakes and Rivers.--The Moon-Flower.--
Grand Stone Aqueduct.--After the Roman Plan of Building.--
Fountains.--Results of Irrigation. 86
CHAPTER VI.
Homer's Fabled Siren.--Singular Topographical Formation in
Gozo.--Beautiful Island Groves.--Fertile Grain-Fields.--
Flowering Hedges.--Aromatic Honey.--Herds of Goats.--A
Favorite Domestic Product.--Milk Supply.--Prolific Sheep.--A
Maltese Market.--Quail Shooting.--Rabbato, Capital of Gozo.
--The Old Citadel.--Lace Manufacture.--Prehistoric Ruins.--The
Giant's Tower.--Attractive Summer Resort.--Pagan Worship. 101
CHAPTER VII.
A Maltese Fishing Hamlet.--Old Fort Chambray.--A Grotto shorn
of Poetic Adornment.--The "Azure Window."--Bay of Scilendi.--
Pirates' Caves.--Prehistoric Bones and Skeletons.--The Vast
Changes of Land and Sea.--Suez Canal.--Geological Matters.--
Native Race of Arabic Descent.--Curious Stone Mortars.--
Primitive Artillery.--Maltese Fungus.--Springtime.--Riches of
the Harvest.--Origin of the Island of Gozo. 115
CHAPTER VIII.
Valletta, Capital of Malta.--A Unique City.--Bright Faces,
Flowers, and Sunshine.--Architecture.--L'Isle Adam and La
Vallette, Grand Masters.--Mount Sceberris.--Stone Dwelling-Houses.
--Streets of the Capital.--A Specialty.--Fancy Goods Merchants.
--The Yacht Sunbeam.--Main Street of the City.--A Grand Opera
House.--A St. Giles in Malta.--Strada Santa Lucia.--Street of
Stairs.--Thoroughfares.--The Military Hospital.--Characteristic
Street Scenes.--Emigration. 129
CHAPTER IX.
Ophthalmia.--Profusion of Flowers.--Inland Villages.--Educational
Matters.--Public Amusements.--Maltese Carnival.--Italian Carnival.
--Under English Rule.--No Direct Taxation.--Code of Laws.--A
Summer Palace.--Governor-General Smyth.--San Antonio Gardens.--
Wages.--Oranges.--Life's Contrasts.--Swarming Beggars.--Social
Problem.--Churches crowded with Riches.--Starving Population.--A
Mexican Experience. 152
CHAPTER X.
Broadway of Valletta.--Panoramic Street View.--A Bogus Nobility.
--Former Grand Palace of the Knights.--Telegraphic Station.--
About Soldier-Priests.--Interior of the Palace.--Ancient
Tapestry.--Old Paintings.--Antique Armory.--An American with a
Fad.--Ancient Battle-Flags.--Armor worn by the Knights.--Days
of the Crusaders.--Bonaparte as a Petty Thief.--There are no
Saints on Earth!--Dueling Ground.--Desecrating Good Friday. 172
CHAPTER XI.
The Famous Church of St. John.--By What Means it was Decorated.
--Grand Mosaic Floor.--Roman Catholic Ceremonials.--Remarkable
Relics.--Chapels of the Languages.--A Devout Artist.--Church
Treasures.--Thieving French Soldiers.--Poetical Justice.--The
Hateful Inquisition.--Churches of Valletta.--A Forlorn Hope.
--Heroic Conduct.--A Maltese Pantheon.--A Rival Dome to St.
Paul's, London.--Some Fine Paintings. 193
CHAPTER XII.
Public Library of Malta.--British Museum, London.--City
Circulating Library.--Museum of Valletta.--Interesting
Curiosities.--Birthplace of Hannibal.--Pawnbroker's
Establishment.--Savings Bank of the Monte di Pieta.--The
Baraccas.--A Superb View.--An Excursion Inland.--Ancient
Capital of Malta.--Citta Vecchia.--Toy Railway.--About the
Vatican at Rome.--An Ancient Cathedral.--Dungeons of the
Middle Ages. 214
CHAPTER XIII.
Ancient Catacombs.--A Subterranean City.--Phoenician Tombs.
--Grotto of St. Paul.--A Crumbling Old Capital.--Dreary and
Deserted.--Bingemma Hills.--Ancient Coins and Antique Utensils.
