544 
with the naked eye, and with an ordinary 
telefcope to trace out many mterefting ob- 
jects. . 
We faw, or fancied we faw, ancient 
Girgenti, and one or two temples behind it. 
We clearly difcovered Mount Ema, and 
the fmoke iffuing from his frowy fummit. 
We could even perceive, though 120 
miles diftant, the black lines of lava near 
the edge of the Crater which the partial 
melting of his {nows expofed. We lay 
clofe to a neat little town in the evening, 
which we fuppofed to be Alicata, and on 
the afternoon of the 28th, we had a diftant 
glimpfe on our right, of the four clumps 
of land which our fea-men knew to be 
Malta, and its dependencies, Gozo and 
Commino. 
Next morning, 29th, we were near 
enough the principal city of Malta, called 
Valetia, to diftinguifh houfes, churches, 
and thipping ; the multitude cf ftone-walls, 
that give the ifland fo much the appearance 
of one continuity of amphitheatrical rocky 
ftrata rifing above each other, interfperfed 
with dark green clumps of lccuft trees and 
ftreaks of green corn-fields. About noon 
two boais rowed by Maltefe, put off from 
the port of La Valetta, and foun afforded 
us the delightful fatisfaétion of fetting- 
foot on the ftone-quay. We were accom- 
pavied by our amiable Mooriih friend, who 
jabbered Arabic with the crews of the 
boats all the way with great glee. As 
foon as we were landed, we were placed 
within a {mall railed area, till the health- 
efiicer fhould allow us to proceed into the 
town ; and during our halt-hour’s quaran- 
tine, had time to look round on the variety 
ot individuals in fomewhat. a fimilar pre- 
dicament with ourlelves. We found the 
quay divided into fych little compartments 
as that we occupied ; and at that moment, 
each a little parade of Moors, Greeks and 
Levanters, of different defcriptions, in 
the drefs of their refpective coustries. 
The beautiful diefs and venerable afpect 
of,a Greek, nearly drew me into a very 
aukward difficulty. He was fmoaking a 
long ornamented pipe, in a neighbouring 
compartment, and like myfelf unwittingly 
drew near to chat, if haply we could make 
each. other underftood:—had I touched 
him or his habiliments, a forty days 
quarantine muf have been my lot! Our 
good friend, the ycung Moor, with ex- 
treme earsefinefs ran up and warned me of 
my daoger.. 
So focn as we were relieved by the 
health-cfficer, ‘and our fellow-paflengers 
had made fome provifon from the market 
of La Valetta, of live ftcck, fruit and vege. 
Account of a recent Voyage to Malta. 
[July 1 
tables for their voyage to the Levant; wa 
all went to dine together at the principal 
inn. We paid nine fhillings each, for a 
good dinner of meat, foup, fith, fowl, and 
pattry, and indifferent red wine. After 
dinner I parted from my friend, the young 
Mcor, with fincere regret; and he purfued 
his courfe with the rett of the paflengers, 
on board the fhip I had quiited, to Con- 
ftantinople. 
As the fortune of this gentleman was 
fomewhat fingular, I cannot avoid men- 
tioning tt:—-he was a native of Tetuan, 
on that part of the coafl of the kingdom of 
Morocco, which lies in the bay of the 
fame name, nearly oppofite the rock of 
Gibraltar. When at the age of nineteen, 
fome unpleafant fracas had induced his 
friends, or the government, to recommend 
or command him to leave his country for 
a few years. He complied; and in order 
to {pend his time in the moft profitable 
way, determined to pa{s the years of his 
exile in travelling. He began with making 
the pilgrimage to Mecca, in company 
with twelve other Mooiifh gentlemen. He 
went coaltways, by fea to Egypt, whence 
he joined the Caravan by land in Arabia, 
and proceeded to the holy city. This pil- 
grimage obtained to the pilgrim the hoe 
nourable title of Al/badj ; 
boas 
which, though it means, literally tranf- 
lated, no more than Pilgrim to Mecca, is 
a diftinétion more valued in Barbary than 
knighthood formerly was in England : 
and the account he gave me of the perils 
of the journey, confirming the generally 
received apprehenfions of it, feem fully to 
entitle the traveller to -fuch diftinétion 
here, whether the motives from which 
pilgrimages are frequently performed thall 
or thall not be deemed meritoricus here- 
after. Much was fuffered in the voyage 
from want of water, and the difficulty of 
procuring fupplies from nations hoftile to 
his ftate, on the Barbary coaft, between 
Tunis and Alexandria; but the blaft of 
the peftilential Shamaul, 
AW 
was the moft formidable danger to be en 
countered. This dreadful phenomenon 
feems to have been peculiarly fatal to the 
party whom my friend travelled with ; 
for when it aflailed the caravan in the des 
fart, confilting of 70,000 pilgrims, a pro- 
portion of one feventh of the whole, ter 
thoufand, fell a facrifice to its baneful in- 
fluence; whereas out of his party of 
thirteen, nine died. His account of Mecca 
differed. 
