The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-14

1 Several days may be pleasantly spen
 in Gozo, especially in sprinE-time, Whe.
 the whole island is carpetcd with wilt
 flowers and every house 0verrun Wltf
 blossoming creepers. During the quail
 shooting season the peaceful fields are
 infested with Englishme:l who seen
 never so happy as when engaged l!
 killing. There is an important Jesul1
 college at Rabato, and several Fran
 ciscan and Augustine convents anc
 monasteries scattered about the island
 Communication is kept up regularly be-
 tween Malta and Gozo by steamers
 which ply to and fro, twice every day.
 Not far from Gozo lies the small is- land of Comino; and off the latter, the
 still smaller island of Comlnotto. Other
 rocky islets stud the sea in all direc-
 tions, each sustaining a few fishermen
 and affording pasturage for goats
 Some of them are named-such al l'il-
 fla, with its venerable church; Pictro
 negro, (Black Rock) Scoglio, Mario,
 Salmonetto and Fungus Reef, on whose
 otherwise barren rocks is found the
 celebrated Fungus melitensis once in
 high repute for supposed medicinal Jlr-
 tues It springs up from creViccs Tn
 the stone, and grows five or six inches,
 of blood-red color in April and May,
 but turning black as summer advances. Comino is worth visiting for its stalag-
 mite caverns, believed to be the identi-
 cal grottos of Calypso, who delayed Ulysses One of the most beautiful of
 these caverns named TaNinu, runs in
 land long distance and has yet been ;oh J,n Q 1iv,
 now visited is of magnificent propor-
 tions roof, floor and sides thickly cov- cred with stalactites and stalagmltes,
 of yellow cream color or translucent
 white, of great variety, size and beau- ty. All the islands are rich in building material, having exhaustless quarrles of marble and alabaster, besides the limestone, which takes on beautiful lustre. About one-ffth of the land IS owned by the British government, the rest being about equally divided be- tween the Romish church and private individuals.
 No wonder that Londoners flock to Malta to escape the detestible winter climate of the mother country. Here the thermometer ranges between ntty and seventy degrees, frost and snow being of course unknown and the not test midsummer a perfect paradise Of coolness compared with New York and Washington. But there are dra,wbacks 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, or southeast wind from the African deserts, which take up the salt sea mists on their way and become al most unbearable. Happily, they occur only in August and September and sell dom last long, dying down as unex- pectedly as they came. The heavy rains of winter are sometimes varied by disagreeable hal-stones, and north east gales have the bad habit of demol- ishing 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 14) as eurokylon and are locally known as grigale.
 Of course Malta's ancient capital must l, be visited, if only for it's historical as- sociations. It is seven miles inland from La villetta reached in half an
 
 hour by train, or, better yet, by car riage. Think of it? Seven hundred years before Christ was born, this was a populous city. soon after the first settling of q. Greek colony in these is- lands. What its earliest name was, nobody knows. Cicero called it Melita in commenting its cotton manufacture. | The Saracens after their conquest nam ad it Medina. Alphonso the Magnani- | nous, sometime king of Castle, dubbed | 1t Notabile. which title is still in high | favor With the Maltese. though it is | now commonly known as Cetta Vecchia, | old City" It contains many splendid | churches, stately palaces, crumbling | rortifications and wide paved streets III well nigh deserted Though still the | seat of bishoprc with a cathedral md college. its population has dwindled [ 70 less than seven thousand. You go up | l steep and toilsome ascent to get into he walled city, entering through the ,uaintest of gateways. in which is em- 1edded a statue of Juno bearing her ,ognisance of a peacock. One of the most beautiful old sanctuaries in the world is the cathedral of St. Paul, vbich had its traditional beginning A. ) 5S, during the three months visit iere of the Apostle whose name it ,ears Near it are the catacombs of he Knights of Jerusalem, with pas ages and chambers larger than those t Rome, but without mural decora- ions. Other notable buildings are the Palace, now a military ana atarium; the old dungeons of the nquisition and dozens of old-time pal ces. From the gardens of one of them, alled San Antonio, supply of oranges vas sent every year to Queen Victoria S long as she lived. The house has vice been the winter residence of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburg, and in [ their daughter the Princess Victoria felita, was born, twenty-five years go next November. Another show lace near Cetta Vecchia Is the grotto n which St, Paul is said to have lived ome time. Indeed, if the Apostle in abited all the caves to which legends f his residence hereabouts are attrib- ted, he must have spent most of his atural life in these islands. In the enter of this cavern stands a ghostly | tatue of the Saint, and the one white larble foot which shows beneath the arven drapery has been worn shape sss by the lips of passing generations. We have not described half the points of interest" in and around [alta To visit all the forts would oc- lpy a month-to say nothing of hurches, monasteries, palaces old and