Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-04-02

| ~ ouAs tHAo tne dlke-wallE that theil
nat roofs blend into the general perspec
i've OF farrowy rock. But you know tha
you can find them, scores of them. in an,
short distance. Some of them are reaIi,
covered excavations in the corners of thes
tiny fields. Still others project into roads
which wind tortuously about them; and
nave frequently become completely beril
dered in the maze of narrow thorough
fares thus necessitated within q rnIle's rs
dius.
Though such extraordinary pains snt
labor are experienced to protect the lsnc
\ against the ravages of the occasional win
ter down-pours of rain, equal care anc
provisions are required to preserve the wa
ter, SO precious in the long and burning
summer months. Every steading is pro
vided with immense tanks or cisterns Gu,
in the solid rock. Tiny springs are FIRE
9uent, and not drop from these is al
lowed to go to waste. Where the spripQ
happens to be located conveniently, little
stone troughs are laid SO as to irrigste. a,
pleasure, every square foot of soil, and
every particle of the overflow is conducted
by other tiny troughs to the cisterns.
Spouts lead from the dixie walls and the
fiat roofs, and from every other possible
projection or level, until the entire island
Is a network of rude appliances for COM
plete irrigation.
But the results are wonderful. Two
and often three crops are raised every
year, and from May until October, when
the untitled surface of the leland is a.
white as bakers oven and quivaring with
heat, within these pleasant homes and
these walled fields, where the outward ss.
pect is SO hard and forbidding, there are
endless wimplings of water, marvellous
upleapidg of vegetables, fruit and grain,
aud the matchless melodies of birds.
All these Maltese farm houses are very
interesting, and many are unique and pic
turesque. They are all matchlessly clean.
and are given unusual freshness by the
constant applications by the housewives of
preparation of the pumiced stone, of a
pale ecru color, of the consistency of
whitewash, to the stone floors, walls and
ceilings. The granery, pens for animals
and housing for fowls are all part of the
abode, usually. at convenience, in the first
story, the family sleeping in the apart
ments above; but such extraordinary care
is universal among the peasant farmers
that every such apartment ever chanced
to enter was at least as sweet and cleanly
as 2 gentlewoman's boudoir.
many oI the walls leading from the rear
OF the court are covered with moses and
vines. Often the old Moorish nora or
water-wheel stands silently or creaks dis
mally near the abode. Here and there
near the home will DE found the ancient
tread mill of the Bible times, on which all
the wheat and barley of the island is trod
out by oxen or COWS. Against the walls
will hang tremendous gourds, quaint old
farming implements, or hugh selves with
rswhide instead of wire screens, as all the
grain is removed from the chaff in this
primitive way.
Owing to the scarcity of wood upon the
island hardly a wooden implement or srti-
Gle of furniture can be seen. Settles of
stone are common. In many fsrm-homes
l found stone slabs utilized as tables, and
in others the same set securely into the
walls of rooms for hunks or beds. Win
dow-panes are few. as the light from the
sky through the open courts, and the tiny
and infrequent windows foot square, are
all sufficient
Perhaps the most curious objects to be
found in these Maltese peasant homes is
what may be termed their stoves The
Maltese literally have no iresides. They
reqdire no artificial heat, and all their
cooking-which is restricted to bread made
of wheat and barley meal something of the
consistency of a Scotch ''bannock,". fsh
which is plentiful and cheap, and certain
vegetable stews in which are stirred scant
shreads of cured fish or scanter bits of ba-
con for seasoning-is done upon a porta-
BILE stone stove shaped like a jar, and re-
sembling in everything but color timers
ordinary hand furnace in which his SOL
dering irons are heated. Most of these
are of home construction, cut out of any
handy block of stone, with rude handles
carved near the top; but some are of delft
ware and more cspacious and shapely
They can be carried about and the house
wife can mind her cooking, If she likes,
while at any drudgery of the house or
fields.
The home and neighborhood life of these
folk is not as colorful as that of the Ital-
ian and Spanish peasantry. They are do
cile, calm, contented, ambitious only to
thrive, and with a burning desire amount
ing often to a passion to be better tenants
than their predecessors. They rise and go
to bed with the sun. If belated at night
no friendly evening candle light will guide
the wanderer to fireside.
The music of the guitar and mandolin
alone would disclose the presence of this
half Arab home. For little time after
the night has fallen and the stars shine out
the husbandman may sit and Groom his
weird strange chants. The wife sits by
him with folded hands and closed eyes, oc-
casionally venturing a minor note. The
lads and the lasses thrum the stringed in
struments. But they are only those there
who belong in that one home.
There is no rustic courtship in Malta
save of the sheepeyes sort along the Sab
bath and Saints days lanes as they all re-
pair together for mass at the cssals or vii
lagos. Then the women wear the faldetta
or black cloak-like scarf The hereditary
custom is to cover the face with this But
they do not until after they are wed and
are mothers, which is often at thirteen and
fourteen years of sge.
There are no curious conditions here
preceding marriage except that the lover
must be able to rent a bit of ground and
purchase a donkey and two goats or sheep,
as the milk of the island is furnished by
the latter animals: and he must solemnly
pledge that he will never deprive his be-
trothed the life right of attendance at
the festivals of ST. Peter Paurs, st. John
and st. Gregory, which are respectively
celebrated at Citta Vecchis, Valetts and
Casal Zeitun- And this is not much to
ask by pretty woman who never wears
shoes, is never from home on any other
occasion, who holds her picturesque
household bravely together, and who, be-
fore she is forty years of age and often
a grandmother, will bear her husband all
the way from a dozen to two-score hap
py, hopeful progeny.
One feature of Maltese rustic life will
always remain with me as a strange but
pleasant memory. This is their Arab
chants. These have been handed down
from the Berber and Moorish invaders of
many centuries ago, and, like the gypsy
Language, are preserved vocslly. But
countless chants are improvised, and the
hesitant and then outbursting character
of these adds impressively to their weird
effect. Men, women and children chant
under all circumstances and conditions.
/ have heard it to that extent from sur
rounding workers in fields invisible by
their huge walls from the highway, that
it seemed as though some mighty organ
were touched by hands so masterful that
splendid symphony came from innu-
mersble minor discordant chords.
EDGAR L. WAKKMAN.