of ruins, and, indeed, in some respects it is
but little better. The stones of its best edifices are corrugated by the
finger of Time, for the old capital of Malta was founded many centuries
before the advent of Christ upon earth. One writer states that its
origin dates back to 1804 B. C., but upon what authority we know not. It
is a hill city, founded upon a rock, originally proud and pretentious in
its design. We can easily imagine its grandeur when ten times its
present population dwelt within the walls, and it was at the zenith of
its prosperity. To-day, hoary and decrepit with age, it is rich only in
the traditions of its past. Situated near the centre of the island, it
was under various sovereignties and during many ages the honored capital
of the group; but to-day, its dirty, gloomy, silent streets are
comparatively abandoned, and a general somnolence reigns in its
thoroughfares, though it is connected with Valletta by a narrow-gauge
railway, built some few years since,--the only one on the islands. This
is a mere toy railway, so to speak, after leaving which a broad,
well-kept road leads up a gentle ascent to the brown and dingy walls of
the crumbling old city.

As we enter the ancient metropolis by its principal gate, a time-worn,
battered statue of Juno is passed, a figure which dates back to the
Roman period of possession here; and just within the walls the guide
points out the remains of a temple dedicated to Apollo. Everything is
gray and picturesque; dilapidation and neglect are everywhere apparent.
There are probably four or five thousand people still residing within
the city limits, not a tithe of the number which were once to be found
here. It is said that the walls which encompass the town formerly
embraced three or four times the present area, but they were contracted
to the present dimensions during the sovereignty of the Arabs, to make
them more easy of defense when besieged by an invading enemy. Citta
Vecchia flourished in times when might alone made right, and warfare was
the normal condition of the world. Malta was specially exposed to
invasion from various quarters by those who sought its capture, or for
purposes of plunder. Greek, Turkish, and Algerine pirates swarmed from
the Dardanelles to the Straits of Gibraltar, and when satisfactory
prizes were not to be found upon the open sea, inroads were organized
upon the land. It was therefore necessary for the people of Citta
Vecchia to be always