670 M*. Ray 
very likely Thing it is, that the Sea being Ihallow above 
this Rock for fome Ages before, it came to be unco- 
vered, there fhould great Beds of Shell-filh, har- 
bour and breed in fo convenient a Place^ and the Wa- 
ter leaving them, their Shells remain and petrify. I 
confefs its hard to imagine, how the Carcaffes of fo 
many Sharks fliould come to be lodged here, as by 
the Multitude of Teeth, that have been for fo many 
Years paft, and are ftill daily digged up, we muft needs 
grant, unlefs by Chance they remain, of the Heads 
of fuch Sharks as were caught and eaten by the Fiiher- 
men, who it is likely, after the Difcovery of this Rock, 
frequented here, and rnade it a Station for Filhing be- 
fore it came to be thoroughly and fully inhabited. 
To this Difficulty, Mr. Stem returns anfwer in thefe 
Particulars, i. That fuch Sharks or Sea-Dogs, have 
each of them fixty Teeth and more, and that all the 
Time they live they breed new Teeth. 2. That the 
Sea agitated by the Winds, is wont to protrude thofe 
Bodies it meets with towards fome one Place, and there 
heap them together. 3. That Sharks fwim in great 
Troops or Shoals, and confequently that the Teeth of 
many of them, may have been left in one Place. 4. 
That in the Malta Earth, befides thefe Sharks Teeth, 
are found alfo fundry Cockle-ffiells, fo that if the 
Number of Teeth ffiould incline a Man to af^ribe their 
Produdlion to the Earth, on the other Hand, the 
Make of the fame Teeth, and the Abundance of them 
in every Animal, and the Earth, like the Bottom of 
the Sea, and other marine Bodies found in the fame 
Place, do favour the contrary Opinion. The Soil not- 
withftanding the Rockinefs and Shallownefs of it, hath 
been by the Ancients celebrated for Fertility. 
Fertilh eSt Melite fierili vicina Cofyr^ 
Infula. Ovid. Fafi. 
But undefervedly, if we underftand it of Corn, for 
there is not much Wheat fown here, and that we faw 
upon the Grounds was but thin and flight. And though 
Barley be their chief Crop, and of which the Country 
People make their Bread, yet have they not near enough 
of that to ferve the ordinary Ufes of the Inhabitants, 
fo that they are forced to fetch moft of their Bread 
Corn out of Sicily. The main Commodities which the 
Ifland yields, wherewith the Inhabitants drive a good 
Trade, and enrich themfelves are, i. Cumin-Seed which 
they call Cumino agroy or ffiarp Curnhy of which are ga- 
ther’d about three thoufand Cantares yearly, one Can- 
tare being equal to ii 5 Pound Weight, ’ 2. 
Anife-Seedy which they call fweet Cuminy of which are 
gathered and tranfmitted into foreign Parts, 1000 Can- 
tares yearly. Thefe Seeds are fold at feven, eight, or 
nine Crowns the Cantarey and we were told that the 
Year before our being there, \^Anno 1663.] were vend- 
ed 7000 of both Sorts. 3. Cotton-Wooly cal- 
led m Latiny Xylone or Goffipiumy of which they fend 
Abroad yearly, 14000 Cantares in the Hufk. They 
have of late begun to plant IndigOy which my Author 
faith agrees with the Soil, and thrives there very well. 
He all) mentions a Sort of Excrefcence, or Mofs, or 
Scurf, which the Rocks about St. Maria el AaliUy and 
other Places on the North-fide of the Ifland, naturally 
put forth, called by the Country People VercelUy which 
they fcrape off with an Iron Inftrument, and having 
walked it with a certain Liquor, and mingled it with 
other Ingredients, (he tells us not what that Liquor or 
thofe Ingredients arej they expofe it to the Sun, and 
ufe it to die W^ool of a Carnation Colour. This kind 
of Mofs called in Wales y Kenkerigy and in Englandy 
Corky or Arcely is gathered and ufed for the fame Pur- 
pofe in JValeSy and the North of England. Malta hath 
been famous of old, for a Breed of little Dogs, called 
Catuli Mceliteiy the Race whereof is quite extinfl, and 
now their Cats are as much efteemed. The Rofes of 
Malta contend for Sweetnefs with thofe of PeJiuMy and 
the Honey with that of Hybla or Hymettus : fo that 
fome fuppofe this Ifland had its Name Melita from 
fignifying Honey, The Air is clear and healthful, and 
the People long lived. Not much Rain falls here, yet 
s ’Travels Book II. 
