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.
The Bay of Migiarro, which means "the carting place," is the commercial
port of Gozo, so to dignify it, and was once considered of sufficient
importance to cause the Knights to erect a substantial stone tower or
fort for its defense. This is now in ruins, but the place has become a
busy and populous settlement, whose interests centre upon the fisheries
of this coast. The beach is a fine one, much resorted to for bathing
purposes. Close at hand, southward, is the grand cliff of Ras-el-Taffal,
a promontory nearly two hundred feet in height, crowned by old Fort
Chambray, which was named for the member of the brotherhood of St. John
whose liberality built it. He was a very rich Knight from Normandy, and
when he died, he left one fifth of his large estate to finish this
defensive work. The whole sum was required, and much more besides, to
complete the well-designed and elaborate fort. It was begun in 1749, and
was many years in course of construction, but it is now gradually
crumbling away, not being considered of importance.
Notwithstanding their many ancient monuments, the object which seems to
be of the most interest to the inhabitants and to tourists is the Grotto
of Calypso. This is a rocky fissure on the northwestern shore of the
island, situated about a league from Rabbato, and is the spot where the
grotto is supposed to have existed. It is now only a simple limestone
cavern, presenting no peculiarities worthy of detail. It has the usual
stalactitic incrustations and developments, recalling the much more
extensive caves of the same nature which the traveler sees at Matanzas,
Cuba. It is quite isolated, but is constantly visited by small parties
from Valletta, who drink in romantic ideas from the associations of the
place, and refreshment from the clear, sparkling spring which meanders
through the cave of the defunct goddess,--
"The fair hair'd nymph with every beauty crown'd."
While on the spot we seek in vain for those "verdant groves of alders
and poplars, the odoriferous cypresses," and for "the meadows clothed in
the livery of eternal spring," with which Homer poetically endowed the
voluptuous abode of the Siren whose name he has immortalized. The view
presented from the top of the hill crowning the location of the Grotto
of Calypso is well worth mentioning, overlooking the Bay of Melleha and
most of the island of Gozo, with Comino and Malta in the distance. The
surface of the surrounding sea is at all times sprinkled with busy
fishing craft, pleasure yachts, row-boats, and large hulls freighted
with a wealth of merchandise.
In the neighborhood of Marsa-el-Forno, there is a stalagmitic cave of a
curious and interesting nature, which was discovered so late as 1888. It
is mainly situated under a field that lies close to the village church
of Sciara. This cave attracts large numbers of visitors to Gozo, and in
many respects is quite unique. It is eighty feet in length and sixty
wide, and contains a museum of curiosities which are the wonder and
admiration of all who behold them. When the cave is lighted by torches
or magnesium wire, the effect is extremely beautiful, the thousands of
crystalline stalactites suspended from the ceiling reflecting prismatic
colors of extraordinary brilliancy. It is indeed a fairy-like grotto,
much more worthy as a dwelling for Homer's nymph than the crude and
exposed cavern on the shore, already described. To one at all familiar
with these caves, which are found in various parts of the world, it is
no special marvel. These cavities are formed by the slow process of
well-understood chemical action, the active agent being the carbonic
acid gas which is held in solution by the rainwater that percolates
through the limestone roof of the cave. This acting upon the limestone
dissolves and conveys it away in liquid and gaseous forms.
Not far from here is a curious natural stone arch on the shore, called
Tierka Zerka, that is, the "Azure Window," through which one may look
upon the sea as though it were an artificial opening set with clearest
glass. It very naturally recalled a somewhat similar freak of nature
which occurs on the island of Torghatten, off the coast of Norway, where
one gets a sort of telescopic view, through a stone tunnel five hundred
feet long, of the blue sea and the islands in range far beyond it.
The next largest town to Rabbato is Casal Nadar, the only one on the
island whose population approximates in number to that of the capital.
This place is famous for the fruit which is raised in its neighborhood,
and especially for its excellent apples and choice ornamental trees. It
has nearly four thousand inhabitants. The cultivation of the land is
brought to a much higher standard here than in the larger island, but
the dwelling-houses are inferior to those of the villages of Malta
proper; and yet in estimating the general thrift of the country
population of the two islands, the result is decidedly in favor of Gozo.