--Ruins of a Pagan Temple.--A Former Fane to Hercules.--A
Garden of Delights.--Druidical Circles.--Beautiful Grotto.--
Crude Native Dances.--Unique Musical Instrument.--Nasciar.--
Suburb of Floriana.--A Capuchin Convent.--Grim Skeletons. 231
CHAPTER XIV.
The Chivalric Order of St. John.--Humble Beginning of the
Organization.--Hospitallers.--Days of the Crusades.--Motto of
the Brotherhood.--Peter Gerard.--The Monk lost in the Soldier.
--At Acre, Cyprus, and Rhodes.--Naval Operations.--Siege of
Rhodes.--Garden of the Levant.--Piratical Days.--Six Months of
Bloodshed.--Awful Destruction of Human Life.--A Famous Fighting
Knight.--Final Evacuation of Rhodes by the Order. 254
CHAPTER XV.
Settlement of the Order at Malta.--A Barren Waste.--A New
Era for the Natives.--Foundling Hospitals.--Grand Master
La Vallette.--Sailors and Soldiers.--Capture of Prisoners at
Mondon.--A Slave Story in Brief.--Christian Corsairs!--The
Ottomans attack the Knights in their New Home.--Defeat
of the Turks.--Terrible Slaughter of Human Beings.--Civil
War.--Summary Punishment.--Some Details
of a Famous Siege. 274
CHAPTER XVI.
Result of the Siege.--Native Women serving as Soldiers.--The
Maltese Militia.--The Knights gain World-Wide Applause.--Rage
of Sultan Solyman.--Agents of the Grand Master become
Incendiaries.--La Vallette, Hero of the Siege.--The Order still
Piratical.--The Turks and Knights Affiliate.--Decadence of the
Chivalric Brotherhood.--Momentary Revival of the Old Spirit.
--Treacherous Surrender.--French Sovereignty.--End of the Order. 297
CHAPTER XVII.
Conclusion.--A Picture of Sunrise at Malta.--The Upper Baracca
of Valletta.--A Favorite and Sightly Promenade.--Retrospective
Flight of Fancy.--Conflict between the Soldiers of the Cross
and the Crescent.--A Background Wanting.--Historical and
Legendary Malta.--The Secret of Appreciation.--Last View of the
Romantic Group.--Farewell. 314
THE STORY OF MALTA.
CHAPTER I.
Geographical Position of Malta.--A Pivotal Location.--Warden
of the Great Inland Sea.--First Sight of the Group.--How to
reach the Island.--Early Inhabitants.--Language of the
People.--Phoenician Colonists.--Arabian Dynasty.--A Piratical
Rendezvous.--Suez Canal.--Two Sorts of Travelers.--Gibraltar.
--Harbor of Valletta.--A Place of Arms.--Various Bays of the
Group.--Dimensions.--Extensive Commerce of the Port.
The island of Malta has been known by several significant appellations
during the centuries in which it has claimed a place upon the pages of
history. In our day it is often called the Queen of the Mediterranean,
not only because of its commanding position, dominating, as it were, the
coasts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but also as possessing a degree of
historical and present picturesqueness unsurpassed by any land between
the Columns of Hercules and the coast of Asia Minor. To the north lie
Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica; to the east are Greece, Turkey, and
Syria; and to the southwest is the coast of Barbary; thus forming an
amphitheatre of nations. Malta is therefore a pivotal location about
which vast interests revolve. The loving, patriotic Maltese proudly call
this shadeless island in the middle of the sea, _Fior del Mondo_,--"the
flower of the world." Yet it must be confessed that the downright
ignorance of these natives concerning the rest of the globe is
appalling. To the critical reader of history it is as much classic
ground as Athens or Rome. Situated twenty-five hundred miles from
England, the government fully realizes its importance as an effective
base of naval and military operations, and as an essential outpost for
keeping open the route to India. In fact, Malta is the strongest link in
the chain which connects Great Britain with her possessions in the East.
During the Crimean war, it was made an English sanitarium for the sick
and wounded who were invalided in that protracted struggle between the
Western powers and Russia. We regarded it, after India, as one of the
most important of the English dependencies. It is in no sense a colony,
but is much more of a military focus than Gibraltar. Naval men consider
Malta to be the warden of that great aqueous expanse, embracing nearly a
million square miles, which separates the continent of Europe from the
northern coast of Africa, the _Magnum Mare_ of the Old World,--a sea
whose memorable shores are thickly strewn with bays and cities, each one
of which teems with historic and poetic interest. It is not the tranquil
and lake-like expanse which it is popularly considered, but is capable
of nearly as fierce commotion as the Atlantic. Another property usually
but incorrectly attributed to the Mediterranean is that it is tideless,
but it actually responds to the same lunar influence that affects the
great waters of both hemispheres. The fact of its being so much warmer
than the open ocean is probably owing in part to the absence of polar
currents. The tide is most noticeable in the Gulf of Venice, where the
rise and fall is from three to four feet.
