their hands to feed their
hungry children at home. The profuse blessings which were showered upon
the "Americano" were cheaply purchased.

Within that pretentious church were idle treasures, the interest upon
which, if the principal were properly disposed of, would feed the hungry
people of Guadalupe for years. "Ah!" says the poet Shelley, "what a
divine religion might be found out, if charity were really the principle
of it, instead of faith!"

Does Christianity, as strikingly represented by gorgeous temples, filled
with hoarded, useless treasures, while surrounded by a hopeless, naked,
starving populace, render any real service to humanity? To the author's
mind, religion of this sort, so far from preventing one crime, affords
pretext for hundreds.

Let us now conduct the reader to more cheerful and attractive scenes,
and describe the picture as presented by the main thoroughfare of the
charming capital of the Knights.

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.--Bonaparate as a Petty
Thief.--There are no Saints on Earth!--Dueling Ground.--
Desecrating Good Friday.

The Strada Reale of Valletta is thoroughly kaleidoscopic in its gay and
fascinating presentment of humanity, forming a strange medley of colors,
while its variety of nationalities recalls Suez and Port Said, where
representatives of the East and West are so confusingly mingled. Here
one sees English ladies and gentlemen clad in fashionable London attire;
soldiers in smart red uniforms; barefooted natives, whose lower garments
are held in place by a gaudy sash tied about the waist; brown-skinned
peddlers, with fancy wares, jostled by a dignified Hindoo, a turbaned
Turk, or a swarthy Spaniard of questionable purpose. There passes also
an occasional Greek in picturesque national costume; a white burnoused
Arab; a native woman in sombre dress, with her face nearly hidden by a
dark hood (a faldetta), which takes the place of a Castilian mantilla.
Here, also, are noisy, half-tipsy blue-jackets, with broad collars, and
straw hats, enjoying shore-leave after their ideas of pleasure. There
are many plethoric, unct