Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar,"-I rode with a small party to the village of Benlisa, at the eastern extremity of the island, rather with the view of seeing the country, than with the idea of realizing so wild a vision. We found some ruins of a small pyramidical building, (the base of one side of which was in good preservation,) that had evidently been a tomb, whose foundations, enclosing two distinct chambers, were still very distinguishable. Round it lay several hewn stones, with circular serpentine ornaments sculptured on them; and the old Maltese peasant who accompanied us said, that he remembered an old church standing near there, in which it was said, that some great man of old lay interred.

Our detention for a day by a contrary wind gave me an opportunity to visit the famous Grotto of St. Paul, which is at Città Vecchia, about eight miles from Valetta. A small chapel, dedicated to the same saint, is built over the grotto in which the Maltese say he dwelt three months; and the man who shewed it made me carry away a piece of the chalky stone of the grotto, as an infallible preservative against the bite of vipers or any venomous insect, denouncing vehement curses on all who disbelieved its efficacy. Unluckily my interest in his story was destroyed by Bryant, who has proved to demonstration, that Melita, and not Malta, was the island on which St. Paul landed: the absolute freedom of the latter island from all sorts of venomous animals, which has been considered by some to strengthen its claim to the

visit of the saint, is sufficiently accounted for by the dry and rocky nature of the soil, which could afford them no nourishment. Near Città Vecchia I was also shewn some catacombs of inconsiderable extent, in which it is said the Saracens took refuge, and which certainly were well calculated for concealment and defence. Apartments, tombs, ovens, and even a small church, were hewn out of the subterraneous rock, which was quite a labyrinth; and out of these habitations branched a passage, also subterraneous, which, I was told, extended two miles. The fields round Città Vecchia had more appearance of verdure than any I had seen in Malta.

CHAPTER III.

ON the 28th of May we were towed out of the harbour of Malta, and at noon, on the 31st, saw the coast of Greece, 15 leagues N. E. by E. of us. On the 1st of June, we sailed along the southern coast of Cerigo, on which we descried a small neat-looking town. On each side we saw distant mountains covered with snow; those of the Morea on the left, and the Cretan Mount Ida on the right. On the 3d of June, a strong north-east wind stopped our progress, and, being off Milo, we at noon fired a gun for a pilot, who came out to us. The sailors of Milo are reputed to be the best pilots in the Archipelago. Michili, who came off to us, was pilot to the English fleet that passed the Dardanelles in 1806. He spoke very good English, and held the post (without salary) of English Vice-Consul in the island. In the afternoon we anchored in the bay, which is one of the best harbours in the Archipelago, being about six miles long and three and a half broad, and not more than three-quarters of a mile wide in the entrance. The country on the coast of the bay is very hilly, and must have been beautiful when well cultivated and covered with vines, as it was when the island was well peopled; but the plague made such ravages in it a

hundred years ago, that the population of the whole island is now only 2,300, whereas before that time the town alone contained 10,000. The depopulation has been more systematically promoted by the badness of the water and the unwholesomeness of the air, which are said to be strongly impregnated with sulphur. The tribute paid by the island to the Turks is 20,000 piastres, though rated only at 7,000. This the inhabitants send annually to Constantinople, and thus avoid the oppression of the Turks (of whom there is not one on the island), except at the dreaded visit of the Turkish fleet, which takes place every two or three years, more frequently here perhaps than elsewhere, owing to the excellence of the port. The interior of the island is better cultivated than its first appearance would lead the traveller to suppose. The conditions of labour are very patriarchal. The labourer divides the produce with the proprietor, but provides all the necessary animals and implements. Its staple produce is cotton, which is cultivated almost exclusively by the women. It grows a sufficiency of corn (mostly bearded wheat) to furnish a supply to two or three of the neighbouring islands, and contains 30 windmills. The hills are very rocky, and much of the stone is of a reddish iron-colour, as Milo, the capital, which

if the island were volcanic. is built on a plain, about two miles from the coast, is now almost in ruins, and the narrow streets are choked with the materials of fallen houses. The inhabitants, however, appeared cheerful: the women

(who in the evening sat spinning cotton at the doors) nodded to us affably, and were very willing to shew us the inside of their houses, which were generally neat and clean. They were a fine race of people; the men strong and active in their limbs, and upright in their carriage, and a great proportion of the women could boast of beauty. The costume of the latter was curious, consisting of a sort of wrapper of white cotton, with a cap of the same, from which dangled two long folds, which fell about a foot and a half down the back. We rode to the town of Castro (the second on the island) on donkies, equipped with a clumsy wooden saddle, on which the rider sits sideways, like a woman, and without a bridle. The path lay alternately over rocky hills and rich fields covered with vines, olive and fig trees, and oleanders, which latter grow here wild in great perfection. Castro stands on the top of a high mountain shaped like a sugarloaf. Its streets, if it be allowed to give that name to unpaved passages about four feet wide, overhang each other, and are ascended by irregular stone steps. The inhabitants live in a very patriarchal manner, two or three generations of a family occupying the same house; and when a father gives his daughter in marriage, he makes over to her husband his house with all its furniture, and either remains in it as a guest, or finds another for himself. We entered the house of our Vice-Consul (built of stone, as were all those both of Milo and Castro,) of which the interior was neatly white-washed, and furnished with