The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-02
VAKEMAN'S WANDERINGS.
The Thrifty and Virtuous Peas
antry of Malta.
Malta Transformed from a Barren
Rock to Tropical Garden-Infinfte
PATIENCE in HuSbandry = Curious
nd-MaBing-Peasant Homes and
Environment.
special Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1921

Special Correspondence of the RECORD
Union. Copyright, 1921
CHIoGGIA, Italy, February 20, 1892.
Looking back from within the environ
ment Of the fisher folk of the Adriatic,
and even with all the fair domes and min
afets Of Venice in view across the opaline
waters OF the flashing lagoons, the peas
ahtry OF Malta are, to my eyes, set in a
lalr and sunny perspective.
1hey are thrifty and virtuous, loyal
ana loving, kindly and pious, patient
and good. There IS not land under the
sun where natural conditions have been
so bravery overcome. and where original
steIllity have been so transformed into
! permanent fruitfulness and luxurance.
Nearly the entire face of Malta was orig
lnally barren desert rock Save apon
a minor portion Of its western slope and
within the tiny gardens OF the rich, when
ChafleS '. gave it 10 the knights OF st.
John, there was not natural soil enough
upon the island IN which TO bury the
! dead. Perhaps that may accountfoi Mall
Ia thousands OF rOck-hewn tomDS found
! i'll catacombs beneath towns cut in Ill ac-
ceSSiole rocky ledgeS and projections, or
! even sunk III surface levels as [ have
found them. And yet to-day there is
much aptitude III the boast Of the Maltese
/ tllat their island Of stone is the FiOre del
Monde, or Flower OF the World for
IL actually supports, from the products al
Inc son 1T possesses, q greater population
/ IN proportion to its ms gniIicant area than
can elsewhere be found outside China
and Japan.
! The accretion of this soil during the $50
/ years between the arrival OF the knights
/ ~ I,ns,
conservation of tritles majestic in its
inlserIlneSs ond patience, and is without
/ parallel Ill economic history. The incor-
rect statement has been made that Nal
/ ta'S entire soil has been brought in slip
LOADS from Sicily. Some OF il has been.
But 1t has been chiefly brought from all
! quarters OF the globe. There is no such
thing as waste in Malta. Vhe Shell OF an
egg, the chaf packings OF merchandise,
Tie entraIlS OF fish, the SWeepinos OF
ShlpS decks and debris from their holds.
even the eNuNie of birds, are all treas
ured, and these, in other lands, infinitely
llttle and desplsed things, with the curl
Gus method OF year by year creating, lit
orally creating rod by rod. tiny addi-
tlonal patch OF cultivable land out OF the
very rock Of the islands face, has at last
given Malta its splendid INSURANCE
Singularly, TOO, it is practically all hid
den nom sight. You can find it but YOU
cannot see IL IN the general view. There
are few points in the entire island where
from the highways your eyes can rest
upon anything but rock. The road before
! you, the walls beside you, the house
walls and roofs, wherever discernible.
are all of stone. There are places in Corn
! wall where, for thousand years, the
earth has been disem boweled for tin and
every prospect is upon ridges OF stone,
| Dlanched mine refuse and upturned rock
i often thought OF this as L tramped along
! the Maltese highways. Everywhere one
looks lt is as though a Surging sea had
| suddenly been transformed by miracle
! OF petrl1actlon into ridges and bikes OF
pale satfrony stone. The glare of mid
summer sun upon such Landscape or
rockscape must be binding indeed.
This has all come about in the terra
cling and diking OF the uneven surface of
| the island, through the infinite patience
and labor of the Maltese peasantry since
the knights with the monks OF their time
taught them how ''oii might be made to
| flow from rocks and honey sucked from
! the very stone," as | have heard them
| tell in their almost plaintive Arab chants.
which they are always half grooming and
half singing when engaged in any man
ner of labor.
| Nine-tenths of all the cultivated lands
in Malta have been made by actually
| breaking up with pickaXes the surface of
L..
| leVellng 1t and piling upon this mass the
same stone reduced to powder as it is
very soft and easily pulverized. mixed
! With layers OF pumice and everything in
/ the nature of soil which has for q lono
time, been scraped together and treas
ured against this most important of all
! times with the peasant tenant. To thus
reclaim and make available another half
or fourth, or a tenth of an acre. is the
proudest act of the Maltese peasants
| life.
He has less pride in his wife. his chill
| dren or his animals. They have q wise
and serious way of blessing the dead
along these patriotic lines. / heard it at
! Dingli. where. after mass, the peasynts
were beratlng the memory of mean and
miserly fellow but recently deceased.
They SAID very unpleasant things about
him, until one who had not previously
| spoken set the current the other way i'm a
! perfect torrent of praise by the single re-
mark: But Luegi gave Malta another
tumoio about one-third of an acre. OF
! land!"
No peasant farmer owns his own land.
a nobility grew up under the regime OF
! the knights which exists to this day. /
| thought that of the Baiearic Islands in
! significant to the degree of travesty. but
the nobility of Malta are still less in num-
| hers and importance. They are styled
are
| perhaps score of them ali told, and /
know of certain Baltimorean who con-
trolS twice as many acres OF land in the
Highlands of Scotland and for "shoot-
ing rs they collectively possess. \ bout
one-half Of the leo, 800 acres OF cultivated
land Is owned by these pobiemen. The
remainder is very equally divided be-
tween the Church and the British Crown
Holdings are nearly all under short,
generally eight year, leases, but there are
/ ii number of so and 100 years leases, Civ
ing a virtual ownership. These uny
Maltese farms are very small. y few
comprise as many as five salinas, or
about tyyenty-oue acres. The most are
from one to three salinas. And L know
OF many with no more than three mon
deli, or less than an eighth of an acre of
/ land in each. The rentals for these. with
all repairs and improvements at the cost
of the peasant tenant, range from - to SO
per acre.
If the PEASANTS holding is little and
! picturesque in its grouping of craggy
| terraces, his home and belonging are IN
deed snug and picturesque. There is not
a squalid, poorly built rustic's abode
\ upon the island. If it be scarcely larger
than sentryb box, the walls will be of
/ stone, which is SO soft he can chop it out
/ OF the lodges with an AK, after which it
] hardens by exposure. L have seen some
/ roofs of solid rock III thick fiat slabs, but