DEEP-SEA RESEARCHES. 101 



to fix almost precisely on the spot where the ship grounded : 

 the point on which he is said to have landed has a small chapel 

 to commemorate the event. The interest of the association is 

 somewhat marred by the erection of a new set of villas near the 

 shore, as the locality is thought to be suitable for a bathing- 

 place ! 



Nothing can exceed the aridity of the country, the surface 

 of which is, at this season, almost entirely bare of vegetation, 

 except the cotton-plant, which is extensively cultivated, and is 

 now just ripening. The land is everywhere divided up by stone 

 walls into enclosures of varying size, but scarcely any trees are 

 to be seen anywhere. These will all be sown at the beginning 

 of the rainy season, and in a few weeks everything will be ver- 

 dant. The population of the island is enormous, more than 

 j 20,000, in an area much smaller than that of the Isle of Wight. 

 How they all live is a mystery I have not yet been able to solve, 

 as all the food grown in the island will not keep them three 

 months in the year, and I cannot learn how they find means to 

 purchase the deficit. The lower class are chiefly sailors, and 

 go about all parts of the Mediterranean. The patois they speak 

 is based on Arabic, with a mixture of Italian words, and they 

 can make themselves understood all along the African coast, 

 from Egypt to Tangier, though the people of Kgypt, Tripoli, 

 Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, speak very differently among them 

 selves. They seldom, however, go beyond the Mediterranean, 

 and come back to Malta as their home whenever anything goes 

 wrong with them elsewhere. 



Gibraltar, September 29, 1870. 



We learn here of the fall of Strasburg, the surrender ot Met/., 

 and the investment of Paris. I have had a long talk with Sir 

 ! . Williams this morning, and find him strongly anti-Gallican. 

 He has been a good deal in France during the last two years, 

 and has seen how the people and the Emperor have been egging 

 each other on, in their desire to pick a quarrel with Prussia, with 

 a view to obtain further territorial extension. He says, very 

 truly, Europe stood by without interfering when France accjuired 

 Savoy and Nice ; why should France interfere with the consoli 

 dation of Germany ? Paris complains now of being besieged by 



