The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-09-05

military focus where force protecting
the route to Egypt and India can be
| concentrated, but also useful entire
pot for receiving the manufactures of
Britain, which the small craft OF the
Mediterranean carry to every point on
! the shores of that great inland sea and
the rivers that flow into it.
One is astonished at the magnificence
of Valetta, with it's splendid public
buildings, fine educational institutions
and works of art, out of all proportion
to its size and relative consequence
| until one remembers its founders, the
| knights Of st. John, and the vast con-
tributions they received from all Catho-
| lie Europe The city is yet as intensely
| Roman Catholic as in the days of the
! fighting monks. Festivals and cere-
monials are continually parading the
streets, and church bells are clamoring
from dawn till dark, and almost from
dark till dawn-not rung, as in ProteS-
tant countries, but pounded upon with
might and main by men in the belfries.
Remarkably little liberation for any
but the Romish faith is shown in Malta,
considering that the British flag floats
everywhere.
You land almost at the Custom House
deor-unless quarantined for something
or other, which is as likely to be the
case here as at Nassau, the English
being so VIGOROUSLY afraid of ''catch-
ing things. Having come direct from
disease breeding Tripoli, we confidently
expected to remain a week or two in
the tolls; but escaped by an unknown
miracle. In former days the Porta di
! Monte, ('' Gate of the Mountain'') a
very narrow and strongly fortified en-
trance at the top of a steep and wind
ing approach, was the only thorough
fare to Valetta, and thence to the other
towns of the island. But the English
/ have changed all that, to the death of
picturesquenesss, but the great advan-
tage of increased trade and population.
| Now q fine, new road, from whose every
turn the most glorious views are I'M
folded leads through the noble Vic
toria Gate into the principal street of
the modern city. This is the Strada
Reale, extending a mile or more along
the whole length of the summit of the
ridge, ending inland at the gate and
guard house of Porta Reale and termi-
mating at the seaward edge by the fort
of st. Elmo. Seven main streets run
parallel with the Strada and eleven cut
across it at right angles, making reg
ular little checker board of the top
of the promontory, from harbor to
harbor. Opposite the Porte Reale, by
which you enter the town, is the draw
bridge, over ditch thousand yards
long, sixty feet deep and thirty wide,
which cuts off communication between
the quarantine and main harbors. The
historic gate of the Knights, Porta San
Giorgio, has been mostly displaced by
distressingly fresh stones of mortar.
Its original Latin inscription remains,
recording the foundation of the city,
and also two quaint statues Of Grand
Commanders L'Isle Adams and La Vii
lette; but the arms of Great Britain
are ostentatiously displayed above the
tiara, crossed keys and arms Pope Plus
", who contributed such large sums
of money toward building the ancient
Notifications.
The churches of Villetta are too big
a subject to tackle on the first day of
ones arrival 1t is wiser to start in
fresh with them some early morning;
and if you complete the round in one
days time, you will do better-or per
haps be more easily atistied-than most
tourists.
Descending Strada Reale, you see a
very beautiful opera house, built with
in the last twenty years, at cost of
four hundred thousand dollars. Directly
opposite this up-to-date evidence of
British enterprise is an object of more
Interest," private residence, built on
the site and out of the ruins of the old
arsenal of the Order of st. John. Not
far below this is the ancient Auberge
de Provence, now the handsome Union
Club. 1t is a fair specimen of those
noble old inns, its banqueting room be-
ing ninety feet long, fifty feet wide and
forty-fve feet high. You may be very
sure that the Englishmen who are
exiled to this Mediterranean rock are
not enduring any hardships. King Ed
Malta-at enormous cost. Besides a
large body of British artillery, the gar.
rison includes the Royal Malta Fenci.