The Republican journal., 1901-09-19

the Romans called vestis mekten s;s and
wanted for their royal purple. Strange
to say, while the best mules in the
world are bred here and goats are
raised for the milk they give. there are
no cows or other cattle to fatten on the
sulla, all the butchers meat being inn.
ported from Barbary.
Several days may be pleas antly spent
in Coco, especially in spring time, when
the whole island is carpeted with wild
flowers and every house overrun with
blossoming creepers. During the quail
shooting season the peaceful fields are
infested with Englishmen, who seem
never so happy as when engaged in kill
ing. There is an important Jesuit col
lege at Ratabo, and several Franciscan
and Augustine converts and monster
les scattered about the island. Commu-
nication is kept up regularly between
Malta and Coco by steamers which ply
to and fro, twice every day.
Not far from Coco lies the small
island of Comino; and off the latter
the still smaller island of Cominotto.
Other rocky islets stud the sea in all
directions, each sustaining few fisher
men and affording pasturage for goats.
Some of them are named,-such as
Filha, with it's venerable church: Pic
tro Negro, (''Black Rock''), Scoglio
Mario, Salmonetto and Fungus Reef,
ON whose otherwise barren rocks is
found the celebrated fungus meliten-
| sis, once in high repute for supposed
medical virtues. 1t springs up from
crevices in the stone, and grows five or
six inches, of a blood-red color in April
and May, but turning black as summer
advances. COminO is worth visiting
for its stalagmite caverns, believed to
be the Identical grottos of Calypso, who
delayed Ulysses One of the most
beautiful of these cavernS, named Ia
Ninu, runs inland long distance and
has yet only been partially explored.
The main room now visited is of mag
nificent proportions, roof, floor and
sides thickly covered with stalactites
and stalagmites of yellowish cream
color or translucent white, of great
variety, size and beauty. All the is
lands are rich in building material, hav-
ing exhaustless quarries of marble and
alabaster, besides the limestone, which
takes on beautiful lustre About one
fifth of the land is owned by the British
government, the rest being about
equally divided between the Romish
church and private Individuals
No wonder that Londoners flock to
Malta to escape the detestable winter
climate of the mother country. Here
| the thermometer. ranges between fifty
and seventy degrees, frost and snow
being of course unknown and the hot
test midsummer a perfect paradise of
GOODNESS compared with New Y ork and
| Washington. But there are drawbacks,
even here. Ones sense of heat depends
more upon the way of the wind than
the actual temperature. The worst
thing one has to contend with is the
| sirocco, the southeast wind from the
African deserts, which takes up the
salt sea mists on their way and becomes
almost unbearable. Happily, they oc-
eur only in August and September and
| seldom last long, dying down as uneX
pectedly as they came. The heavy
rains of summer are sometimes varied
by diSagreeable hail-StoneS, and north
east gales have the bad habit of
demOliShing stone walls and landing
slips, and making it impossible to cross
the harbor for days together. These
are the winds spoken of in the Bible
Acts XVII, 40 as eurokylon, and are
locally known as grigale.
OF course Maltas ancient capital
must be visited, if only for its histori-
cal associations 1t is seven miles
inland from La Villetta, reached in half
an hour by train, or, better yet, by car
rage. Think of it. Seven hundred
years before Christ was born, this was
a populous city, soon after the first set
Ting of Greek colony on these is
lands. What its earliest name was no.
body knows. Cicero called it Melita in
commencing its cotton manufacture.
The SaracenS after their conquest
named it Medina Alphonso the Mag
unanimous, sometime king of CASTLE,
dubbed it Notable, which title is still
in high favor with the Maltese, though
it is now commonly known as Gotta
Vecchia, "Old City," 1t contains many
splendid churches, stately palaces,
crllmbling Notifications and wide paved
streets, all well-nigh deserted. Though
| still the seat of bishopric, with
cathedral and college, it's population
has dwindled to less than seven thous
and. You go up steep and toilsome
| ascent to get into the walled town, en-
tering through the quaintest of gate
ways, in which is embedded statue of
Juno bearing her cognizance of pea
cock. One of the most beautiful old
Sanctuaries in the world is the cathe-
dral of st. Paul, which had its tradi-