A pleasant drive of three or four miles from Rabbato, through a
garden-like region where poppies, clad in imperial scarlet, peep out
from among the hedges to delight the eye, brings one to the Bay of
Scilendi, whose perpendicular cliffs contain many rocky caves, few of
which, probably, have been explored within the memory of living
residents hereabouts. They are believed to have been, in olden times,
the rendezvous of corsairs, where their ill-gotten wealth was stored,
where they held their revels, and where their prisoners were confined
until they were sold into slavery at Constantinople, or on the Barbary
coast. The manifest fertility of the soil lying between here and the
capital is owing principally to the irrigating capacity of several
invaluable and never-failing springs of pure water with which this
region has been exceptionally favored. The tangled masses of kelp and
seaweed, which constantly accumulate on the shore, are regularly
collected by the thrifty natives and liberally applied to the land as a
fertilizer. This material, becoming duly decomposed, imparts its rich
chemical properties to the soil, and thus repays the laborer tenfold.
Malta has been pronounced by an act of the English Parliament as
belonging to Europe, but the fact that the stratification of the
southern part of the island corresponds exactly with that of the coast
of Barbary indicates a similar origin. Ptolemy thought it was African,
but Pliny gives it to the Italian coast. Geologists of our day not only
believe that the Maltese group was once a part of Sicily, but that in
the far past it was also joined to Africa. In evidence of this
deduction, carefully prepared maps of soundings taken between the
islands and the continent on either side of the group are produced,
while in the soil of both Sicily and Malta the skeletons of hyenas and
other animals indigenous to Africa are frequently to be found, besides
other fossil remains indicating a like conclusion. If this supposition
be correct, how great must have been the changes which have taken place
in the physical geography of southern Europe and Malta! What a general
upheaval and subsidence must have agitated this famous sea in the remote
past! That important topographical changes have taken place in these
waters and in their relative connection with the land during historic
times is well known. A little more than two thousand years ago, the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea were united. De Lesseps' canal was no new
proposition. Nature had already half done the work by means of the
Bitter Lakes, and the modern engineer had only to restore a connection
which time had destroyed.
Among many other interesting fossil bones, teeth, and complete skeletons
unearthed at Gozo by naturalists, those of a pygmy species of elephants
were found, which must have stood but about four feet in height; these
were manifestly of African origin. The Ceylon elephant is distinctly
different, in size and in several other features. The latter is the
species universally met with in India, the beautiful island named having
yielded a regular supply to this country from time immemorial.
Dr. Andrew Leith Adams, a distinguished English surgeon and naturalist,
who resided for a period of several years in Malta, found fossil bones
and teeth of hippopotami in various parts of the group. He says in a
published account that he "unearthed hundreds of elephant's teeth,
together with those of other tropical animals." He also discovered, in
caves on the south side of the larger island, vestiges of aquatic birds
of a species now extinct, and which in life must have been larger than
the swan of our day. The presence of such remains indicates a great
change of climatic conditions between the far past and the present time.
It is difficult to imagine that Malta was ever the native land of
elephants and sea-horses, but Dr. Adams shows, at least to his own
satisfaction, that it was once covered with a productive soil and
luxuriant vegetation. According to the same authority, it must have had
lakes, rivers, and lagoons; trees and shrubs must have flourished in
profusion, and it was doubtless part of a land the principal portion of
which is now hidden beneath the surging waters of the Mediterranean.
Some of the most remarkable of Dr. Adams' discoveries were made in the
neighborhood of the village of Melleha, north of St. Paul's Bay, on the
principal island of the group. Here, in the sides of the ravine below
the hamlet, are numerous caves of various sizes, both natural and
artificial. Some of these are thought to be Phoenician tombs, as lamps
and lachrymatories have been found in them. A few of these caves are now
occupied by Maltese as dwellings. The village of Melleha has a very
ancient church, partly excavated in the solid rock, which is held in
great veneration, as it is said to have been consecrated by the Apostle
Paul. It contains a very ancient picture of the Virgin, believed to have
been painted by St. Luke! Penitential pilgrims come from all parts of
the group to kneel and pray in this church, a service which, according
to the local priests, carries with it absolution for any amount of sin
and wickedness. It is needless to say that a good round fee is also
contingent thereon.
