[ 241 ] 



XLIII. On the late Plague at Malta. By Joseph Skinn£R, 

 Esq. late Surgeon to Prisoners ofJFar at Malta. 



JLn what Vv'av this terrible scourge was introduced into the island 

 of Malta, is not to the present purpose ; but it is to be trusted 

 that for the future, whenever infection shall be known to prevail 

 on shipboard, and to \\o\cx about the vicinity of any of the Bri- 

 tish settlements, there will be but one sentiment relative to the 

 precautionary measures to be adopted. At the time of this vi- 

 sitation Malta was substantially a British colony, although not 

 declared so: the Maltese, however, were not brought into that 

 state which could prevent the spreading of the contagion at the 

 onset. They are a people who, being strongly attached to their 

 native soil, seldom migrate to make observations elsewhere. 

 The history of the plague, as referring to their own island, was 

 too remote to serve them as a guide ; and it was not until many 

 of them had been swept away, that they could be made to be- 

 lieve in the real existence of the calamity, which they mistook for 

 an ordinary disease. In the interim, bigotry in all the ranks was 

 combined with the cupidity natural to the lower class of the 

 Maltese. The churches were as diligently attended as if no mis- 

 chief could result from the contact of many individuals; the 

 host was paraded with numerous followers ; and visits paid to 

 the infected, without scruple and without hesitation, by their 

 relatives and friends. In this way, and by the concealment of 

 pestilential effects, the disease not only spread through the city 

 of Valletta, but was introduced into several of the casals or vil- 

 lages, before the strong hand of power could stay its progress. 



Wlien these facts are considered, it will not appear surprising 

 that this dreadful scourge, which for several months devastated 

 the island of Malta, and was subsequently introduced into Gozo, 

 was principally confined to the indigenous inhabitants of those 

 islands. Few of the Turks or Greeks resident at Valletta, the 

 capital, were attacked, if we except those of the lower class of 

 Greeks, who, in common with the felons, were engaged in the 

 hazard()u> employments which the exigencies of the occasion re- 

 qiiired. Other foreigners were equally exempt ; and the British 

 peculiarly so. It was indeed a matter of fearful wonder to tlie 

 Maltese, who regard all protestants as heretics*, and therefore 



* At X'allctta, some years ai;o, during tlip funeral procession of the latG 

 Admiral Sir A.J. Ball, the civil commissioner, whose excellent quaiitifs 

 liad endeawd him to every class of the inhahitants; a Alaltese was heard 

 to say to anotlier, " What a pity that so p)od a man should ^o to hell!" 

 During his fatal illness thf Hishop of Malta paid Sir Alexander several 

 visits, the drift of which may he easilv conceivcfl. To have gained over 

 «ucii a proselyte would have hcen a great triumph. 



Vol. 45. No. 203. April 1815. Q tlie 



