M A ] 
there was ufually exported every year td the value of 
a,750,000 French livres. This, with the export of their 
manufactured goods, joined to their home confumption, 
made the produce of the cotton in Malta and Goza amount 
to more than 5,000,000 French livres (125,000). llerling.) 
Tive other articles of commerce were but trilling ; and 
confided principally in allies of kali magnum, which the 
Maltefe fent to Venice; lichen, which they fold in Sicily; 
oranges, fent to all parts of the world ; orange-flower 
water, put into copper bottles tinned, and called Jlagnone-, 
lemons; preferved apricots, diltinguilhed by the name of 
Alexandrini; excellent pomegranates; honey, which al¬ 
ways remains in a liquid ftate ; feeds of different kinds ; 
fuch as cabbage, brocoli, melon, cumin, and anife, feed ; 
kali of an excellent quality; and Maltefe done, which was 
a great article of commerce in Sicily, the Levant, and par¬ 
ticularly at Smyrna. They likewife exported fome pieces 
of fillagree, a fort of work in which the Maltefe greatly 
excelled; alfo clocks, and boilers, which were as good and 
as lightly made as thofe from the Levant. If the profit 
arifing from the fale of fo many different articles ap¬ 
pears very great, it mud be confidered on the other hand, 
that the Maltefe were under the neceflity of importing 
corn, cloth, wood, wine, oil, brandy, See. The natural 
productions of the ifland were, indeed, but very trifling 
in comparifon with what they were forced to buy from 
other countries; and their profit from the above-men¬ 
tioned articles would have been even infufficient to pur- 
chafe grain for home-confumption. It is a certain faff, 
that the corn grown in Malta wonld not furnifh more than 
one third of the inhabitants with with bread ; we will 
therefore fuppofe that the iflands of Malta and Goza con¬ 
tained a hundred thoufand perfons, and in that cafe it 
plainly appears that fixty-fix thoufand would have been 
a'ofolutely deftitute of food, had it not been for the com 
imported from Sicily and other places. 
“ The effeCts of that ruinous infirmity in our foreign 
policy, which has hitherto (fays Mr. Galt) led us to make 
conquefts in war for the exprefs purpofe of afterwards 
refigning them, is very viflble in the ftate of the trade of 
this ifland. In the courfe of my voyages and travels, I 
found that all the countries to which theBritifh have ftill 
accefs, were fupplied with colonial produce by the Ame¬ 
ricans. With Sicily and Turkey the Americans were in 
the praCfice of holding direCt intercourfe, although nei¬ 
ther the Sicilian nor Ottoman governments are on any 
terms of conefpondence with that of the United States. 
I found, alfo, that the coffee and fugar, in the market of 
Malta, was brought there by Americans, direCt from Cuba 
and St. Domingo. It feeined, that, without any diplo¬ 
matic addrefs exerted in thefe parts, the citizens of the 
United States enjoyed, within the Mediterranean, as great 
privileges, and aS ample protection, as the Britifh, with 
all their fleets, armies, and plenipotentiaries. In Sicily, 
notwithftanding the ftate of relation in which we ftand 
with that kingdom, the Americans were juft as much re- 
fpeCted as we were. In Turkey they participated in all 
the privileges to which we could lay any claim ; and, in 
Malta, our own ifland, they fhared, to the utmoft, every 
immunity which the Britifh pofTeffed. It will be difficult 
to difeover, either in the conduct of the United States to¬ 
wards us, or in that regard which we owe to our own in- 
terefts, fatisfaclory reafons for permitting them to enjoy 
fuch advantages, advantages enjoyed at the expenfe of 
our Weft-Indian planters and merchants. 
“ We ought, as the mafters of Malta, to confider, pro- 
fpeftively, the (fate of our relations with Turkey. It is 
fcarcely to be doubted, that, fooner or later, France, one 
way or another, will contrive to expel from the Ottoman 
dominions the few inconliderable remnants that ftill exift 
of our Levant faftories. We fhould therefore take fome de- 
cilive way of fixing infular eftablifhments in the Archipe¬ 
lago ; eftablifhments, which our navy enables us effectually 
protect, and which, even in the event of another war 
Vol. XIV. No. 90 S , 
" T A, 
with Turkey, might be rendered perfectly fecure, if judi- 
cioufly feleCIed. It is only by extending the ramifications 
of our infular policy from Malta, that we (hall be able to 
maintain our fuperiority in the Mediterranean.” 
