MALTA 



IK HALTING PLACE OF NATIONS 



rificed or the dead exposed to birds of 

 prey, as is done in the Indian Towers of 

 Silence.* 



stone Figures with plaited skirts 



When Hagar Kim was explored vari- 

 ous interesting relics were found. One 

 was a four-sided pillar with a flat, round 

 top, possibly a sacramental altar. Each 

 side is decorated with pittings at the 

 edges, while the centers contain carvings 

 of a many-leafed plant growing out of a 

 vase. This decoration may represent the 

 Tree of Life. 



The most remarkable find consisted of 

 seven stone carved figures of steatopy- 

 gous .females, some draped with plaited 

 skirts and others apparently nude. Pos- 

 sibly they were originally painted en- 

 tirely red, as red ocher paint is still 

 largely visible. 



One figure has a sort of pigtail behind, 

 which might also have served as a handle 

 to permit the image to be carried in a 

 procession. Xone of them had heads, 

 although sockets were found into which 

 detachable heads could be fixed. 



These figures suggest that they were 

 worshiped as the Mother Giver of Life. 

 They are' sometimes described as the 

 Seven Cabiri of the Phoenicians, to which 

 nation all Maltese antiquities and even the 

 race itself were until recently ascribed. 

 Subsequent discoveries have proved be- 

 yond doubt, however, that these images 

 were of neolithic age. 



THE MALTESE LANGUAGE HAS NO WORD 

 FOR "FATHER" 



In connection with the worship of 

 Matriarchy, it is curious to note that the 

 Maltese language contains no word for 

 "father" which conveys the idea of a 

 head of a family. Their word "missier" 

 literally means "instrument of genera- 

 tion" and suggests the time when descent 

 was reckoned maternally rather than pa- 

 ternally. 



About half-way between Hagar Kim 

 and the shore is the neolithic ruin of 

 Mnaidra. This resembles in general plan 

 Hagar Kim, but is rather more ornate 



* See "The Parsees and the Towers of 

 Silence at Bombay," by William Thomas Fee, 

 in the National Geographic Magazine, De- 

 cember, 1905. 



and better preserved. Many of the door- 

 ways and altar stones are decorated with 

 pittings or are finely polished. This 

 doubtless accounts for its local name of 

 the "King's Palace," Hagar Kim being 

 called the "High Priest's Palace." 



A special feature of Mnaidra is the 

 double-table altars. These are flat rubbed 

 stones a yard or two square, supported 

 under the center by a stone pillar. The 

 largest is called the "King's Bed," cer- 

 tainly a couch stony enough to insure an 

 uneasy royal head. 



Both at Hagar Kim and Mnaidra it is 

 evident that dolmens were regarded as 

 objects of special veneration. They may 

 have represented the gates from this 

 world to the next, through which all must 

 pass, or they may have typified the abodes 

 of the departed spirits. 



A dolmen grave at Borg en Nadur has 

 the lintel or upper cross-stone pierced in 

 the center by a round hole, used perhaps 

 in a sacrificial ceremony, so that the blood 

 of the victim might fall on the occupant 

 of the grave. Dolmen graves with a hole 

 in the side wall-stone are much more 

 common. 



Near Mnaidra is a cave in which the 

 remains of a peculiar kind of elephant 

 were found, to which the name Elephans 

 Muaidrcnsis was given. 



WELL-DIGGERS FIND A TEMPLE 



The Corradino neolithic station stands 

 on a broad plateau overlooking the Grand 

 Harbor. The ruins are very extensive, 

 consisting of several temples and a vil- 

 lage. The ruins of the latter are dis- 

 tinguishable by being square instead of 

 oval in shape, like the temples. 



On the southern boundary of Corra- 

 dino is the village of Casal Paula, which 

 overlooks the broad, flat plain of the 

 Marsa. In 1902 a well was being bored 

 for some newly erected houses, when 

 suddenly the foundations gave way and 

 the whole disappeared into a dark pit. 

 Investigation resulted in the discovery of 

 an underground habitation which is with- 

 out equal in the world. 



This hypogeum, or subterranean struc- 

 ture, now known as Hal Saflieni, consists 

 of three series of chambers excavated 

 out of the solid rock, on three levels. It 

 stood in the midst of a neolithic village. 



