m a new material is
now being made at Gozo, in small quantities. The basis is a peculiar
sort of white silk. The completed fabric of this style is costly, and
comes very near to the texture of a spider's web.

The Gozitans speak a language which differs somewhat from that common
in Malta proper, and which is generally considered to be a pure native
tongue, resembling the Arabic much more closely than does the mixed and
confusing dialect of the larger island. The names of places, persons,
monuments, household utensils, animals, and articles of food are all
Arabic pure and simple. It is curious to realize that this people should
have succeeded in keeping aloof from their conquerors so as not only to
retain their own language in its purity, but also their personal
resemblance to their Mohammedan ancestors. Their complexions are almost
as dark as those of the natives of Barbary. Sometimes one detects a
tendency to protruding lips and flat noses. When the Knights of St. John
took possession of Malta, they found the islanders universally
professing the Roman Catholic religion, but yet entirely governed by
Arab forms and customs. Their constant intercourse with the Barbary
States probably served to confirm them in these inherited proclivities.

At several points on the shore of Gozo where the attempt of an enemy to
land might be possible, the Knights during their early sovereignty
improvised a sort of ordnance called an earth mortar, after the
following process. A hole of the proper dimensions was cut or drilled in
the solid rock, at a certain angle trending towards the shore, designed
to hold a hundred pounds of gunpowder. The explosive was placed at the
bottom, and after a proper fuse was connected therewith, it was covered
with a layer of boards to act as a sort of wadding. Upon the boards a
ton or more of stones and rocks were placed, which completed the charge.
On the approach of an enemy, which would necessarily be by boats, the
fuse could be promptly ignited, and a wild discharge of rocks would at
once take place, sending the missiles high into the air at an angle
which would drop them upon the approaching enemy. These stones, falling
with destructive force upon the boats and upon those who were in them,
would scatter death and confusion in their ranks. We have never heard of
such a device put in practice elsewhere, but should imagine that it
would prove efficacious in a rude way to defend an exposed seacoast. A
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