The author, while on a journey round the world, was coming from the East
when he first sighted Malta. It was before daylight, early in the spring
of the year. A ship's officer pointed out what appeared like a bright
star on the horizon, but which soon proved to be the clear, far-reaching
fortress-light of St. Elmo, "with strange, unearthly splendor in the
glare." It seemed like the eye of a Cyclops peering through the
darkness, as though one of Vulcan's workmen, fresh from the fiery
furnace beneath Sicilian AEtna, not far away, had come forth to gaze upon
the progress of the night.
In seeking to reach Malta from Boston or New York, the island would be
approached from the opposite direction. After crossing the Atlantic to
England, the most direct route is by the Peninsular and Oriental
Steamship Line, by way of Marseilles. These vessels depart every
alternate Thursday, and make the passage in eight days, touching at
Gibraltar, forming, perhaps, the most economical route. If a land
journey is preferred, the steamer can be taken at Naples, where the
vessels of this line touch to receive and deliver the regular mails.
This charming Italian city can be reached from London by way of Calais,
Mont Cenis, and Turin. The island, however, is accessible from England
and the continent by many different routes, as the fancy of the traveler
may dictate.
So much in the way of introduction it seems proper to state for the
information of the general reader.
Malta holds an important place in the records of history as far back as
three thousand years ago, during which period the island has been
constantly associated with heroic names and startling events, playing a
prominent and tragic part in the mighty drama of the past. The transient
visitor to the group, however well read, fails to remember its vivid
story in detail, and to apply it intelligibly. He is too ardently
stimulated by the unique surroundings, the strange mingling of races,
the Oriental style of the architecture, the curious site of the capital,
and the general glamour of local color impregnating everything, to pause
for comparison or analysis. Like one sitting down to a table teeming
with choice viands, he is at a loss where to begin to appease his
voracious appetite. It is while engaged in quiet afterthought, when
reviewing the experiences gained upon the spot, that the fullness of
interest is aroused, as he turns to the quaint pages of many an ancient
tome, to seek for the story of its earliest inhabitants. We can recall
no other country which has experienced so many and such notable changes
among its rulers, though it requires but little research to discover the
paucity of detailed information concerning its early history, which is
absolutely lost in the mist of ages.
Three thousand years--this is not looking backward very far,
comparatively speaking. The author has seen objects of Egyptian
production, in the Boolak Museum, on the banks of the Nile, which were
six thousand years old. The Sphinx, standing in its grim loneliness ten
miles from Cairo, is still older, while in the South Sea Islands there
are prehistoric ruins which are believed to antedate the Sphinx. The
probability is that a degree of antiquity applies to this globe so
inconceivably remote that, like stellar distances, the mind can hardly
realize the truth. Professor Agassiz talked confidently in his day of a
million years having been required to bring about the present conditions
of the earth. Since Agassiz's time geologists and scientists generally
do not hesitate to add the plural to million, guided by the light of
modern progress and discovery.
Such ancient mention of Malta as does exist is crowded with fable, like
the early history of Greece and Rome. An example of this is found in the
popular legend of its having once been inhabited by a cyclopean tribe, a
race of giants, "half human, half divine." These extravagant legends of
poetic history impress us as having, perhaps, some foundation in truth.
It is not falsehood which tradition seeks to perpetuate. Possibility, if
not probability, is required of the wildest romancers. Truth and fable
run in nearly parallel lines. Jules Verne, when he wrote some of his
seemingly extravagant stories, scarcely thought that he was simply
anticipating possible circumstances which would so soon become
realities. The reading world hardly believed that his "Round the World
in Eighty Days" was strictly within the lines of truth; yet that record
has been reduced.
Malta is known to have been the vassal of ten different nationalities.
