The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-04-02
WAKEMAN'S TRAVELS.
Malta Transformed from q Barren
Rock to q Tropical Garden.
INFINITE PATIENCE IN HUSBANDRY.
Curious Land Making Sc Peasant
Homes and Observation-Disclosures
dcrcr's Fifth Letter About Malta
and the Maltese.
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s"H peSN 49, Wv
tho fisher folk Of tho Adriatic, md oven
with tho iair domes and minarets OF
Venice in view across the opalinc wa.
tors Of tho tlashinglagoons, the peasant
ry Of Malta arc, TO my eyes, set in Il fair
and sunny perspective.
They are thrifty and ~virtuous; loyal
and loving; kindly and pious; patient
and good. There is not u land under
the sun where natural conditions have
been so bravely overcome, and where
original s%tcrility has been SO trans
formed into permanent l~ruitiulneas and
l%uxuriance. Nearly tho entire face OF
Malta was originally u barren desert
rock. Sivo upon q minor portion Of its
western slope and within tho tiny gar
dens OF the rich, when Charles v, gave
it 10 the Knights Of st. John thorc was
not natural soil enough upon the island
in which to bury tho dead. Perhaps
that may account for Mnltn's thousands
OF rock-hewn ,ombs found in ca,acombs
beneath towns, cut in all accessible
rocky lodges and projections, or oven
aunk in surface levels ms | have found
them. And yet today there is much
aptitude in the boast OF the Maltese that
there island OF stone il the FiOrc del
Monde, or Flower OF the World;" for
it actually supports, from the products
OF the soil it possesses, q greater popu-
lation in proportion TO its insignificant
area than can elsewhere be found out
side China and Japan.
Tho accretion OF this soil during the
$50 years between the arrival OF the
Knights and the present day has been a
work OF conservation Of triiles majestic
in its miserliness and patience, and is
without parallel in economic history.
The incorrect statement has been made
that AIalta's entire soil has been
brought in ship-loads from Sicily. Some
oft has been. But it has been chiefly
brought from all quarters OF the globe.
There is no such thing rs waste i'll
Malta. The shell OF M ogg, the cllaif
packings OF merchandise. tho o~ntrails OF
fish, the swcepinSs OF ships decks and
debris from their holds, V @ the exuv;e
OF birds, are all treasured, and those in
other lands infinitely little and despiscd
things. with the curious method OF yeas
creating, literally creating rod by rod. n
tiny additional patch OF cultivablo land
out OF the very rock OF the islands face,
has at last given Malta its splendid
luXuriance.
sinsularlY, too, it is practically all
hidden from sight. You can find it but
you cannot see it in the general view.
There are Jew points in the entire island
where from the highways your eyes can
rest upon anything but rock. Tho road
before you, the walls beside you, tho
house-walls and roofs wherever dis
cernable, are all Of stone. There are
places in Cornwall where for g thousand
years the earth has been disemboweled
ior tin ana every prospect is upon
ridges OF stone, blanched mine refuse
and upturned rock. l often thought OF
this us | tramped along the Maltese
highways. Everywhere, one looks it is
MS though a surging sea had suddenly
been transformed by miracle Of petri.
faction into ridges and bikes OF pale
satfrony stone. The glare OF a midsum-
mer sun upon such q landscape OF rock
scape must be binding indeed.
g INFINITE PATIENCE.
This has all come aboutin the terra
cling and diking OF the uneven ~suriaca OF
the island, through the infinite patience
and labor OF the Maltese %pcasantrv
since thu Knights with the monks OF
their time taught them how "oii might
be mado to flow from rocks and honey
sucked from the very stone" lis l have
heard them tell in their almost plaintive
Arab chants, which they are always
hall grooming and half singing when chi
gagged in any manner OF labor.
Ninc.tenths OF I'LL the cultivated lands
in Malta have been made by actually
breaking up with pick.axes the surface
OF the rock to the depth OF nearly two
feet, leveling it, and pilins upon this
mass the same stone reduced to powder,
rs it is very soft and easily pulverizcd,
mixed with layers OF pumice and every
thing in the nature Of soil which has
for 4 long time been 'scrapcd together
and treasured against this most impo--
tant OF all times with tho peasant ton
ant. To thus reclaim and make availa-
bic another half, or fourth, or atenth
OF an acre is the proudes. act OF the
Maltese peasants life.
He has less pride in his wife, his
children or his animals. They have Il
wise and serious way OF blessing tho
dead along these patriotic lines. l
heard it at Dingli, where, after mass
the peasants were berating the memory
of q mean and misery fellow but re-
Gently deceased. They said very IN
pleasant things about him, until one
who had not previously spoken set the
current the other wuyin q periect,tor-
rent OF praise by tho single remark:
"But Lneyi gaze Malta another tuinolo
(about one-third OF an acre) OF land!!"
y No peasant farmer owns his own land.
Anobility grew up under the regime OF
the knights which exists 10 this dav. |
. thought that OF the Ralcaric islands in.
significant to the degree OF travestv;
but the nobility OF Malta are still less in
numbers and importance. They are
styled m%arquises, counts and barons.
There are perhaps q score OF them nll
told and l know OF acertain Baltimore
an who controls twice as many acres OF
land in the Highlands OF Scotland for n.
shooting" as they collectively possess.
About one llalf OF the 100000 acres OF
c~ultivable land is, owned by these noble
men. The remainder is very equally
divided between the church and the
British crown.
Holdings are nearly NIL under short,
generally eight year, leases but there
are a number OF ninety and ono hundred
years leases, giving a virtual owner
ship. These tiny Maltese farms arc
very small, A few comprise as many
MS five salinas, or about twenty-ono
ncres. The most arc from ono "a thrne