AND LOWER EGYPT. 57 



with extreme attention. Tt is well known that 

 the united forces of the Ottoman empire failed in 

 their attack of this impregnable rampart. It was 

 a conquest, or rather a new prodigy, reserved for 

 French valour. 



The ridge of the houses, as in Italy and all over 

 the East, is a flat terrace. The city Valette, or 

 New-town, is well built ; the stones employed in 

 the construction of their edifices, and in the pave- 

 ment of the principal streets, are of a soft con- 

 sistency when they come from the quarry : they 

 harden by exposure to the air; but are, at the 

 same time, so extremely white as to injure the eyes, 

 especially when they reflect the rays of a burning 

 sun. The palace of the grand master was of vast 

 magnitude, and of a beautiful simplicity both 

 within and without. 



The order of Malta had a public library, the 

 augmentation of which was abundantly rapid ; the 

 private libraries of the commanders were there de- 

 posited after their death ; the duplicate copies were 

 sold, and the produce served to purchase the books 

 which they had not. Several objects of natural 

 history were exhibited in this library, among which 

 was distinguished a petrified bone of great size ; it 

 passed, at Malta, for a piece of petrified wood, but 

 the bony texture was easily discernible, and I con- 

 vinced 