What the character of these various dynasties may have been can only be
conjectured. There are no records extant by which we can learn aught in
detail concerning them. A few half-ruined monuments, a series of rock
tombs, the debris of mouldering temples, or a nearly obliterated
underground city, "rich with the spoils of time,"--these are significant
suggestions which the student of the past in vain essays to translate
into coherency. The most casual visitor is moved to thoughtfulness as he
contemplates these half-effaced tokens of a long dead and buried race,
who had no Froissart to hand down their story through the lengthening
vista of ages. First came the Phoenicians, who were here many
centuries before the birth of Christ, and who were the earliest known
colonists of Malta. Their sovereignty is believed to have extended
through a period of seven hundred years. Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans,
Goths, and Arabs succeeded each other in the order in which they are
named, followed by German, Spanish, French, and English possessors, the
latter having maintained an uninterrupted mastership since the beginning
of the present century. To a nation whose naval supremacy is its
greatest pride, and which already holds Gibraltar, the key to the
Mediterranean, the holding of Malta is of inestimable importance. With
these facts in view, it is not surprising that its security is so
jealously guarded by England. Perhaps the boastful threat of the first
Napoleon, that he would make of the Mediterranean a French lake, has not
yet been forgotten. At present it is strictly an English dependency,
though surrounded by a score of other nationalities. With the entrance
and exit in her hands, besides holding this unequaled central depot of
arms, no nation could hope successfully to dispute the control of the
Mediterranean with Great Britain. That nationality not only dominates
the great marine highway of the south of Europe, but also the coast of
Asia.
Malta is situated in the middle of the great highway of commerce between
the East and the West, and is the most southerly land in Europe, on
about the 36th parallel of north latitude, its longitude being 15 deg.
east. The neighboring nations have often and fiercely contested for the
sovereignty of Malta, until its soil has been irrigated by the life-tide
of human beings. How strange the history it presents to us, what ages of
melodramatic vicissitudes, emphasized by the discord of warring cannon
and of dying men! How many and how varied the changes it has known in a
period of thrice ten hundred years! Mutability is written on all things
human, while Time, the remorseless iconoclast, performs the bidding of
Destiny.
It would naturally be expected that the language of a people who have
had such a peculiar experience as the Maltese should be a conglomerate,
formed from various Asiatic and European tongues. It seems to be a
mixture of Italian and Arabic, mingled with the patois which is common
in the Grecian Archipelago; but English being the current official
language, it prevails among the educated classes, and is also in general
use for business purposes, especially in the retail shops of Valletta,
the capital. The language of Dante, Petrarch, and Ariosto is still
unknown to the common people, though generally understood and spoken in
society. The masses adhere tenaciously to their native dialect, even
after they have emigrated to other countries. In Gibraltar they pick up
just enough of Spanish to make their wants known, as they do in other
Mediterranean ports to which chance has brought them.
As is often the case in Eastern countries and oceanic islands, Malta is
used both for the name of the island and that of the capital. The one
collective term answers for the entire group; so with the beautiful
island of Ceylon; people do not usually speak of Colombo, its capital,
but of Ceylon, as designating the whole island. Martinique is
sufficiently distinctive as regards that picturesque West Indian island;
St. Pierre and Fort de France, the commercial and political capitals,
are rarely mentioned. Thus Valletta has little significance to the world
at large, while Malta is familiar enough.
The Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans, each left tangible
evidences of their sovereignty here. The ubiquitous Phoenicians, who
are considered to have been the earliest of the commercial tribes, were
by no means entirely free from the charge of piracy, which seems to have
been almost universal upon this central sea in the earlier and middle
ages. Strange, that sea-robbery should have been one of the active
agencies in the world's advancement! It is said that all progress since
the beginning has been from scaffold to scaffold. In our day no lapse
from honorable commercial methods is so abhorrent to civilized nations,
and no crimes are more severely punished. Next to the Turks and
Algerines, the Greeks were the most reprehensible in this respect,--a
people whose love of "freedom" has become a proverb; a country which has
enjoyed more of American sympathy and material aid than any other, but
whose sons in former times never failed to adopt a corsair life when
opportunity offered.
There are very few monuments relating to the occupancy of these islands
by the Arabs, who were settled here for more than two centuries. The
most durable memorial of that people is their language, a tongue
unsurpassed in poetic beauty of expression. After the lapse of ten
centuries it is still spoken among the natives, and is held to be
remarkably pure, especially in Gozo, the sister isle of Malta. Though it
is customary to say that the natives speak Arabic, still it can hardly
be a pure tongue; and yet the newly arrived Arabs can understand the
Maltese, proving that the basis of the two languages must be identical.