The inhabitants of Gozo are, as a rule, thrifty, frugal, and
industrious; the gipsy-like dark-haired women, who almost invariably
have the charm of large, brilliantly expressive eyes, and even the young
children, devote themselves assiduously to making the famous Maltese
lace, for which a ready and profitable market always exists in European
and American cities, especially for the finer quality and more delicate
designs. Thus employed, for many hours of the day, they are often seen
in family groups, seated by the doors of their humble dwellings,--small,
massive, square stone buildings,--singing quaint old songs and gossiping
together. Strangers visiting these districts almost always carry away
with them, as souvenirs, specimens of this choice article, which has a
reputation all over Christendom. The collection of crown laces belonging
to the Queen of Italy contains specimens of Maltese lace reputed to be
five centuries old, while photographs of objects found in Egyptian tombs
date back the history of this delicate fabric to a thousand years or
more before Christ. A choice pattern manufactured from a new material is
now being made at Gozo, in small quantities. The basis is a peculiar
sort of white silk. The completed fabric of this style is costly, and
comes very near to the texture of a spider's web.
The Gozitans speak a language which differs somewhat from that common
in Malta proper, and which is generally considered to be a pure native
tongue, resembling the Arabic much more closely than does the mixed and
confusing dialect of the larger island. The names of places, persons,
monuments, household utensils, animals, and articles of food are all
Arabic pure and simple. It is curious to realize that this people should
have succeeded in keeping aloof from their conquerors so as not only to
retain their own language in its purity, but also their personal
resemblance to their Mohammedan ancestors. Their complexions are almost
as dark as those of the natives of Barbary. Sometimes one detects a
tendency to protruding lips and flat noses. When the Knights of St. John
took possession of Malta, they found the islanders universally
professing the Roman Catholic religion, but yet entirely governed by
Arab forms and customs. Their constant intercourse with the Barbary
States probably served to confirm them in these inherited proclivities.
At several points on the shore of Gozo where the attempt of an enemy to
land might be possible, the Knights during their early sovereignty
improvised a sort of ordnance called an earth mortar, after the
following process. A hole of the proper dimensions was cut or drilled in
the solid rock, at a certain angle trending towards the shore, designed
to hold a hundred pounds of gunpowder. The explosive was placed at the
bottom, and after a proper fuse was connected therewith, it was covered
with a layer of boards to act as a sort of wadding. Upon the boards a
ton or more of stones and rocks were placed, which completed the charge.
On the approach of an enemy, which would necessarily be by boats, the
fuse could be promptly ignited, and a wild discharge of rocks would at
once take place, sending the missiles high into the air at an angle
which would drop them upon the approaching enemy. These stones, falling
with destructive force upon the boats and upon those who were in them,
would scatter death and confusion in their ranks. We have never heard of
such a device put in practice elsewhere, but should imagine that it
would prove efficacious in a rude way to defend an exposed seacoast. A
large or even a small stone descending from a considerable height, under
such circumstances, would be sure, if it fell in a boat, to go through
its bottom, causing it to fill at once, and would be equally fatal if
falling upon the heads or bodies of human beings. The rock, which is of
the nature already described, admitted of being easily hewn into such
shape as was desired, while exposure to the atmosphere soon hardened it
to the required consistency and resisting power. A second discharge of
such a mortar might possibly involve as much danger to the defenders as
to the enemy. It must be remembered that at this period, between three
and four hundred years ago, the use of artillery was comparatively in
its infancy, and iron mortars, when they were procurable, were of the
crudest manufacture.
As forming a contrast to those days, and to the present means of
conducting offensive and defensive warfare, it may be appropriate to
mention that the author happened to be at Gibraltar not long ago, when a
hundred-ton cannon was landed there. With this extraordinary piece of
ordnance, it was believed that an effectual shot might be fired across
the strait to Africa! As it is at least twenty miles from the Fortress
of the Rock to the opposite coast, we took the declaration of the
artillerist who expressed this opinion of the power of the gun with
considerable allowance.
