ing retained and manufactured here for
the use of the common people. The Maltese are believed to have been
famous for the production of certain lines of textile fabrics, even in
the ancient days of Phoenician sovereignty. History tells us that the
Sicilian praetor, Verres, sent hither for women's garments,--certain fine
articles of female wear, with which to deck the favorites of his court;
and doubtless there was even then produced here something similar to
that which is so favorably known as Maltese lace, and which is still so
profitable a product of this people. Diodorus Siculus said in his day,
"The inhabitants are very rich, inasmuch as they exercise many trades,
and in particular they manufacture cloths remarkable for their softness
and fineness." Lace is also now made by the Greek women, not a little of
which finds its way to the counters of Valletta merchants, where it is
sold to strangers as being of native manufacture.

Here and there small plots of sugar-cane and tobacco may be seen under
fairly successful cultivation, but we suspect that both are of modern
introduction, for certainly they are not indigenous. The appearance of
these small fields of the Indian weed and the saccharine plant, to one
familiar with their growth in Cuba and Louisiana, is like a broad
caricature. Cigars, chewing tobacco, and snuff are produced here, but
almost entirely from stock which has been imported in the raw state for
this purpose. Considerable quantities are exported in the manufactured
form, though the local consumption is large, the English garrison being
liberal purchasers, while tobacco in some form is the usual indulgence
of the longshoremen.

One occasionally sees in Malta a peculiar tree called the carob, with
thick, dark green foliage. It is a species of locust, growing to an
average height of ten feet, but spreading along the earth three times
that size in width. If its extended branches reentered the soil it would
be like the Asiatic banyan-tree. The carob is said to be as long-lived
as the olive-tree, and bears a nourishing bean, which is cooked and
eaten by the common people. It is considered particularly excellent for
fattening domestic animals. Sheep and goats eat the bean in a green
state from the branches of the carob, which has given rise to the saying
that in Malta animals climb the trees to procure their food. This tree
is green all the year round like our spruce and pine, and flourishes in
the most rocky