An educated resident took occasion to prove to the author that here and
there one could select words from the current speech of the common
people, the derivation of which was clearly Phoenician. Residents of
the capital who are engaged in commerce, and many others of
intelligence, speak English, French, and Italian fluently, and most of
them speak the native tongue as well. The facility for acquiring foreign
languages is a national trait. Cultured Maltese are surpassed only in
this respect by educated Russians.
Italian is the official tongue of the law courts, though English is
gradually superseding it. Why the former language should be persisted
in, it would be difficult to say, though it is the key to all those
common in the Levant. The Maltese are not Italians, and never were. Not
to put too fine a point upon the matter, they are Arabs in their
manners, customs, and language. When the Knights of St. John were
sovereign here, nearly four hundred years ago, there was a certain
degree of consistency in the adoption of Italian as the current or court
language. The intimate relations of the order with the Pope and with
Rome were a predisposing influence which could not but have its effect,
besides which there was the close proximity of the mainland of Italy;
but to continue it as the recognized language of the courts to-day is to
sustain an anomaly.
More is known of the Arab dynasty than of any of its predecessors. As
soon as this people had gained possession of Malta, they promptly
exterminated the Greeks, putting all the male inhabitants to the sword,
while making slaves of their wives and children. They were careful to
conciliate the native population, even permitting them to worship after
the dictates of their own religious convictions, which is a very rare
concession among Mohammedans, where they have the power to do otherwise.
The Arabs chiefly prized this group of islands for the safe harbors
which it afforded in the pursuit of their one occupation, namely, that
of undisguised piracy. Their constant raids upon the coast of Italy
caused many expeditions to be fitted out from that country for the
purpose of driving them away from their stronghold; but as we have said,
the Arabs maintained their sovereignty here for over two hundred years.
Strong defensive works were erected by them on the present site of Fort
St. Angelo, at the entrance of the harbor of Valletta, on the island of
Gozo, and at the old capital of the group, Citta Vecchia, also known as
Civita Notabile,--"Illustrious City," which appellation, in the days of
its glory, was probably not inappropriate. This old city, near the
middle of the island, was a fortified metropolis centuries before the
Arabs came, its defensive walls being contracted by them so that they
might be the more easily manned and defended. To visit Citta Vecchia
to-day is like the realization of a mediaeval dream.
A glance at the map will show the reader that the strategic importance
of these Maltese islands is almost unequaled. Lying in the middle of
the vast and famous inland sea,--happily designated as the cradle of
civilization,--within a brief sail of three continents, sixty miles from
the shore of Sicily, one hundred and ninety from the mainland of Italy,
two hundred from the nearest point of Africa, and equidistant from
Constantinople and Marseilles, Valletta has naturally become a popular
port of call, as well as an important coaling station for many lines of
steamships. This is particularly the case with those bound to or from
England and India by way of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The opening
of that famous and all-important waterway insured the lasting commercial
prosperity of the Maltese group. From that day to the present its
material growth has been steadily progressing and its population
increasing. It is well known how much the Suez Canal promotes the
commerce of Europe and Asia, but comparatively few people realize that
we have in America a similar means of transportation which is the avenue
of a much larger marine traffic. We refer to the Sault Ste. Marie Canal,
which connects the State of Michigan with the Canadian Province of
Ontario. The aggregate of the tonnage which annually passes through the
American artificial river is shown by government statistics to far
exceed that of the great canal which connects the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean.
Malta is the halfway station, as it were, of the P. & O. line between
London and Bombay; but there is other regular communication between the
group and England, as well as mail steamships running to Marseilles,
Alexandria, Belgium, Tripoli, and Tunis. Occasionally a single passenger
or a small party of tourists stop at Valletta until the next packet
touches here, enabling them to resume their journey east or west; but it
is rather surprising how few visitors to Malta remain long enough to see
one half of its many objects of interest, while others, who might easily
do so, will not even take the trouble to land. One can sail half round
the globe without finding a locality from which such a store of historic
information and pleasurable memories can be brought away, or whose
present aspect is more inviting. People who have no poetic sense or
delicate appreciation will not find these qualities ready furnished for
them, either at home or abroad. The dull, prosaic individual whose ideas
run only in a practical groove, who lives purely in the commonplace,
will be impressed by travel much after the fashion of the backwoodsman
from Maine, when he saw Niagara Falls for the first time.
"Great Scott!" said he, gazing approvingly upon the moving aqueous body,
"what a waste of water-power!"
