330 { Senate 



that kind which is least adapted for building, contains the laro-est 

 proportions of alumina, or clay, and is hence probably so liable to 

 decompose, and to become, as it were, corroded by the action of the 

 atmosphere. The soil, like the rock, is almost entirely calcareous. A 

 specimen taken from a barley field, at Citta Vecchia, consisted of 

 91.0 Carbonate of lime ; 



7.0 Alumina, with a little silicious sand, and red oxide of iron • 



1.5 Vegetable matter ; 



0.5 Hygronetric matter. 

 This conformation of soil harmonizes well with the fact, that very 

 little, if any of it, is imported, and that it is generally made on the 

 island, by reducing the rock to powder; which process, indeed, is 

 merely in imitation of nature, which slowly forms all soils by the 

 disintegration of the solid rock. Considering the very small pro- 

 portion of vegetable matter present in the soil, and the little humidi- 

 ty it contains, or is capable of containing, it is wonderfully fertile. 

 Probably this happy fertility depends on two circumstances chiefly, — 

 the great proportion of carbonate of lime, in the best state of me- 

 chanical division in the soil, and the porous nature of the rocky sub- 

 stratum, which absorbs the rain like a sponge, and permits, during the 

 dry season, of the slow exhalation of moisture." 



Having said thus much of the position of Malta, of the formation 

 and ingredients of its soil, and different products, we shall now turn 

 our attention to the condition of the Maltese people, and to the poli- 

 cy by which they are governed. 



To support one hundred and twenty thousand persons on two 

 rocks* having only 59,446 acres of cultivated ground, — a large pro- 

 portion of which is owned by the Queen, and the Church, — is impos- 

 sible, and the sooner the English are persuaded of this fact, the more 

 fortunate it will be for them, and their wretched subjects. Of the 

 light dusty soil which has been reclaimed from its rocky bed, by far 

 too much is wasted in the grow^th of cotton. We have said wasted, 

 for though by its sale it may give a large revenue to the British 

 Crown, and add a few more pounds to the treasuries of the Church, 

 yet it does not benefit the poor, neither clothe them ; as, owing to 

 the price which it bring3, it comes beyond their reach, and is sold to 

 the merchants for export. Where cotton is now cultivated, there 

 should be two yearly crops of vegetables, fruit, and wheat, — products 

 which, in a larger or smaller proportion, can be bought for a penny, 

 and sustain nature. With the small fields of needy proprietors, the 

 government cannot interfere ; our remarks are made with reference 

 to the Crown lands, and possessions of the Church. This is one of 

 the measures which should be tried for the relief of the people ; at 

 least its trial promises well, and should it fail, can do no harm. The 

 soil will not be injured, and cotton may be planted again, though the 

 royal and priestly owners of the terreni, shall be the only persons to 



*We here refer, in connection with Malta, to tiie neighboring island of Gozo, — known 

 to the ancient Romans as Gaulum, and by the Greeks as Gaulos. "Its circumference is 

 twenty-four Italian miles, — its length eleven,— and breadth six and three-quai'ters.'" — 

 Badgek. 



