246 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



by the practice of towing a boat under sail, of some of the incidents 

 narrated in the Voyage of St. Paul. 



The painted row-galleys of Gozo, offer a decided approximation to 

 the antique Mediterranean model : and the inhabitants of this neigh- 

 bouring island, which from being without harbours is very little 

 visited, have retained more of their ancient usages than the Maltese. 

 I sometimes witnessed the transhipment of Alexandria wheat, for dis- 

 tribution to surrounding ports ; Egypt being, as in the time of the 

 Romans, the granary of this portion of the Mediterranean. 



The antiquities of Malta, although consisting principally of frag- 

 ments, are extremely interesting ; especially, on account of the inti- 

 mate relations between this island and ancient Carthage. The variety 

 is unusual ; including Phoenician or it may be Carthaginian, early 

 Greek and Etruscan, Egyptian, Roman, Saracenic or Muslim-Ara- 

 bic ; and another class already alluded to, which may receive the 

 provisional name of Mauritanian. 



On the 8th of December, I left Malta in the French steamboat; and 

 on the second day after, we were close in with the rugged mountain- 

 ous land of Greece. Although forewarned by an ancient writer, that 

 " Greece was always the child of poverty," I did not anticipate the 

 aspect of sterility. Among other undulations of surface offered to our 

 view, was a valley, remarkable only for having existed in the reminis- 

 cences of three thousand years ; a young Turk, who happened to be 

 looking in that direction, pronounced its name, " Sparda." 



Astonishment may well be excited, that such a district should have 

 brought Xerxes out of the depths of Asia. Even in modern times, 

 this further peninsula is said " to have been never actually conquered ; 

 the Turks contenting themselves with requiring only some trifling 

 tribute." 



On the 11th, we arrived at Syra; where, with other passengers, I 

 was immediately transferred to the Alexandria steamboat. I counted 

 at Syra, no less than eleven vessels in the course of building; for the 

 Greeks, as in former ages, still hold the navigation of the eastern 

 division of the Mediterranean; their vessels being comparatively rare 

 to the westward of Malta. The Greek costume, is in many respects 

 half oriental, like the position of the country ; and indeed the people 

 themselves, according to Eastern classification, are hardly ranked 

 among Franks or Europeans. 



