MALTA AND SICILY. 
77 
ing-doors, and windows reaching nearly to 
the ceiling, with Venetian blinds outside. 
Women-servants are not so much em¬ 
ployed here as in England, but in my 
opinion their places are very well supplied 
by men, who perform their duties quite as 
well as women, and I would say, if I dared, 
more quietly and speedily. 
There are a great number of Catholic 
churches in Valetta, but few of them have 
any beauty in their exteriors. From these 
churches there is kept up an almost inces¬ 
sant ringing of bells, which at first was very 
annoying, but we are now become more 
accustomed to it. The bells are hung in 
open belfries, and are rung by a man or boy, 
standing under them, with a rope fastened 
to the clapper, which he swings backward 
and forward, the bell remaining stationary; 
but we never hear a musical peal as in 
