ses alone is very large; the prevailing
fertility is to be attributed nearly as much to ample moisture as to the
free use of domestic refuse for enrichment of the soil. The average
annual rainfall is a little less than twenty-three inches, which would
be entirely insufficient to sustain vegetation without artificial
irrigation.

It was thought that the dry, cracked soil of the pampas of Australia was
nearer to positive sterility than that of any known region; but when
water was flowed liberally over experimental portions, and the seed, was
planted without the application of any other fertilizer, in due time
"the soil laughed with a harvest." In China and Japan, the patient
husbandmen water their gardens, however extensive they may be, entirely
by hand, except the rice-fields, which, being planted in low and marshy
soil, are artificially flooded twice or three times each season. These
Asiatics have found that serving each individual plant in just
proportions produces grand results at harvest time.

Before describing Valletta, the unique and fascinating capital of Malta,
in detail, we will ask the reader to accompany us to the adjacent island
of Gozo. In coming from the west it is seen before Malta proper, and in
point of historic remains is quite as interesting, while in natural
verdure it far excels the larger and more populous island, from which it
was doubtless detached by some great convulsion of nature in prehistoric
times.

To reach Gozo from Valletta, a boat taken at Quarantine Harbor will land
the visitor at the shallow bay of Migiarro, on the southeastern
extremity of the island, amid a fleet of fishing-boats, hauled high and
dry upon the shelving strand. The boats are called _speronari_, and are
as buoyant and fleet as a sea-bird flying before the wind. They are
pointed at both ends, the prow terminating at a height of two feet above
the level of the thwarts. They have retained their peculiar shape for
centuries. It is always interesting to pause here for a few moments, to
take note of the abundance and excellence of the fish brought in by the
boatmen just arrived from their early morning excursion offshore. The
variety and redundancy of aquatic life in this latitude is something
marvelous.

CHAPTER VI.

Homer's Fabled Siren.--Singular Topographical Formation in
Gozo.--Beautiful Island Groves.--Fertile Grain-Fields.--
Flowering Hedges.--Aromatic Honey.--Herds of Goats.--A
Fa