f years subsequent to Ulysses' shipwreck here, another
disaster of this sort, but of far greater import, took place upon the
group.

According to Biblical record, St. Paul, when a prisoner, on his way from
Jerusalem to Rome to plead his case before the Emperor Nero, about sixty
years after the beginning of the Christian era, was wrecked in a rocky
bay of Malta which still bears his name,--_La Baia di San Paolo_. It is
situated seven or eight miles northwest from Valletta, and forms a broad
inlet, the entrance to which is nearly two miles wide, running inland
about three miles. It has some twenty fathoms of water at the entrance,
gradually shoaling towards its upper extremity. Seaward, and near the
mouth of the bay, is a small island. The shore is dominated by the Tower
of St. Paul, a square stone structure erected February 10, 1610. The day
indicated is the supposed anniversary of the wreck. Near the tower is a
chapel, in which are some paintings and frescoes, which depict in a
crude manner the catastrophe which occurred to the Apostle. A small
fishing village exists here to-day, as in the time of the famous wreck.
The creek just below the stone church is still the refuge for
fishing-boats when the weather is stormy.

A dark, threatening, straggling ledge of rocks rises above the surface
of the water some distance from the shore, over which the restless sea
breaks in fleecy clouds of spray. Upon this ledge, after being
tempest-tossed for fourteen days and nights, the bark which bore St.
Paul is supposed to have foundered.

"They ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained
unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the
waves." On Selmoon Island, just referred to, there is a colossal statue
of St. Paul, which was erected by the devout Maltese some fifty years
ago. The popular reverence for the Apostle's name in this region is very
general, bays, churches, streets, and chapels being designated by it,
while in the inland villages may be found wayside shrines, small outdoor
altars, and springs of delicious drinking-water, dedicated to this
revered name. A grand annual festival takes place on February 10,
commemorative of the shipwreck of the Apostle to the Gentiles,--Paul,
the poor tent-maker of Tarsus. The church of San Paolo, Valletta, in the
street of the same name, is the headquarters of this annual
demonstration, which takes the form of processions, illuminations, and
church ce