MALTA AND SICILY. 
109 
rose up rather suddenly to look for the 
Italian word for it in the dictionary, when 
poor Michele retreated to the door in a great 
fright, thinking, no doubt, that I was literally 
going to beat my meaning into his head. 
We have also a very amusing old woman 
living in the house, a native of the island of 
Minorca. Madalena’s language is a strange 
compound of Italian, Maltese, and English, 
and, I believe, with an occasional mixture of 
her native tongue. In short, she is in the 
awkward situation of one who has nearly 
forgotten her own language, and has not half 
learned any other. She is a very merry, 
kind-hearted old woman, always laughing and 
chatting to us, and she pretends to admire 
everything we bring home. 
We have a large garden around the house, 
but it is not laid out with much taste. Its 
greatest ornament is the common scarlet 
