The record-union., 1892-03-26

ject in st. PauIs Bay my eyes rested upon
was the ledge of Struggling rocks where
the two seas met" 1t was trimmed with
simmer of ,glistening ripples as tiny,
SHINING and slumberous as though but
echoing the dreamful songs of sirens in
wiling TO haven of endless sleep.
high upon hill seven miles to the
southwest of Valetta stands Citta Necchia,
the walled Capital of the island before
Grand Master John de Falette built the
splendid city which now crowns Mount
Sceberras. At the beginning of the
Christian era it contained the house of the
"cnief man Of the islandv who so court
eously entertainer the shipwrecked
Paul. Its Cathedral of st. Paul had its
traditional origin during the three
months residence of the Apostle. as Pub
Illus is said to have given portion of his
own palace as site for the first church
and to have otiiciated in it as Aialta's first
Bishop.
ms was a long time ago; but the an
tlquated character Of the city draws one
kindly to these old and loved traditions.
Seen from distance, its mighty walls,
cumbrous structures, flat roofs, asst pal
aces and immense domes, rising like some
far ana ianciful mountain of dream built
CUBES, pillars, arches and Gaping domes,
render 1t the most impressive structural
perspective III Europe. When Naletta
was built the former grandeur of Citta
Necchia departed. BY and by the great
mansions were transformed into SEM
mares, monasteries and converts, and
thus they remain. Its tremendous walls
smut In few others than monks, religious
students, nuns and novitiates. The great
statue of Juno, queen of all the gods who
preside over marriage, which is en-
Dedded IN the main gateway, seems
strangely out of place as the escutcheon
OF a city Of religious recluses.
The buildings are massive, ashen-col-
ored by time, and strangely silent. The
streets are narrow, shadowful and still.
The great dungeons beneath the huge
Sanitorlum, once the palace of the Giu-
ratl, or the three magistrates of the city,
are no more palpable with silence than
are these high-walled, narrow streets. No
sound is heard save the changing OF bells
as the call to endless devotions. Then
the thoroughfareS are suddenly filled with
bowed and dark-robed figures for mo-
ment, and again as suddenly become life
less, dark and still.
The catacombs beneath Citta Vecchia
and the prehistoric rock-hewn tombs of
Mnaldra are almost welcome relief from
the solemnity and solemn shades of this
OLD place. The passages and chambers of
the catacombS are lacking mural decora-
tlon, but they are of the same character
as those at Syracuse and are much larger
than any single examples to be found at
Rome. They are hewn out of the soft
stratum of the upper limestone on which
Cltta Necchia stands. You reach them
through a perpendicular shaft and a few
steps bring you into perfect maze of
tunnels leading in every direction, with
crypts on each side and at every possible
level.
These tunnels and their branch tunnels
seem lnterminabe. | counted upward
OF S0oseparate sepulchers, and there are
no doubt many thousands. One passage
or gallery of very large proportions was
found which opened into capacious
squares or chambers, where the crypts
We're fashioned as though for the more
distinguished dead. Their proportions
were more ample, and they were better
formed in every respect. In many a rest
for the head and neck was raised and hal
lowed in excellent contour; and by the
SIDE of others were eXcavated inches for
urnS and the lamp for yotive and other
sepulchral offices.
However ancient was the race that ex-
caYated or required such vast area for
burial, 1t is certain that these crypts We're
equally as extensive in the days OF the
Romans, 1900 years apo. They are COM
pletely barren of all remains. as they
were for long time used as abodes for
the living, the primitive Christians hay
ing lied to them for refuge; and they have
been on various occasions the abodes of
early Maltese when flying from the
swords of the Goth, Vandal, Moor and
Turk. No one has ever fully explored
them; and | find from the natives that
the belief among them is universal that
subterranean passages lead to Valetta and
TO other remote points in the island
These are not the only prehistoric re-
mains of great interest to be found on the
islands. Diminutive catacombs and rock
hewn tombs are accessible in nearly
gorge IN both Malta and Coco. Exten-
sive catacombs are found at Micabba.
Tower Nadur, st. PauPs and Melliha
Bays and Mnaidra, while at Hhapiar-
Kim and Mnaidra in Malta and at the
Giants Tower in Coco | saw mepalithic
monuments rivaling in massiveness and
mystery the Stonehenge of England and
the vast pagan monument of New Grange.
on the Boyne in Ireland. / was shown
Il great and solitary monolith standing
near Har HaSSan cave, ON the south coast
of Malta.
There is a dolmanlike ruin on Cordino
Hill overlooking Faletta. And l meas
ured upright blocks in the Hhagiar- Kim
ruin twenty-four feet high. while on the
cyclopean Giants Tower l found several
with hight of twenty eight and thirty
feet. Their additional length beneath
the debris surrounding them must have
been considerable. All of these tremen-
dous monoliths were put in place thou
sands of years ago by people capable of
quarrylng and transporting them from
sandstone beds nearly mile distant. for
the purpose of some form of alteration
They did their work so well that, while
all other traces of their race are lost.
these mute monuments have brought the
story true from almost unrecorded time
OF the eternal principle of worship in the
heart of man.
From my habit of wandering alone.
and much in the country, in foreign
lands, L have come to regard their birds
as my most charming chance acuuaint-
ances. Absolutely without trees. save
those transplanted and nurtured like
exotic flowers, Malta would hardly he re-
garded as the haunt of birds. And vet |
have seen or heard here in midwinter
nearly every one of the loved and humble
sort well known in summertime in
northern chimes.
Along the stony roads 1 have kept ex-
ultant pace with the hopping stonechat
and redstart, and chirped back a cherry
greeting TO flocks of chaffinches among
the white and gold of the orange trees.
Climbing the cliffs, or pothering among
the ruins, the melodies of thrush or linnet
have Hooded the sky from the olive trees
in the valleys below. Crossing the walled
fields, have often come upon marshaled
hosts OF utlarks. Rocks. wrens, cross
bills and fieldtares all welcomed me in a
homeland language L knew. The call
notes Of the reed-sparrow peopled the
famous island of the sword and cowl with
olden forms and faces; and as the balmy
evenings came, the stillicidic, murInur-
Gus and -plaintive songs OF the black
birds thrilled me with half-forgotten
voices, until my heart cried out
Thus, angel OF our later days!
With eyer-hoyering, unseen hand
Are fiasned upon our blinded WAYS
The hidden shrineS we understand