M. Boifgelin’s defeription of the inhabitants of Malta, 
from his long refidence in the ifland, may be fuppofed to 
be tolerably faithful: “Their countenances announce 
an African origin. They are fhort, ftrong, plump, with 
curled hair, flat nofes, turned-up lips; and the colour of 
their fkins is the fame as that of the inhabitants of the 
flutes of Barbary; their language is alfo nearly the fame, 
being the old Punic or Arabic, which is very differently 
fpoken in different places. But, in the city of Valetta, 
and among perfons of rank; the language molt in ufe i3 
the Italian. The natives are induftrious, aftive, econo¬ 
mical, and brave ; and the belt Tailors in the Mediterranean. 
But, notwithftanding thefe good qualities, they ftill re* 
tain fome of the defefts generally attributed to the Afri¬ 
cans ; and are mercenary, paffionate, jealous, vindictive, 
and addicted to thieving. They are fantaftical and fuper- 
ftitious in the-higheft degree ; but their ignorance does 
not unfit them for the cultivation of the arts. The Mal¬ 
tefe habit (excepting that of the ecclefiaftics, lawyers, 
and fome tradefpeople, who drefs in the French ftyle, but 
are few compared to the people at large) confiftsof a large 
cotton fhirt, and a waiftebat likewife very large, with fil- 
ver, and l'ometimes gold, buttons; to thefe are added a 
caban aod cloak reaching rather below the fmall of the 
back, and a very long girdle twifted feveral times round 
the waift, in which they conftantly carry a knife in a 
fheath ; fliey alfo wear long and full trowfers, with a fort 
of fhoe called ltorch ; but they do not often make ufe of 
the latter, having almoft always both legs and feet en¬ 
tirely naked. This korch is merely a leathern foie, with 
firings to fallen it round the leg. They never wear hats; 
but blue, red, white, or flriped, caps. People of eafy for¬ 
tune ufually carry, fans in their hands, and wear blue or 
green glafs fpeCtacles; for fuch is the exceflive heat occa- 
floned by the reverberation of the rays of the fun from the 
Hones, and the white tufa, that, notwithftanding this pre¬ 
caution, there are many blind people; indeed the greateft 
number have very weak eyes. The Maltefe are remarkably 
fober; a clove of garlic, or an onion, anchovies dipped in 
oil, and fait fifli, being their ufual diet. On great feftivals 
they eat pork. Hogs are very common in towns and vil¬ 
lages; many of thefe animals belong to the church and to 
different convents, and walk about the ftreets both night 
and day, where they pick up fufficient nourifhment. They 
are feldom molelled, and never ftolen. There are no peo¬ 
ple in the world more attached to their country than the 
Maltefe; and their conflant hope is to end their days in 
what they dignify with the title of Fiore del Mondo, the 
Flower of the World. The women are little, and have 
beautiful hands and feet. They have fine black eyes, 
though they fometimes appear to fquint, owing to their al¬ 
ways looking out of the fame eye ; half of the face being 
covered with a fort of veil made of black (ilk, called fat- 
delta , which they twift about very gracefully, and arrange 
with much elegance. The women, even of the higheft 
rank, unlike their hufbands, conftantly preferve their cof- 
tume\ and any one who fhould adopt the French fafhion 
would make herfelf very ridiculous. They are extremely 
fond of gold and filver ornaments ; and it is not uncom¬ 
mon to fee even the peafants loaded with trinkets of thofe 
two metals. Their drefs confifts of a fhort fliift, called 
kmis ; of a linen or cotton under-petticoat termed ideil ; 
of a coloured upper one, which is generally blue, open on 
one fide, called gkefuira ; and of a corlet witli fleeves, 
termed Jidria. The back part of their neck-kerchief is 
faftened up to the head; and their hair, which is fmooth 
well powdered and pomatumed, is dreffed in front in the 
form of a fugar-loaf, much in the ftyle of the toupees a la 
Greque, fo long worn by the men. They ornament their 
neck 3 with gold and filver chains; fometimes, indeed, 
3 M with 
