Morning journal and courier., 1893-02-18
wAKEMAN,S WANDERINGs.

odd Incidents of Foreign Travel and Observation - The Beautiful Bay l Where the Apostle Paul was Ship. | wrecked.A Wanderers Loving Com. | panionshfp With Birds-Notes on
 the Feathered Songsters of Malta l and Cuba-Child-Trainin of Seal Fishers - Some Lonesome Light. houses and Their Keepers.
 LONDON, Feb. 6. | Tothe Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: When I first tramped over the heights
 of Nascisr, descending into the valley be- yond, and esw spread before me the Bay
 of St. Paul, sense of awe mingled with glorious elation came with the stiffness
 and beauty of the spot where the heroic apostle was shipwrecked. The bay, which is about two miles long and one in breadth, is situated on the northern coast of Malta, and is hardly distant a brisk two hours walk from Valetta. the chief city of Mal- ta. Countless excursions are made hither by water from Malta's capital, and often the roads are filled with all manner of ve- hicles conveying pious or curious pilgrims. preferred coming in the early morning and alone.
 As stood on Nasciar heights, the sun was just rising above the promontory of
 Ras el Kaurs Its rays fell softly upon
 the sleeping waters. They gave the little
 memorial chapel bright and smiling face.
 They deepened the shadows on the eastern
 shore, where fishermen were lszily spread
 ing their nets. They pierced the copses
 and chimes of the Melliha slopes, disclos-
 ing the huts and cabins of the lowly folk,
 who are nearly as naked and quite ss list
 an" forefsthers among whom St. Paul was
 cast nearly two thousand years ago. They
 mellowed the grsys of ths massive walls
 of the ancient Sslm Jns Palace, which
 crowns the Melliba rocks to the north
 west. And where the little island Of
 Gzsier, like bit of the cliffs tumbled
 into the sea at the north, showed its saf-
 irony surface between the blue of the bay
 and the sapphire of the sea, they flooded
 the great statue of the saint with such
 transcendent shine and seeming that the
 quiokened fancy, for an instant at least,
 swept across the centuries and bssked in the very presence of that far and mighty soul
 A winding road skirts the beautiful bay. An ancient wall half hidden with shrubs and flowers forms boundary with 6 sec- ond pleasant roadwa behind. The fish ermen with their nets, some donkeys graz ing at the edge of the hill slopes. sea gul!s in countless numbers, and H hslf-nsked lad urging along herd of goats with rocks and pebbles, were the only living things In view. Soon kindly-fsced priest joined me. We wandered down the rosd together. He had come with the key of the little chapel which Is set on that point of the shore on which tradition holds Paul's bark was wrecked.
 As we came leisurely along the shore something in the water attracted my com panion's attention. Wo stepped closer to the wimpling edge of the sleeping bsy. The fsce of the priest showed momentsry excitement, and he made the sign of the cross. There, softly pumping against a low lying, shelving rock, fosted water logged piece of a broken spar-wreckage flashing instantly to the fancy a wilder scene of nearly two thousand years ago, when the fearless apostle found & hospita- | ble friend in ''the chief man of the isl | and" It proved 8 startling incident to my guide He recalled the tradition that since St. Paul's shipwreck within this very bay no craft had ever gone to pieces on | this part of the coast; and not even so tri- fling hint of the terrors of the sea had | ever come to the shore as We had just ! seen. Ruminatively and much disturbed he led the way to the chapel.
 It is tiny chapel with an interior of utmost simplicity. But three of its pie lures, whose subjects are the shipwreck, the miracle of the viper, and the healing of Publius' father, are remarkable, while the yearly votive offerings. the good father told me, are very great. The priests sdios and blessings followed me from the place, and as turned my steps towards ancient Citts Vecchia the lest object in St. Paurs bay my eyes rested upon was the ledge of struggling rocks "where the two seas met" !" It was trimmed with a simmer of glisten- ing nipples as tiny, shining and slumber- ous as though but echoing the dreamful songs of sirens inviting to a haven of end legs sleep.
 From my habit of wandering alone, and
 much in the country, in foreign lands, l have come to regard their birds ss my most charming chance acqusintances. 1 can re- call no place where their companionship has seemed so enlivening and precious to ms as in the almost sterile island of Mslta Absolutely without trees, save those transplanted ard nurtured like exotic flowers, Malta would hardly be regarded as the haunt of birds. And yet I have seen or heard here in midwinter nearly every one of the loved and humble sort well known in summer time in northern | climes.
 Along the stony roads I have kept exul- | tant pace with the hopping stonechst and | redstart, and chirped back cheery greet | ing to hocks of chahinohes among the | white and gold of the orsnge-treee Climbing the cliffs, or pothering among the ruins, the melodies of thrust or lin net have flooded the sky from the olive | trees in the valleys below. Crossing the
 walled fields have often come upon mar | shalled hosts of titlarks. Rooks, wrens, | crossbills and fieidfares all welcomed me | In homeland language I 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 bslmy
 evenings came, the stillioidic, murmur-
 ous songs of the blsckbirds thrilled me
 with half-forgotten voices Of evsr-haunt-
 ing youthtide days and ways.
 This recalls the exquisite pleasure I
 have enjoyed from my scquaintsnces
 with the birds, and especially the song-
 birds, of Cuba Their variety and mel
 ody roundabout the grounds of old plan
 tstions are ravishing. It has been writ
 ten that what tropical birds gain in bril-
 liancy of plumage they loose in variety
 and quality of song That is not true
 in Cuba The birds seem numberless.
 Their voices and singing are startIingly
 beyond anything possible for one to come
 upon at any one time in the States.
 On one occasion when riding from
 Trinidad but a short distance into the
 Vslle del Aguscate I saw eighteen dis
 tinct species of birds-the crow, the par
 rot, the indigo bird, the paroquet, tho
 lspwing, the oriole, the fAmingo, th.
 robin, the brown pelican, the pigeon, th,
 mocking- bird, the canary. the golden
 winged woodpecker, the English lady bird, the blue bird. the ibis, the est
 bird and the humming- bird, of whicl there are said to be sixty varieties Il : Cuba. All of .hese birds are to be see,
 or heard about country homes: and be