ower.--Attractive Summer Resort.--Pagan Worship. 101

CHAPTER VII.

A Maltese Fishing Hamlet.--Old Fort Chambray.--A Grotto shorn
of Poetic Adornment.--The "Azure Window."--Bay of Scilendi.--
Pirates' Caves.--Prehistoric Bones and Skeletons.--The Vast
Changes of Land and Sea.--Suez Canal.--Geological Matters.--
Native Race of Arabic Descent.--Curious Stone Mortars.--
Primitive Artillery.--Maltese Fungus.--Springtime.--Riches of
the Harvest.--Origin of the Island of Gozo. 115

CHAPTER VIII.

Valletta, Capital of Malta.--A Unique City.--Bright Faces,
Flowers, and Sunshine.--Architecture.--L'Isle Adam and La
Vallette, Grand Masters.--Mount Sceberris.--Stone Dwelling-Houses.
--Streets of the Capital.--A Specialty.--Fancy Goods Merchants.
--The Yacht Sunbeam.--Main Street of the City.--A Grand Opera
House.--A St. Giles in Malta.--Strada Santa Lucia.--Street of
Stairs.--Thoroughfares.--The Military Hospital.--Characteristic
Street Scenes.--Emigration. 129

CHAPTER IX.

Ophthalmia.--Profusion of Flowers.--Inland Villages.--Educational
Matters.--Public Amusements.--Maltese Carnival.--Italian Carnival.
--Under English Rule.--No Direct Taxation.--Code of Laws.--A
Summer Palace.--Governor-General Smyth.--San Antonio Gardens.--
Wages.--Oranges.--Life's Contrasts.--Swarming Beggars.--Social
Problem.--Churches crowded with Riches.--Starving Population.--A
Mexican Experience. 152

CHAPTER X.

Broadway of Valletta.--Panoramic Street View.--A Bogus Nobility.
--Former Grand Palace of the Knights.--Telegraphic Station.--
About Soldier-Priests.--Interior of the Palace.--Ancient
Tapestry.--Old Paintings.--Antique Armory.--An American with a
Fad.--Ancient Battle-Flags.--Armor worn by the Knights.--Days
of the Crusaders.--Bonaparte as a Petty Thief.--There are no
Saints on Earth!--Dueling Ground.--Desecrating Good Friday. 172

CHAPTER XI.

The Famous Church of St. John.--By What Means it was Decorated.
--Grand Mosaic Floor.--Roman Catholic Ceremonials.--Remarkable
Relics.--Chapels of the Languages.--A Devout Artist.--Church
Treasures.--Thieving French Soldiers.--Poetical Justice.--The
Hateful Inquisition.--Churches of Valletta.--A Forlorn Hope.
--Heroic Conduct.--A Maltese Pantheon.--A Rival Dome to St.
Paul's, London.--Some Fine Paintings.