Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-05
wAKEmAN,s wANDERINGs.

| wAKEMAN,S wANDRRINGs.
 Malta and the ualtese-From Palma
 to Malta on a Maltese RrIgantIne-
 A Typical Tunisfan Merchant and
 His Views Marvellous Morning
 Scene in the Harbor of yaletta. VALErTA, Malta, Feb. Q.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The Latin races dwelling to the north of
 the Mediterranean and all those of orien-
 tai extraction to the south and east look
 upon the English occupation of the island
 of Malta and the two contiguous lesser is
 lands of Comino and Gozo in much the
 same spirit as they regard the occupation
 of Gibraltar by the English.
 That is in an evil and revengeful spirit.
 The fact could have had no clearer illus
 tration than in the sentiments expressed by the captain of the coaster upon which
 I made my way from Majorca to Malta,
 and by the only other passenger besides
 myself upon the odd little brigantine upon | which we sailed.
 | My companion passenger came aboard at
 Tunis, where we touched to land Majorcan
 wine, making up our part cargo of wine for Malta with Tunisian hides and wheat
 in curious little brown sacks which were tied in the middle and slowed away in the | hold criss-cross, as you would lay dumb
 bells each upon the other.
 Our crew comprised six half naked and | barefooted Maltese sailors with cotton | trowsers, crimson scarfs certainly thirty | feet long wound about their waists, ugly I sheath-knives in these, and no other cloth ing whatever save tiny tassled caps resting | jauntily upon the crisp and curly hair of their hard little heads. They were little,
 wiry fellows, the best sailors in the world, l it is said. with snapping, beady eyes,
 sharp, short noses, thick lips, splendid teeth, and altogether as merry and sunny | natured lot as you could find sailing upon any sea. The sptain was of Spanish extraction | and Maltese birth. He had been fisher man of Valetta; had saved his money; had got an education at the free English schools | of Malta; and from the vocation of port | pilot had come to own the craft which he commanded. In his little cabin were many good books, both in Spanish and English, and his surroundings in his tiny sea home were as pleasant, and certainly | more evident of education, refinement and good taste than you will often find in cab ins of the most pretentious American sail ing vessels
 His wife, Teresa, and nine children, the latter grading in size from an infant in Ia ne a~lx set of ten pins, and nearly as naked, hand at light seamens' duties whenever re quired with wonderful agility, adding pleasantly to the picturesqueness of the everyday life of the tiny vessel, and pro viding those blessedest of all sounds ai sea, the voice of woman and the prattle of children, ceaseless, tnneful and winsome as ever make melodic the sunniest home of city, hamlet or vale.
 Not the least picturesque object on board our brigantine was our other pas senger, who, with the dried hides, which he resembled in visage, had been taken on at Tunis. He was Tunisian merchant trading between Tunis and Malta. We all treated him with much consideration be- cause his flowing robes and white burn oose, which took up good deal of room, gave this otherwise measly looking man a uOst poEtdut apptdfduCe, anu, uIcOu- sciously, l presume, because he owned the hides and wheat. Then. too, he was very bland and agreeable, a peculiarity of all Moslems when they are found one mile away from home.
 You will notice this characteristic if you travel much about the Mediterranean. In their own homes, streets and shops there are no more imperiously grave, impertur- bable and sodden humans than Turk, Arab D. 1z. AL faces towards Christian ports and profit, ana their manner and bearing at once change. They seem to have suddenly be come ready -greased with graciousness for all trade and social exigencies. Their striking habiliments no longer comport with their reputed dignity of character The bags on their heads and their ample robes and sandals suggest the harlequin. Neither Yankees nor Jews are a match for them in the subtle shuffiings and diploma cies of trade. In fact they are the ''Oily Gammons" of the Mediterranean. In the long, lsnguorous days and glow ing evenings of our lazy sailing they were { both, the Maltese captain and the Tunis- l ian merchant, more to me than weeks of desultory meetings of their kind in their own lands. They were both intelligent, companionable and both spoke English flu ently. Their true feelings and opinions | S l idential companionship sea voyages uni versally impel. They represented, in he l reality, education and feeling, the implacs- ble and endless religious and race war be- tween the people of the Crescent and the Cross. The forefathers of each had doubt 1 less been slain defending the banners of one or the other. They typifed Christian | Europe pitted against infidel Africa and l Asia.
 
 | blent in a common hatred of the English masters of Malta.
 To reach the sentimental reason of this | I constantly espoused the English cause. ! To the Maltese captain I pointed out his own successful career, and reminded him delicateiy that he would have remained an ingorsnt and impoverished fisherman but for this very English rule which he re- l sented.
 I "Si, si, senor," he would sadly reply;
 "but would not have had the devil of | greed set to work in my heart. am now
 more hungry for great ship than I WAS at first for a little felucca"
 l "But has not the condition of your one
 hundred and fifty thousand fellow coun- | trymen of the islands been vastly i'm provedP
 "My fellow countrymen grieve over the passing away of the old things they loved. | uttle nlRner WRll bO ones phtcn or
 ground, auother room or two added to
 one's home, little more finery in one's
 ears or on one's back, or little more
 coin clinking between the fingers, do not l make peasant folk better or happier. l They cannot become like their masters.
 They learn only to envy them and to be | ashamed of themselves and each other.
 I would give my brigantine and all but
 but Teresa and the ninas (childrenl," the
 captain would conclude with an indescrib-
 ably pathetic and loving gesture of protec-
 tive fondness, which included all the
 romping curly-heads on shipboard, Ito
 live in hut by the shore and see the red
 coats no more foreveri"
 The grief of my Tunisian fellow passen-
 ger was of different sort, though it was
 none the less real and poignant; but it was
 mitigated also by the fanatical belief that
 some time the Mussulmsn faith and folk
 will prevail and rule all lands.
 Christian pillage and despoilation," he would feelingly say, "have been the real motive of every so-called holy crusade and , expedition against us whom you call inf
 dels, but who alone worship the one true
 God. The English have profited greatest by conquest under cover of pious pre- , tence."
 } called his attention to the fact that, , with the exception of Englsnd's quasi oc- cupation of Egypt to secure payment for