A somewhat similar scene, of which the author was a witness, is well
remembered.
"Are you going on shore, madam, while we take in coal?" asked the
captain of a P. & O. steamship, addressing one of his lady passengers,
who was en route from India to England.
"Can I get me a dear little Maltese dog there for a pet?" asked the lady
in response.
"It is doubtful," was the answer. "The animals you refer to are now very
scarce in these islands."
"Then I think I'll remain on board," rejoined madam. "There's nothing on
the island worth seeing, I believe."
"Some persons come thousands of miles solely to visit the place," was
the captain's quiet reply. "Its history is very curious."
"Are there any palaces?"
"There are over half a hundred edifices so called, though they have
nearly all been diverted from their original purpose by the present
government."
"They have nice old lace here, I am told. But one can get the same thing
in London, you know."
"Oh, yes, and perhaps you will be able to find a 'puppy' to your liking,
in London," said the sarcastic captain.
"I think I'll be content with reading about the place," was the final
response of the obtuse passenger.
As to Gibraltar, that gray old solitary rock lying about a thousand
miles to the westward of the Maltese group, and looming to a height of
fourteen hundred feet, it is a far less attractive place, though among
passengers generally there seems to be a different opinion. Here
travelers usually manage to make a break in their sea voyage, and to
remain a couple of days or more to examine the dreary old fortress and
garrison town. We say it is far less attractive than Malta: as regards
its past or present, it bears no comparison to this group. With the
exception of the old Moorish castle which overlooks the town, there is
not a single edifice in Gibraltar with any pretension to architectural
merit or antiquarian interest.
The Maltese dog, about which the lady passenger inquired, is a sort of
spaniel with long, silky, slate-colored hair, which hangs down from its
head and body, touching the ground. It has in the past been much
esteemed by royal families as a lapdog, and is of a very ancient breed,
being conspicuous upon old Roman monuments. It is spoken of by the
historian Strabo, but it seems to have almost entirely disappeared in
our time, as the captain remarked. We saw an indifferent specimen
offered for sale in Valletta, for which ten pounds sterling was
demanded.
The port of Valletta contains two marine docks, capable of receiving
ships of the largest tonnage, and is resorted to by both naval and
commercial shipping for needed repairs, while it is also the
headquarters of the British Mediterranean war fleet. The aggregate
tonnage of vessels entering and clearing is double that of Gibraltar. As
regards social life, and the usual associations of a commercial capital,
Valletta is far and away in advance of the City of the Rock. One comes
quickly to this conclusion upon comparing the commonplace Water-port
Street of Gibraltar with the unique Strada Reale--"King Street"--of
Valletta. The former is like a dull, narrow lane in an English seaport
town, while the latter, full of life and color, resembles a picturesque
boulevard in an Italian or French capital. Each is, however, above all
else a place of arms; everything is and has ever been made subservient
to this idea.
Malta is more distant from the mainland than any other Mediterranean
island. It is less than twenty miles in length, not quite so large as
the umbrageous Isle of Wight, on the coast of England, though it has
nearly three times as many inhabitants. One often hears that garden of
England compared with Malta, but wherefore, it is impossible to
understand. It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than
these two isolated places present. One, embowered in grand old trees and
the rural accessories of a land which nature has delighted to clothe in
verdure; the other, a solitary rock, a convulsive upheaval of the sea,
reclaimed only by patient toil from utter sterility.
The various natural causes which have operated to reduce Malta to its
present size and shape have been very thoroughly discussed by
scientists, a majority of whom agree that it was once attached to the
continent of Europe or of Africa. Our own humble opinion is that it was
probably the connecting link between them both, some time in the long,
long ages which have passed,--a deduction which will seem more
reasonable to the patient reader as we progress in our narrative.
The island is of an irregular oval form, having a superficial area of
about one hundred square miles. The Malta of to-day is only a
diminutive, sea-girt, limestone rock, cropping out of the watery depths
to a height, at its culminating point, of between seven and eight
hundred feet, partly covered with a thin though fertile soil. But its
associations are of a character closely bordering upon romance, and
intensely interesting for their antiquity and novelty. The highest point
of the island is at Casal Dingli, on the south side, where, to be
precise, the serrated ridge of the cliffs reaches an elevation of seven
hundred and fifty feet above sea level. There is, however, no such
average height maintained in any part of the group. The southern shore
is of such a bold, inaccessible character as to require few, if any,
fortifications to protect it from possible invasion by an enemy. It
resembles for long reaches the rugged, precipitous coast of Norway,
presenting a line of abrupt, repelling rocks, rising perpendicularly
from out of the sea to an average height of two or three hundred feet.
