in San Francisco, and
nothing worse than may be seen any day in St. Giles's, London, or the
Latin Quarter of Paris.

How closely the lines of civilization and of barbarism intersect each
other in all populous centres!

Valletta is well policed; rowdiness does not obtrude itself upon the
stranger. Even the annoying importunities of the beggars in some parts
of the town are not carried beyond the bounds of respectful, though
earnest solicitation.

Along the course of the Strada Reale,--the Broadway of the
capital,--which the French called, after the style of that period, Rue
des Droits de l'Homme, at the corners where the cross-streets intersect
it, graceful little kiosks are erected, painted in fanciful colors,
whose occupants, like those seen upon the Parisian boulevards and the
busy thoroughfares of Rio Janeiro, sell flowers, bonbons, coffee, fruit,
and newspapers. The pretty Maltese girls, with dark, brilliant,
beseeching eyes, who preside in these kiosks, are natural coquettes.
Like the occupants of the tall booths in the flower market of
Marseilles, coquetry is a most available part of their stock in trade. A
winning smile will sell a bouquet more readily than the most eloquent
oral appeal. These flower girls are kept quite busy making up and
disposing of buttonhole bouquets at certain hours of the day, to adorn
strangers and native dudes, from whose presence no locality is quite
exempt.

This main avenue is the highest street in the city, and runs along the
crest of the hill upon which Valletta is situated. The site gives the
place natural facility for drainage, and the sanitary conditions seem to
be excellent. Every one agrees that the capital is a healthy one, all
things considered.

Let us enter, for a moment, one of the dwellings on the main
thoroughfare, and leave behind the hot sunshine, which seems striving to
set everything on fire in the Strada Reale.

Passing in through a lofty vestibule leading to an open court or patio,
as the Spaniards call it, we come upon a maze of flowering shrubs, small
orange-trees in boxes, and other floral charms. A miniature fountain in
the centre of the area is very busy in sustaining at the apex of its
tiny stream a hollow glass ball of vivid hue, an innocent act of aquatic
legerdemain. The air is perfumed with fragrant flowers, and there is a
cooling sensation in the gurgle of the fountain. There rises from this
area a winding stone stairway, conducting to a gallery