68 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



mere ordinary garden, though it was decorated 

 with a great many flowers, among others with 

 magnificent double poppies*, and beautiful sca- 

 biust s-j~. The alleys, covered with fragments of 

 white stones, were uneasy to the feet, and tiresome 

 to the sight. The grand master, Rohan, gave us 

 an entertainment at this country palace. In the 

 city, no one could sit down to eat with that petty 

 sovereign, and at St. Antonio it was not the right 

 of every one to have a place at his table. Messrs. 

 Durfort and Tott, as having the rank of colonels, 

 were alone admitted to it, and even they were 

 separated from the grand-master by the whole 

 length of a great table. The other officers sat at 

 a different board, the honours of which were done 

 by the gentlemen of the palace, and, of a truth, 

 no one of us regretted the oppressive and cold 

 etiquette of the first table. After dinner, Rohan 

 laid aside all ceremony ; he mingled with his 

 company, and chose to be of all our parties. 



The territory of Malta is likewise far from equal 

 to the support of its inhabitants. Most part of 

 the corns, of the cattle, in a word, every article of 

 consumption, the very soil, as we have just now 

 seen, are imported from Sicily, which is literally 

 the granary and the market of the Maltese. The 

 embarkations destined to the purchase of provi- 



* Pajiaver rhceas. Lin. f Scabiosa atro-purpurea. Lin. 



sionS; 



