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, I was 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. Sea Island seed has been sown with great success by Mr. P―, and 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 pro→ duce 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 soon 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

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.

we saw numerous

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 2 per day per man, fully occupied 252 individuals at 7 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 5 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, especially 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

*Cotton is weighed by the quintal of 114 rotoli, or 20 pese colla ragione, with allowance, the ordinary quintal being only 100 rotoli; 175 pounds English is one quintal of 100 rotoli.-One scudo contains 12 taris, equal to 20 pence, at the rate of 12 scudi for 17., Malta currency. One tari makes 20 grani, of which 12 make one penny.

tion, it has rapidly fallen off in price. What sold for 78 scudi in 1843 sold in 1845 for 60 scudi; and this year was offered for 52. I must mention, however, that 1843 seems to have been the palmy year for trade in Malta, the value of the exports having fallen off by 10,000l. since that period. This may account for the increased number of beggars in the streets of Malta.

Before quitting our kind and hospitable friend, we accompanied him to the church, a very fine building, supported by voluntary contributions; and also to the Campo Experimentale, or experimental field of the Agricultural Society of Malta, where we saw the progress of numerous experiments which were being made for the purpose of ascertaining what will best grow without being watered. Where there is so much sun, there is little doubt that if sufficient rain fall most plants will come to perfection; but in Malta, where drought is so frequent, the essential point is to discover those portions of the vegetable kingdom that thrive best in the absence of moisture. Sweet potatoes, common potatoes, maize, and several kinds of cotton seemed to succeed admirably.

During this little trip I learned a great deal, and was reminded moreover that we commonly give too little thought to what is going on among our own subjects, in our own possessions. Would not a wise government foster the spirit of industry which has sprung up in Malta? How easily might the superabundant population of the island, which now overflows the narrow limits assigned by nature, and spreads over all the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean, be employed usefully in developing the infant manufacture which has been created! Competition with Great Britain there would be none of course to fear, and any effect that could be produced on the vast trade of our country would be beneficial; in all fine works it is the practice to mix English with Maltese yarn. And, on the other hand, how worthily should we be fulfilling the responsible duties which we undertook when we assumed the protectorate over the Maltese people, by directing their energies into such a path. When we cease to allow our attention to be diverted by a net-work of impregnable fortifications, and a magnificent harbour, from the interests, the wants and wishes of a hundred thousand souls, we shall be better consulting our dignity as a nation than we do at present.

168

HUNGER.

Sick Bed, Manchester, 8th July, 1846.