over at this early
period of the year is particularly noticeable, giving promise of a
wealth of harvests calculated to gladden the husbandman's heart, while
taxing the industry of the bees from dawn to twilight. We know of but
few vegetable products which so richly repay the cultivators as this
Maltese clover. Surely writers are not authorized to speak of this group
of islands in mid-sea, with all these facts before them, as consisting
mainly of a series of bare, weather-beaten rocks. Why mock and mislead
us by such misrepresentations? In the wildest and least cultivated
districts of Gozo, rosemary and thyme may be seen, showing that regal
Nature has her poetic moods even under adverse circumstances, and that
she often indulges her fancy in lonely places without regard to the cold
appreciation of heedless human eyes, sometimes in her charming caprice
outdoing more labored and artistic methods. "You will find something far
greater in the woods than you will find in books," says St. Bernard.

Regarding the origin of Gozo, Comino, and Malta, we have seen that
authorities differ materially. As if still more completely to mystify us
upon the subject, Borzesi, a Maltese writer of considerable ability, has
seriously attempted to prove that the group is formed of the summits of
mountains belonging to the lost land of Atalantis. Signor Grougnet, of
Valletta, had formerly in his possession a stone which was dug up from
among some ruins near the old capital of Citta Vecchia, in 1826, on
which was an inscription describing Atalantis, and another to the effect
that the Consul Tiberius Sempronius, in the year of Rome 536, ordered
the preservation of this stone. This is either an adroitly conceived
canard, or it is a suggestion worthy the attention of students of
antiquity.

Bidding farewell for a time to Gozo, let us now recross the Straits of
Freghi to Malta proper, there to enjoy the unequaled attractions and
delights of beautiful Valletta.

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.--Chara