188 
cutting or deftroying the aqueduct, which 
from near the other extremity of the ifland 
brings water into all the works of Va- 
letta ; as the .winter rains, being from 
every where directed ‘to the refervoir, will 
be found adequate to fupply the defi- 
ciency. 
From the fuperior excellence of its har- 
bo sur, and its ‘advantageous fituation 
in the very centre of the’ Mediterranean, 
Malta feems as if efpecially ordained by 
nature to favour and protect commerce-3 
and accordingly 3 it is, and ever has Been 
an, emporium. and place of refrefhment for 
ail the European veffels which trade in 
the Mediterranean, It may, in faé&, be 
confidered as the key and bulwark of this 
fa and of the Levant; and, in the hands 
of the French, or any other maritime 
‘power, would certainly become very for- 
Tid ole: The utmoft extent of the ifland 
is 12 miles in breadth, 20 in length, and 
nearly 60 incircumference. ‘The popula- 
tion has been ‘conftantly increafing, ever 
fince the eftablifhment of thé order there 
to thisday; from 10 to 50 or 60, or, as 
fome fay, 90,000 fouls, ‘the iflands of 
Goza and Canis included. 
Cumino, which is very {mall, and in 
failing by it feems little elfe than a bar- 
ren rock, contains fome inhabitants; and, 
like Malta and Goza, produces the moft 
exguilite oranges and melons, and Jike 
them is covered with citron-treés, daté- 
trees, vines, &c. It derives its name 
from the cummin 1t produces, which 
orows ae) upon the week fiones. 
Wear it is a fall unin! nabited rock, ¢ called 
CG HEA: 
Goza* is the we 
lands, being 
diftance of ae ‘hfles. Moft of the 
Maltefe manufagtures of cotton ({teck- 
ings, coverlids, blankets, and other ftuits) 
fre carried on inthis rfland. The inha- 
bitants are accounted mere induftrious 
then thole of Ma alia, 
tirely fecluded from the world ; and they 
here cultivate the fugar-cane ad 
though not in any confiderable quantity > 
of the three 
fea at the 
ant 
—————__—_- 
% Bither Vialta or Goza is fuppoted to be 
the celebrated ifland' of Calypfo, firtt called 
Hyper ia, and afterwards Ogygia. According to 
fable, the Pheacians, giants of whom Homer 
fpeaks, were the firlt inhabitants of one or 
both of thefe iflands. At b oketeen, however, 
they contain nothing that refembles the flat- 
tering pictures of them to | pe ee in’ Homer 
and Fenelon. 
+ ‘Thefe iflands have bees ees for many 
ages for weaving cotton; as we find that Cicero, 
when pleading againft es governor of 
Eiftory and Defcription of Malta. 
being almoft en-- 
[April 
Goza is about one-third as large as Malta: 
its capital, of the fame sire, is in the 
centre of the ifland, although the caftle of 
Goza is on the ee fide. Goza is alfo 
remarkable for a wall, faid to be of Phee- 
nician or Carthaginian workmanhhip ; for 
a quarry of alabatter, fimilar to that in 
Atia, and “manufactured here, although 
with little tafte or elegance ; 3 and alfo for 
the fungus rock. The natives of Goza, 
as well'as the other iflands, live princi-* 
pally ‘on fifh, fruits, and leguminous 
plants. “The ftreight between Malta and 
Goza ‘is about fiye’ miles in breadth ; 
nearly in its centre ftands the ifland of 
Cumino, which thus appears formed, as 
it were, for the defence of the fireight. 
The breadth of the channel between Sicily 
and Malta is computed at from 40 to 8e 
tniles, and between Africa and Malta at 
about 270. 
The Phoenicians firft fettled in thefe 
iflands, about 1500 years ‘before the 
chriftian era; and their colony here, im 
the fequel, became very flourithing. Se- 
ven or eight centuries ‘afterwards, the 
Greeks, then matters of Sicily, reduced 
the ifland, and gave it the name of Melité, 
(changed’ by the Romans to Melitas), 
on account of the excellent honey found 
here in abundance. At the end of about ~ 
two centuries, the Carthaginians, whom 
the Greeks had fuffered’ to eftablith them- 
a here, made themfelves matters of 
and they loft-it themfelves to the Ro- 
ee on the deftruGtion of’ Carthage. On 
the divifion of the’ Roman empire, it fell 
to the eaftern part; and afterwards be 
came alternately the prey of thie Goths 
and Vandals. JBelifarius “drove them 
away in 533. The Saracens conquered 
it from the Greek emperors in’ 870, and 
loft ic about 200 year's aftetwards to the 
Norman princes reigning in Sicily. It 
then pailed into the hands of the Ger= 
mans; and at length became fubjeé, to- 
gether with the kingdom of Sicily, to the 
Duke of Anjou, brother of Louis XI: 
Chat i of Anjou yielded it up to the 
king's of Caltile and Arragon, who fre- 
ely Aint a grant of it to their fons 
or favourites, or borrowed money upon 
it by way of pledge or mortgage. The 
inhabitants‘ at ’ les neth purchated their 
emancipation from ‘this humiliating fer: 
vitude, on condition that their ifland 
fhould become an unalienable fiet of Sicily. 

Sicily, 
aniong 
inveighed againft him, for having, 
other extrayagancies, procured a rebe 
of cotton to be manufattured at Malta, at an 
exorbitant ht to Raa to Ae favourite 
remale. 
Undey 
rae 
v 
