The spreading links which Traffic bound
Knit patriots too on common ground,
Till Fear reposed as gen'rous awe,
And Force was rectified to Law.
The feudal times—those times are flown,
Power leans not now on steel or stone;
Escaping from his lonely den,
The serf's become the citizen :
Society,-one pervious whole
For all the lightnings of the soul,
Bursts the coarse bondage it abhorrid,
And crowns opinion as its lord.

J. S. D.

COTTON MANUFACTURES IN MALTA ;

OR,
A VISIT TO ZEITUN.

It was the afternoon of one of the hottest days ever felt in Malta during the month of May, 1846. The thermometer had stood at 84 degs. in the shade ; and in the sun, owing to the great refraction of the paved streets and white houses, it would have risen nearly 20 degs. higher. As evening approached, however, a light breeze from the north-east gently fanned the heated island, and it became possible to undertake with pleasure our contemplated drive to the manufacturing town of Zeitun. Let not the reader smile at the pompous expression. Within the narrow limits of Malta the blessings diffused by this and other centres of industry are as great, comparatively, as those which Manchester and Leeds and Sheffield and Birmingham distribute over our own beloved isiand. They employ the poor, and by employment preserve them from want, and its child-beggary, and its companion—crime. Valetta swarms with paupers ; in Zeitun not a single hand is held out

to solicit charity from the stranger or the resident.

Passing through Porto Reale, we threaded the intricate labyrinth of fortifications which renders it inaccessible to an enemy, and emerged through St. Ann's gate into the open country. A short drive round the head of the harbour, which already was agitated by a fresh breeze that sent the billows dashing high in foam and fury against the entrance points, brought us to a large prison,

erected by an experimental governor on the principle of " solitary confinement. The walls are there, white and shining in the sun, as smiling and as gay as if they encircled a palace; and they have little reason to look sad, for no prisoner has ever heaved a sigh within them. Many years have rolled by since the public money was thus spent, and there seems every likelihood that the building will be transmitted to posterity under the appropriate name which it now bears, of “ Bouverie's Folly.”

Half-an-hour more found us asking the way of an old man who was strolling home from his work, and beguiling the walk with the notes of a pastoral pipe. He directed us through the Casal of Tarxien, and then continued his amusement, playing as earnestly as if the eyes of an audience were upon him, but evidently quite absorbed in the rude melody which he himself made, and completely regardless of us and the whole world.

I like the Maltese. They are not angels, except in comparison with the Italians ; but they have a thousand good qualities, among which love of country is pre-eminent. That they do not love the English is explained by the contempt with which we thoughtlessly treat them. Every time we call them “ snaitches” we knock å nail into the coffin of our supremacy. For my own part, I have never received an uncivil word from a Maltese ; and must say, on the contrary, that a more obliging people I never met. From personal experience I can testify that they have not that accursed habit of " asking for more,” which seems to beset every other nation on the shores of the Mediterranean.

Thus much I say, because my light-hearted piper did not ask for

pour boire,” as he might have done had he been a Frenchman ; nor for a “ bottiglia," like a Neapolitan ; nor for “qualche cosa, like a Sicilian; nor for "baksheesh,” like an Arab. He went his way, and we went ours, forgetting us as, except for this circumstance, we should have forgotten him.

Zeitun is about six miles from Valetta ; the roads, or rather lanes, are rough, and our four-wheeled carriage jolted tremendously. There is nothing worthy of remark on the way, but the extraordinary parched appearance of the square fields, divided by stone walls ; the absence of trees, except a few stunted mulberries, and abundance of Casals or Burghs, with large domed churches. The approach to Zeitün is good ; the streets are clean, though extremely narrow ; and the people at once strike you by their comfortable appearance. We were bound to the house of Mr. P-, à mer

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chant and manufacturer, who had invited us to his native place, that we might inspect his gardens and the mode in which he employed his poor neighbours. We found him in his store-room, weighing out cotton for a woman who had come to ask for work ; and, from the account which he had previously given me, enabled to explain the whole process to my companions.

The cotton of Malta, though not of first-rate quality, is surpassed by the growth of very few countries indeed ; and every means is taken by the Agricultural Society to improve it. Island seed has been sown with great success by Mr. Pand there is little doubt that, before many years are over, Malta will acknowledge no superior. When gathered, the cotton is cleansed by beating, a laborious and unwholesome employment, as the particles which are detached penetrate into the lungs and produce frequent consumptions. It is now restored to the owner's magazine ; and the process of reducing it to yarn and cloth commences. In this, the manufacturer, as he is called, acts little more than a passive part. The method pursued is as follows :- A woman, possessing a wheel, saves enough to buy a rotolo (30 Maltese ounces), or half a rotolo, or a third of raw cotton, and then makes an agreement with the seller to bring it back spun at a certain price. She returns home, and as soon as she has done fetches a quantity of raw cotton equal to what she has worked up, and receives the price of her labour. Sometimes they are so poor as to be obliged to come on this errand thrice a day. On Saturday they do a little extra work, in order that they may have something to spend on the day of rest.

