MALTA AND SICILV. 
235 
only about a dozen fish, which were not un¬ 
like our mackerel. When the bag of the net 
approached the shore, two of the men 
stripped themselves and swam into the sea, 
to prevent the fish from escaping over the 
sides. One of these men had several amulets 
or charms, like those mentioned in a former 
letter, suspended round his neck, and as they 
are considered a protection against dangers 
of all kinds, I was surprised to observe that 
he took them off and left them with his 
clothes on the beach. But it appeared that 
he had more confidence in his own ex¬ 
traordinary powers of swimming than in his 
amulets. 
Finding the beach very unproductive in 
shells, I now proceeded to search among the 
sand-hills for insects, knowing that in England 
such situations generally abound with them, 
especially with those of the order coleoptera. 
