326 [Senate 



other, and of the same color as the soil from under which they were 

 formerly taken. The Maltese have thus been compelled to enclose 

 their small plats of earth, that in the rainy season the little soil which 

 they have may not be washed away, and which would certainly be 

 the case were they not thus protected.* The few trees to be seen 

 just peering above these many walls are the carol, or locust — the only 

 ones which are indigenous to the island, and the leaves of which re- 

 tain their greenness throughout I he year. Wretchedly barren as is 

 the general appearance of Malta, still the ignorant natives call the 

 rock on which they dwell, " II fior del mondo," or the flower of the 

 world. 



Malta is nearly equi- distant from Europe and Africa, and is farther 

 from the main land than any other island in the Mediterranean sea. 

 It is also of all European isles the farthest to the south. Its circum- 

 ference is forty-four miles ; its length seventeen, and its greatest 

 breadth, ten. Midway betv/een Malta and Sicily, soundings are 

 reached with a line of eighty-two fathoms, while on the southern side 

 of the island, even to the coast of Barbary, the depth of water has 

 never been found to exceed five and thirty fathoms by those passing 

 navigators who, out of curiosity alone, have been induced to try the 

 soundings or throw the lead.f 



The question has not been unfrequently asked whether Malta was 

 situated in Europe or Africa. England, by a vote of her Parliament, 

 and for a political purpose, has voted it to be in Europe, while for 

 centuries the Kings of Sicily always termed it one of their African 

 possessions. Geologists have each in their turn, as might favor their 

 views, stated it to have been originally joined with Sicily or Africa. 



* Lt. Adolphus Slade, of the royal navy, has give the following return of the produce 



of Malta, and of the live stock upon it, for the year 1835. Since that period, the return 

 has not increased : 



Wheat, acres 8,532, producing 104,799 bushels. 



Meschiate, " 8,668, " 175,305 « 



Barley, « 5,935, " 113,164 « 



Beans, and other pulse, " 3,137, " 25,557 " 



Cotton, " 14,066, " 63,985 cwts. 



Gardens, " 4,179, " 342,544 cwts. 



Forage, " 6,126, " 172,106 1'dsoflOsm bundles, 



Sessamum, " 404, " 867 bushels. 



Cummin, " 1,083, " 43,647 cwts. 



Pasture, " 7,316, 



Total number of acres in crop, 59,446. Total No. of uncultivated land, 48,138. 



Horses, mules, and asses, in number, 5,022 ; horned cattle, 6,601 ; sheep, 12,505 ; goats, 6,981 . 

 Wheat is sown in November, and reaped in /une. 

 Barley is sown in November, and reapediri May. 

 Cotton is sown in April, and gathered in September and October. 



t Malta (says Hennen,) lies between Sicily and the African coast, in the mouth of that 

 great bay formed by Cape Bon, and Cape Razat, so that it is half encircled, as it were, in 

 the arms of Africa. The shape is an irregular oval, which, without any stretch of the 

 fancy, may be compared to a fish— its southern aspect representing the back, the bay of 

 Marsa Sirocco, the mouth, the various indentations on the northern aspect, the ventral 

 fins, and the deep indentation in the bay of Melleha, with a corresponding indentation at 

 the back of the island, the tail. Comparisons of this kind, it is true, depend on accidental 

 or fancied circumstances, and are often very trivial ; nevertheless, they sometimes serve as 

 an artificial aid to the memory, and may supersede the necessity of constant reference to a 

 map. Dr. Hennen, in his remarks on this island, has penned two erroneous statements. 

 Firstly : by saying that the highest land was at an elevation of 1,200 feet, when it is only 

 one half of that height; and secondly, by asserting that the seed of the "sulla," a beautiful 

 red clover, " flore suaviter rubenti," propagates itself spontaneously for three years, when 

 it is sown every season in June, and mowed in May. 