Marriage takes place in Malta very early ; and before the women are thirty they have generally five or six children. As

as these are five years old they begin to learn the art of spinning, and by the time they are eight, with a little wheel, spin as well as a grown person. By these means the mother and children manage to add threepence a day to the family income. But as the husband averages fourpence a day throughout the whole year, earning as much as ten in sowing time and in harvest, the united gains of seven persons amount to sevenpence. Their common food is small potatoes, bread of inferior wheat, sometimes mixed with barley, and, though they may occasionally taste wine, their ordinary drink is water. A few condiments with their potatoes are the luxury which they chiefly prize. In Passover they eat a little meat; because they generally keep a pig, on fattening

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which they spend one half-penny or six grani a day. When it is very young they manage to pick up sufficient vegetables for it in the fields; but they are soon obliged to go to market. They are often asked why they do not lay by some money ; but they always reply that the pig is their Savings Bank. What they spend upon him comes back to them in due season ; so they wisely continue to cast their bread thus upon the porkers. When he is killed they get ten or twelve dollars for the best parts ; and feast themselves besides on the remainder for a week. Being honest, sober, and industrious, they manage in this manner to pass a quiet and useful life ; and form a class of subjects whom we are bound to treat with respect and consideration.

In the store-room where we found Mr. Psacks of cotton, raw and worked ; as well as a heap of wool from the Merino sheep, which he has introduced. It is cut before it is washed ; there being here no pure stream into which the flocks can be driven at shearing time. We also saw his Nankin cotton, Sea Island cotton, the maize with its diuretic beard, San Santonio barley, exactly resembling wheat. In a pretty square court, in the centre of the house, were the jasmin and the honeysuckle ; and beyond, in the back garden, not more than twenty yards square, grew Portugal and Mandarin oranges, Sea Island cotton, pomegranates, lemons, ground pistachios, kidney beans, figs, cardamoms, vines, and a variety of other trees and plants. Over the way, in front of his house, another small garden, every inch of which was brought into use, contained, among other things, the rose of Jericho, the prickly pear, the olive, potato, cumin, &c.

From his gardens, after a collation of Malta, Malaga, and Marsala wines with Cassabar melons, we went to one of his offices, where some pretty women were weighing cotton, and receiving and paying for yarn. It is the custom to tie each bundle with a piece of red thread, which amounts to a considerable quantity in the year, and is rather expensive : but this ornament cannot be dispensed with, as the merchants of Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Genoa, &c. are accustomed to it, and will not look at the cotton secured in

any

other way. We were now led through several streets to a house with a pretty little court. A flight of steps round this led to a loft where two looms were at work ; with one a man was making a piece of striped white stuff for trowsers ; with the other a boy was producing a sort of Maltese blue plaid. A hard day's work brings

them in each tenpence a day. In another place we saw a loom with a narrow cotton-piece for sailcloths. Further on we were shown a Maltese jenny, spinning white cotton and nankin at the same time.

The centre wheel was turned by a smart-looking young woman, who seemed rather awkward at performing her circumvolutions beneath the eyes of a parcel of strangers.

An analysis of the annual distribution of money caused by the cotton manufactures of Malta may be interesting. Taking the year concerning which I have been enabled to collect most accurate information, namely 1843, it appears that nine thousand and ten persons were employed as follows:

During the whole working year (l'anno lavorativo), calculated at 300 days, the beating of 9450 quintals,* or 189,000 pese, at 23 per day per man, fully occupied 252 individuals at 77 taris per day.-Total, 47,250 scudi.

Spinning the same (at } rotolo per day) occupied 6400 persons, receiving 1 tari 2: grani per day.—Total, 180,000 scudi.

Weaving 34,000 pieces of sail-cloth and other manufactures, partly mixed with English yarn, occupied 1500 persons at 3 tari 17 grani.- Total, 144,375:

In the next stage (l'incannatura, torcitura, orditura, e far cannelli) 800 persons were occupied at an average of 1 tari 53 grani per day.- Total, 25,500.

The concluding operation occupied 58 individuals at 3 tari.. Total, 4350.

So that the cotton manufacture, in its present state, distributes 401,575. scudi among nine thousand persons ; whilst 480,755 scudi go to the landed proprietors for the raw cotton, making a grand total of 882,330 scudi, or 73,5271.

Malta exports cotton, raw and manufactured, to Barbary, Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Genoa, Marseilles, Trieste, the Ionian Islands, Ancona, Venice, and other places. Most of the sailcloth it produces is sold to the various vessels, éspecially the Greek, that come into harbour. At one time, also, it sent a good deal of Nankin yarn to France and England ; but since the imitation of this once valuable article has been brought to perfec