1799] 
being fo populous. The cathedral isa 
very fine ftructure, and although exceed- 
ingly large, is (or was fome years ago) 
entirely hung round with crimfon damafk, 
richly laced with gold. The old palace, - 
however, is not much worth the feeing. 
Above the principal gate of the city is an 
antique ftatue of Juno with its ancient 
drapery, and yet without either head or 
hands. This figure is inferted m the 
walls. The city is governed by an of- 
ficer called the Hahem. 
The catacombs near Civita-Vecchia 
are much fpoken of as a great work, ex- 
tending, according to lome accounts, 
(probably exaggerated) everal miles uncer 
ground. It is certain, however, that many 
perfons have been loft by advancing too 
far in them; the prodigious number of 
ramifications making it next to impoffible 
to find the way out again. ‘Lhey are fo 
well preferved, being hewn out of a white 
free ftone, quite diy, that they always ap- 
pear as if they were juft made. Fiom 
the fmallnefs of the galleries, where only 
one perfon can enter at a time ; their uni- 
form arrangement ; their roof, which is 
arched, though cut out of the rock ; the’ 
chambers of which are feen at various in- 
tervals; the plafter which ftill adheres to 
many of them; the little niches intended 
to hold the lamps which enlightened the 
fubterraneous abodes ; the, regularity of 
the tombs, moitly placed under fquare 
roots, with a fort of iarcophagus covered 
over in a pediment, &c. it is probable 
that the catacombs are not mere excava- 
tions, the work of nature, but that they 
were applied to the ufe of hiding places, 
where the inhabitants fought refuge, and 
fecreted themfelves with their moft valu- 
able effetts, during the inroads of the 
Saracens and other nations. They might 
alfo be defigned as a place of interment 
for the dead, and a place of religious 
worfhip, where the myfteries of « chrif- 
tianity might be celebrated in conceal- 
ment. There are not fo many tombs 
here as in other catacombs, and the large 
ones appear to have ferved for interring 
two bodies; places fortwo heads, cut out 
in the ftone, are ftill to be feen. In the 
largeft hallor compartment are two round 
ftones fhaped like an oil-mill, the ufe of 
which cannot now be afcertained. 
At no great diftance from the old city 
there is a fmall church; dedicated to Sv. 
Paul, ‘and juit by the church is a ftatue 
placed, according .to tradition, on the 
very {pot’ where he fhook the viper off his 
ham, without being injured, Adjoining 
Hiftory and Defcription of Malta. 
7 
to the church is the celebrated grotto in 
which they pretend the apottie was impri- 
foned. His name is alfo preferved by a 
fort, and by a bay or harbour for finaih 
veffels, where it is faid he was fhip- 
wrecked, ) 
The great fource of water that fupphes 
Valetta, takes its rife at the diftance of 
a mile or two from Civita Vecchia ; and 
there is anvaqueduct compofed of feverah 
thoufand arches, that conveys it from 
thence to the city. The whole of ‘this 
immenfe work was fAnifhed at the private 
expence of one of the Grand Matters, 
Vignacourt, whofe name it bears. 
The general afpe€t of the. country of 
Malta is far from being pleafing to the 
eye: as the whole ifland is nothing but an 
immenfe rock of very whitel, free-Rone, 
and the foil that covers it is not, in moft 
places, more than five or fix inches deep, 
Their crops, however, from the copious 
dews wnich fall in the {pring and fummes 
iienths, and trom the moifture which ad- 
heres to the rock below the foil, are fur- 
prizingly abundant. Theiz wheat and 
barley harvelts produce fufiicient corn to 
fupport the inhabitants about five monsks 
inthe year; but the crop they chiedy 
depend upon is that of cotton. This is 
the general produce of the ifland, and is 
fo lucrative, both in quantity and quality, 
that it {upplies the deficiency of every 
other produétion, and enables them to 
pay for the corn, wine, paftry, and other 
neceffaries they import in great variety, 
and plenty from Allicata in Sicily; that 
piace being the magazine and harbour for 
exporting whatever 1s furniihed to Malta. 
by Sicily. ° 
The cotton plant rifes to the height of 
a foot and a halt, and is covered with a 
number of nuts, or pods, full of cotton. 
The Maltefe cultivate three kinds of this 
plant; the Indian cotton, which ts much 
the fineit, and fhoots five years fuccefiiwely 
without renewing the plants; thé coim- 
mon cotton of the country, which does 
not grow fo high, and muft be fown every 
two years; and the yellow cotton, of 
which the nankeen is made. The cotton 
produced from thefe plants, is much fu- 
pericr in quality to that of the cotton 
tree; at lealt the Malte affirm fo: it 
certainly 1s the fineft, although that of 
the cotton tree is by much of the ftrongelt 
CExtuUbe: 
The Maltefe oranges juftly deferve the 
character they have acquired; of being the 
inelt in the world. In one kind of them the 
juice is as red as blood, and they are of a 
very delicate flavour. Tine other forts are » 
P ; thought 