fufficient to fupply Water to feed their Springs, of 
which there are feveral in the high Grounds, or iinall 
Hills, about the Middle of the Ifland. That thefe 
Springs proceed from Rain Water only, my Author 
doth very well prove, becaufe they are found only at 
the Foot of little Hills, confifting of a certain porous 
Stone^ which the Maltefe call Giorgiolenay or a chalky 
Earth, which eafily imbibes the Rain : And to fpeak 
in general, that all Springs and running Waters owe 
their Rife and Continuance to Rain, feems to me more 
than probable. * 
I. Becaufe I never yet faw any Springing of running 
Waters breaking out, either on the Top of a Hill, or 
fo near the Top, but that there was Earth enough above 
them to feed fuch Springs, confidering the Condition 
of high Mountains, which are almoft conftantly moif- 
tened with Clouds, and on which the Sunbeams have 
but little Force : And yet I have made it part of my 
Bufinefs, in viewing the higheft Hills in England and 
Wales to examine this particular. Nor have I yet ever 
obferved fuch fpringing and running Waters in any 
Plain, unlefs there were Hills fo near, that one might 
reafonably conclude they were fed by them. 2. Many 
Springs quite fail in dry Summers, and generally all 
abate confiderably of their Waters. I am not ignorant 
that fome make a Diftindion between failing Springs, 
and enduring Springs, and would have the former to 
proceed from Rain, and the latter from the Sea, but 
I fee no fufficient Foundation for fuch a Diftindion, and 
do think that both the one and the other are to be at- 
tributed to Rain, the failing and enduring being to 
be referred either to the different Quantity and Thick- 
nefs of Earth, that feeds them, or to the different Qua- 
lity, the one more quickly, the other more flowly, 
tranfmitting the Water, or fome fuch like Accident, 
3. In Clay Grounds into which the Water finks with 
Difficulty, one ffiall feldom find any Springs, but in 
fandy, gravelly, rocky, ftony, or other Grounds, into 
which the Rain can eafily make its Way, one feldom 
fails of them. 4. They who would have Fountains to 
arife from, and be fed by the Sea, have not as yet gi- 
ven a fatisfaffory Account of the Afcent of Water to 
the Tops of Mountains, and its Efflux there. 
For though Water will creep up a Filtre above its 
Level, yet I queftion, whether to fo great an Excefs 
above its Equilibrium with the Air, whereas in Pumps, 
we fee it will not rife above two or three and thirty 
Foot, or if it ffiould, whether it would there run out 
at the Top of the Filtre, we not having as yet heard 
of any Experiment that will Countenance fuch a Thing. 
For the Afcent and Efflux of Sap in Trees, I fufpeft 
may be owing to a higher Principle, than purely Me- 
chanical. As for the Sabulum Fluellemy or Arena bulliem 
of Helmonty I look upon it as an extravagant Conceit 
of his, and yet fome Ground there is to believe, that 
there is a kind of Earth lying up and down in Veins, 
which doth like a Filtre, retain the Water, and carry 
or derive it along, as it lies from Place to Place, till 
it brings it to the Superficies of the Earth, where it runs 
out. In other Places there are fubterraneous Channels, 
like the Veins in Animals, whereinto the Water foak- 
ing into the Earth is gathered, and wherein it runs as 
above Ground, out of fmaller Rivulets into greater 
Streams, and where one of thefe Veins open in the Su- 
perficies of the Earth, there is a Spring greater or 
leffer, according to the Magnitude of the Vein. Nor 
need we wonder that Springs ffiould endure the Length 
of a dry Summer, for in many Sorts of Earth the Wa- 
ter makes its W^ay but flowly, fince we fee that in thofe 
Troughs or Leches, wherein our Laundreffes ufually put 
Affiest and thereupon Water to make a LiAviumy the 
Water will be often many Hours before it gets all thro* 
the Affi, and the Lech ceafes to drop, and in many Chy- 
mical Preparations which are filtred, it is long before the 
Liquor can free itfelf, and wholly drain away from the 
earthy and feculent Part. Some attribute the Original 
of Fountains, to watry Vapours, elevated by fubterraneous 
Fires, or at leaft by that generally diffufed Heat, which 
Miners find in the Earth, when they come to fifty or 
fixty Fathoms under Ground, and condenfed by the 
/ 
