MALTA. 245 
walls; and were it not for the cool colouring of the Malta stone, 
the heat of this place must be frightful in summer. The rock is 
all a pale yellow magnesian limestone, so soft that it may be 
easily cut with a knife; but it hardens on exposure to the air and 
makes an excellent and durable masonry. The water is deep in 
the harbour, up to the very batteries and wharfs, intensely blue 
and swarming with boats of all sizes, and ships of all nations. 
Two English line-of-battle ships, three war-steamers, together with 
some frigates and smaller craft, were all of our fleet then lying at 
Malta, the greater part of it being elsewhere in the Mediterranean. 
I landed in the forenoon and ascended into the town of Valetta, 
through archways and all kinds of mysterious fortifications 
abundantly garnished with images of the Virgin, stuck in niches 
of the walls. The streets are steep, and there are many flights of 
stairs, crowded with people buying and selling, in stalls and little 
shops, all open to view, and tenanted by some of the most indus- 
trious people I ever saw. The town looks like a fair, or rather a 
hive ; everybody has something to do and goes about it in good 
humour ; there is no jostling or quarrelling. The streets, which 
run along the crest of the hill whereon Valetta stands, are con- 
tinued from one end to the other, and intersected at right angles 
by others, which strike across from the waters of one bay to that 
of the contiguous one. All are very narrow, but clean and strik- 
ingly picturesque; they are straight, and the majority of them 
are terminated by the water as a vista, with its intense and yet 
brilliant hue. They form, so to speak, a sort of square telescope, 
with busy crowds along the bottom, handsome yellow carved stone 
balconies, projecting on either side, a bright azure sky above, and 
the sea like a perfect sapphire-stone at the far extremity. Roberts’ 
and Daniell’s fine water-colour pictures of scenes in the East have 
à reminding similarity to Malta, especially in the buildings and 
the blue sky ; but I hardly think that anywhere else is there so 
happy a combination as is produced by the hue of the Malta stone, 
the lovely Mediterranean, and the stirring bustle of the streets. As 
à balance to these recommendations, it must be owned that the 
Place is very hot and dusty in summer, and in rainy weather 
VOL VH. — 2p 
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