The face of these abrupt cliffs is accessible only to sea-birds and
creeping reptiles.
The opposite or northern side of the island is quite different; being
more shelving, and available for landing purposes. It presents numerous
sheltered coves and good harbors for light draught vessels, together
with a great variety of pleasing features peculiar to seaside landscape.
At the southeast end of Malta is the spacious bay and port of Marsa
Scirocco. There is here a good depth of water, and the harbor is
divided, somewhat like that of Valletta, by a promontory or tongue of
land. There is a large fishing village at the head of the bay. Here the
Turks landed an invading army, May 18, 1565, to begin the famous and
sanguinary siege of that date. On June 10, 1798, the French under
General Bonaparte disembarked their troops in the same bay. Northeast of
this place, and half way to Valletta on the coast line, is the small
inlet of Marsa Scala, which is only a shallow bay. The small Sicilian
traders are accustomed to come hither in their light draught boats
rather than to land at Valletta. Still following the northern shore
beyond the admirable double harbor of the capital, we have the lesser
bays of St. Julian, St. George, and Maddalena, besides the larger ones
of St. Paul and Melleha.
Crossing the narrow Straits of Freghi, we find on the north coast of
Gozo the bays of Ramla and Marsa-el-Forno, while on the south side are
those of Scilendi and Duejra. In this enumeration we have all the bays
and harbors of any importance in the whole Maltese group. Landing on the
southern side of either the larger or the lesser island is for the most
part impracticable, precipitous cliffs rising sheer from the water's
edge in Gozo, as we have described in Malta proper. On these cliffs
incessant breakers chafe and foam upon the black, barren rocks even in
calm weather. Standing on this lonely shore, there is a fascination in
listening to the solemn moan of the restless sea, in whose bosom there
is so much of sadness, of direful secrets, and of unspent power. The
trend of these islands, which form a very compact group, is nearly in a
straight line from southeast to northwest. A bird's-eye view of the
north side of the island of Malta affords glimpses of the blue sea
penetrating the barren and yellow land for short distances, like
Norwegian fjords, and supplying the absence of rivers and lakes as
regards scenic effect, objects which the eye seeks for in vain
throughout this rocky group.
Few islands, or, indeed, we may say few reaches of seacoast on the
mainland, of similar dimensions, can show so many good and available
harbors as are found on the north shore of Malta. Though the commercial
necessities of the group have not yet caused them to be specially
improved for shipping purposes, yet they will always be available. The
admirable twin harbors of the capital have so far afforded all necessary
facilities, but should the group improve as rapidly in business and
population for the next few years as it has done during the last decade,
another convenient harbor on the north coast will naturally become
developed into a commercial depot, while the construction of a new and
modern city will be sure to follow.
It is doubtful if there are many persons, even among those who are
engaged in commerce, who realize the large amount of business which the
government statistics already credit to the Maltese group, a commerce
which is annually on the increase. The returns for the year 1891 show
that the imports and exports of Valletta are almost exactly the same in
the aggregate values, each considerably exceeding twenty-two million
pounds sterling.
The presentation of an important statistical fact will emphasize this
statement. Over six hundred thousand tons of coal are annually imported
for use and for exportation. The arrival and departure of ten large
steamships is a fair daily average, supplemented by one or two sea-going
private yachts. There are few days in the year that the echoes are not
ruthlessly awakened by the interchange of salutes with newly arrived
vessels of war. Altogether, the two harbors of the capital present a
constantly varying scene of great maritime activity, while the town
itself is a picture of gay and varied life, rivaling in this respect
many a continental metropolis far more pretentious, and having thrice
its population.
As the present possessors of the island of Malta, its story has
doubtless a greater degree of interest for the English than for any
other people. But as regards its relation to the history of the past,
its importance is universal. When it was a Phoenician colony, so long
ago, it was a powerful factor in the political calculations of the
Christian powers; but above all other associations, the island will
always be famous as the place where the glory of the chivalrous Knights
of St. John reached its zenith, and where it also came to its
ignominious end. Of this period the pages of history furnish a fair
amount of truthful detail, but conjecture alone can fill the blank which
precedes the arrival of this remarkable order at Malta.