Hagar Tal Girnal--the "General's Rock"--is the name of a small,
outlying, and nearly inaccessible ledge off the shore of Gozo, upon
which there still grows in profusion, springing from the crevices of the
rock, the curious plant known to botanists as _Fungus Melitensis_,
Maltese fungus. This was so highly prized by the Knights of St. John as
to be most carefully gathered in its prime, dried in the sun, and
preserved as a stancher of blood in case of dangerous wounds, and also
for the suppression of internal hemorrhage. Indeed, the fungus was
believed to possess a variety of valuable medicinal properties. Small
packages of it were sent annually by the Knights as precious gifts to
the European potentates, it being equally prized by the recipients, who
believed it to be otherwise unattainable. It is certainly a very simple
weed, which is in flower about the last of April. When fresh it is of a
dark red color, like our sorrel, and is of a spongy softness, but it is
no longer held in such high repute either as an internal medicine or as
an efficacious dressing for wounds. The famous rock is now seldom, if
ever, trodden by the foot of man. It was always difficult of access in
rough weather, though it is hardly a hundred yards from the mainland.
The nearest village to the General's Rock is Casal Garbo. The people of
the neighborhood declare that the famous fungus grows exclusively on
this rock, but this assertion is not correct, as we have seen it in
bloom on the Mediterranean shore at Leghorn, Tunis, and elsewhere.
The language of the people round about Casal Garbo differs somewhat from
that which prevails in the rest of the island, seeming to be more Hebrew
than Arabic. It is certainly far from being the latter tongue. This fact
has given rise to many suppositions and learned discussions. We were
told that the subject was to be carefully investigated by a committee of
scientists, linguists, and archaeologists who were specially interested.
One hears about an important alabaster quarry, situated in the
northwestern part of Gozo, but the author did not visit it. There are
said to be ample evidences of its having been worked in an intelligent
manner centuries ago, even before the Roman period, if the indications
are rightly interpreted. Among so many nationalities as have at sundry
times held possession of this group, it is a very nice distinction to
attribute this or that work to any special one.
It has been mentioned that the island of Gozo is much more fertile than
Malta proper, though why this should actually be so it would be
difficult to explain. There is less rocky surface and more natural soil
in the former than in the latter. This is realized at a glance. Certain
it is that so far as verdure is concerned, the daisies and the
dandelions appear and the grassy lanes of Gozo are aglow with vernal
ripeness early in February, while the more drowsy soil of Malta does not
awaken until the middle of March. Springtime is the season of the year
when the earth sends forth her choicest treasures, even in this
semi-tropical, Mediterranean clime,--
"Hanging her infant blossoms on the trees."
The deep purple vetch which enamels the fields of the islands,
especially in Gozo, is beautified by the scarlet poppies which Nature
sprinkles here and there with dainty fingers, producing vivid gleams of
color in strong and pleasing contrast with the surroundings. Sometimes
the ripening wheat-fields are made lovely after the same winsome manner.
The rich development and beauty of the tall, stout clover at this early
period of the year is particularly noticeable, giving promise of a
wealth of harvests calculated to gladden the husbandman's heart, while
taxing the industry of the bees from dawn to twilight. We know of but
few vegetable products which so richly repay the cultivators as this
Maltese clover. Surely writers are not authorized to speak of this group
of islands in mid-sea, with all these facts before them, as consisting
mainly of a series of bare, weather-beaten rocks. Why mock and mislead
us by such misrepresentations? In the wildest and least cultivated
districts of Gozo, rosemary and thyme may be seen, showing that regal
Nature has her poetic moods even under adverse circumstances, and that
she often indulges her fancy in lonely places without regard to the cold
appreciation of heedless human eyes, sometimes in her charming caprice
outdoing more labored and artistic methods. "You will find something far
greater in the woods than you will find in books," says St. Bernard.
Regarding the origin of Gozo, Comino, and Malta, we have seen that
authorities differ materially. As if still more completely to mystify us
upon the subject, Borzesi, a Maltese writer of considerable ability, has
seriously attempted to prove that the group is formed of the summits of
mountains belonging to the lost land of Atalantis. Signor Grougnet, of
Valletta, had formerly in his possession a stone which was dug up from
among some ruins near the old capital of Citta Vecchia, in 1826, on
which was an inscription describing Atalantis, and another to the effect
that the Consul Tiberius Sempronius, in the year of Rome 536, ordered
the preservation of this stone. This is either an adroitly conceived
canard, or it is a suggestion worthy the attention of students of
antiquity.
Bidding farewell for a time to Gozo, let us now recross the Straits of
Freghi to Malta proper, there to enjoy the unequaled attractions and
delights of beautiful Valletta.