A Soldiers Sketches Under Fire | Page 3

the vessel drawn I indicate the island of Fort Manoel, which is
an ancient fortress which possesses a very handsome gateway, which
may have been built by the Romans. In fact, all over this island are
remarkable relics, some of them probably as old as those of Stonehenge,
but how or by whom the original materials were brought there or the
original buildings constructed is now left by historians to conjecture.
[Illustration: CASEMENT GARDENS, MALTA.]
Other public gardens are those of Biracca and Floriana. Public
establishments include the biggest Fever Hospital in the world, the
Castille Prison, and the Governor's Palace.
SERGEANTS' MESS.
[Illustration: SERGEANTS' MESS AT FLORIANA, MALTA.]
The view of the site of the Sergeants' Mess at Floriana gives a good
idea of the massive style of architecture and the palatial design of many
of the buildings. The big construction of the walls will be noted, and
the height of the chimney. All the houses have flat roofs, and on them
people sleep at night because of the intense heat. From the roof of this
house is obtained the best view of the island. Although Malta is
composed entirely of rock, flowers grow profusely, and a variety of
creeper, very similar to our own azalea, climbs up the front of the forts,
requiring little or no root. A garden of this flower was attached to the
Sergeants' Mess house.
FORTIFICATIONS.
[Illustration: ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, MALTA.]
The ancient fortifications proved impregnable for ages, and are now
modernised for the use of up-to-date artillery equipment. I show the

exterior of the Army Ordnance Department, Fort Tigne, and on the
extreme left, on the other side of the harbour, a portion of Fort Manoel.
THE MALTESE.
The habits and manners of the Maltese have long been notorious for
their rude characteristics, probably attributable to the people's Moorish
origin, although the race has now blended with the smooth Italian.
Throughout the Levant they have the bad name first deserved by their
robberies and murders. British rule has effected great reforms, but it
cannot change the leopard's spots.
The experience of our boys in some of the outlying parts of the island,
and even in many streets and cafés, was that these primitive people had
not altogether lost their primitive instincts in the course of becoming
civilised. One of their customary tricks is to offer one of their bangles,
or some other souvenir, to get you to spend money in the cafés and
dancing saloons, and he would be a clever man who ever succeeded in
obtaining one of the souvenirs promised him from day to day. The
women of Malta certainly have strong claims to beauty, at any rate up
to the age of sixteen, for they mature early. They have large and
lustrous black eyes, and are of a swarthy and somewhat Spanish type.
They still wear the traditional hood, a black scarf, called a "Faldetta,"
thrown over the head and shoulders, and disposed in such a style as to
exhibit the countenance of the wearer in the most alluring form.
Although picturesque in the distance, they are very slovenly in their
hair and dress on closer acquaintance, and generally exhibit the traces
of their Oriental origin. They are great experts in the making of Maltese
lace, for which they have won a world-wide reputation, and their native
filigree work is also very famous and very beautiful. Churches (where
weddings are celebrated in the evening) are very numerous, and priests
and friars are always to be seen in the streets. The boys of our regiment
said that Malta was chiefly notable for "yells, smells, and bells."
We passed a very merry time here for nearly three weeks--such a time
as many were destined never to know again--and then were shipped to
Marseilles, en route for the trenches on the Western Front.

In the "Main Guard" of the Governor's Palace at Valetta we left behind
us a fresco memorial of our short sojourn on the island. For many
generations it has been the custom of regiments stationed in Malta to
paint or draw regimental crests, portraits (and caricatures), etc., on the
interior walls of this "Main Guard," and on its doors also. Walls and
doors, both are very full of these more or less artistic mementoes, but
space was found which I was asked to cover with a black and white
series of cartoons of prominent members of our (the 2nd) Battalion
R.F.

CHAPTER II.
FROM MALTA TO MARSEILLES.
From the bows of our boat as she lay in harbour at Marseilles, I
"spotted" three typical figures. The one holding the rope is a French
sailor, the one at the bottom of the picture is a French gendarme, and
the third is a Ghurka, one of our fine sturdy hillmen from India, who
had