MALTA AND SICILY. 
11 
vinced them that they are but men. It is 
certainly a most humiliating malady ! That 
mortal must be high-minded indeed who 
is not brought down by it into the very 
lowest depths of self-abasement and disgust. 
During the day we saw several gannets, or 
Solan geese, and a great number of birds 
which were like the common murre, except 
that their backs appeared to be of a reddish- 
brown colour. I should have been very glad 
to have shot some of them for the sake of 
their skins, had there been any way of pick¬ 
ing them up without stopping the vessel, 
which, of course, was entirely out of the 
question. It was tantalizing to see these 
birds flying within shot without being able to 
obtain a single specimen. The only vessel 
we saw during the day was a large cutter, 
named the “ Scorpion,” which we passed 
within hail. As it was a dead calm she lay 
