MALTA AND SICILY. 
39 
pair is separated by ropes, stretched across, 
to prevent our people having any communi¬ 
cation with them. The piece of the brig’s 
cutwater, left in our side, is about six feet 
long and two broad. Everybody here joins 
i 
us in the opinion that we have had a 
most wonderful and providential escape, 
and that had the vessel struck us in any 
other part, we should most certainly have 
foundered, for where we received the blow 
there is a sort of false side, made of thick 
plank, which broke the force of the shock 
considerably. 
Last night it blew a heavy gale from the 
eastward, but the wind became more mode¬ 
rate towards morning, and this has been the 
hottest day we have had since leaving Eng¬ 
land. The thermometer in the cabin now 
stands at seventy degrees, though as much 
air as possible is admitted, and the boiler- 
