MALTA AND SICILY. 
275 
another visit, though we had some difficulty 
in persuading our surly captain to lower his 
boat for us. We now walked to the other 
side of the promontory, on which the town is 
situated, where we found a line, wide, pebbly 
beach, some miles in extent. Here we fell 
in with a sportsman, who very civilly requested 
our acceptance of a few small birds he had 
killed that morning. Soon afterwards we 
saw a monk approaching us, striding along 
the beach at the rate of five or six miles an 
hour, and throwing his arms about in a most 
violent manner. He saluted us with much 
civility, and when Captain R-alluded to 
the extraordinary display we had just wit¬ 
nessed, he said that he was rehearsing a ser¬ 
mon which he intended to preach the next 
morning. 
Near the beach we observed a small spe¬ 
cies of aloe, with a yellow flower. We found 
