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fields have thus been formed and brought under 

 cultivation. Since the English have occupied Malta 

 many more animals have been reared, and land has 

 in consequence been more heavily manured. The 

 porous rock below the surface retains a valuable 

 amount of moisture, and heavy dews somewhat sup- 

 ply the want of rain in summer. The cultivation 

 of cotton is thought to have been first introduced 

 by the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians made Mal- 

 tese cotton cloths famous in distant lands, on ac- 

 count of their whiteness and substance. Under the 

 Greeks agriculture flourished, the weaving of cotton 

 prospered, and the bee-keepers of Malta were re- 

 nowned throughout fcih civilized world. Lucretius 

 Cams and Silius Italicus sing in immortal verse of 

 the fabrics of Malta, Diodorus Siculus speaks of 

 " cloths remarkable for their softness and fineness/' 

 whilst Cicero lashes Verres, in no measured terms 

 for his interference with the local traffic in cotton, 

 Under Arab rule agriculture received a check, but 

 on the arrival of the Norman deliverer Count Rog- 

 er, lauds were re-divided, and the farmer again 

 began to grow wheat and cotton. In 1525, the 

 islands were "unfit to grow corn and other grains, 

 maintaining only a population of 12,000 inhabitants, 

 who lived by exchanging honey, cotton, and the 

 aromatic cummin for the more substantial necessar- 

 ies of life." In 1687 Gozo produced a large 

 amount of cotton, and wheat and barley sufficient for 



