hplace, bounded by
wide, untamed waters and limitless sky. As is often noticed among
European peasants thus employed, the girls are always supplied, though
never so young, with some knitting or crochet work which keeps their
fingers fully employed. In the populous centres, men may loaf in the
laziest fashion, and remain quite unemployed, unless it be in the
arduous occupation of smoking rank tobacco, but the women seem to be
instinctively busy at all times.

We are reminded in this connection of another article of production for
which Gozo enjoys a certain and favorable reputation, namely, goat's
cheese, a delicate dairy compound, which should be eaten while it is
quite fresh. It is so well appreciated by the people of Valletta that
little, if any, of the article is ever exported, though choice packages
sometimes find their way to the larder of the P. & O. steamers, much to
the satisfaction of traveling gourmands. The goats raised upon this
island are of a breed which, it would appear, is specially adapted to
the local necessities, having singularly well-developed udders, which
reach nearly to the ground, and yielding milk profusely, while
subsisting upon the most common and inexpensive nourishment. Small herds
of these animals are driven by their owners about the streets of the
capital, and milked at the doors of the consumers, just as one witnesses
to-day in Paris and other continental cities. There is no chance for
adulteration when served after this fashion; and we all know that milk
challenges our credulity more seriously than nearly any other article
of domestic use, where water is so very cheap and accessible.

Cows would require too much pasturage to be profitably kept on these
islands, whereas the hardy goats, as we have said, are cheaply fed and
easily managed. Sheep, which are kept here in considerable numbers, are
quite prolific, often having four lambs at a birth, and rarely less than
two. The cows and oxen which are imported are designed almost entirely
for food, though some few are employed for domestic or farming purposes.
Cattle come almost wholly from the Barbary States. These animals fatten
quickly upon the rich clover, which is so cheap and abundant here, thus
making excellent beef. Asses and mules are the chief means in use for
transportation, and as a rule they are very fine ones. We were told that
Malta-bred animals of this class were in special request throughout
southern Italy. The native owner