The Pirate of the Mediterranean | Page 2

the entrance, and Fort Manuel; and there are several indentations, but
of less depth and importance than those to the south. Besides the forts I
have mentioned, the city is protected by the Floriana lines, and several
other works. Indeed, it is said that there are sixty miles length of walls,
which, in these economical times, are allowed slowly to crumble away.
If our merchants value their trade with the East--if our rulers value our
possession of India--if our philanthropists value the civilisation of the
world, and the continuance of peace, let not Malta be neglected. To
open the door is not the way to keep out a thief.
Valetta is a place of life, bustle, and animation. The Maltese are a busy
people, given to gesticulation; and it is full of naval and military
officers, and soldiers, and sailors, who are not addicted to quietude,
especially the latter; and there are Greeks, and Moors, and Spaniards,
and Italians, and Jews innumerable, congregated there, and priests and
friars of all orders, who delight in the ringing of bells, so that silence is
little known in this city of ramparts, steps, big guns, and churches. The
streets are wide and handsome; those running along the middle finger,
as I have described, are on a level, while those which lead up from the
water are at right angles to them, and are occasionally steep, so that, in
most instances, they consist of a broad flight of steps, the best known
of which are the Nix Mangiare stairs, leading from the chief
landing-place at the Great Port to the upper part of the town. The
houses are balconied, lofty, and spacious, with terraces on the roofs,
whence, in clear weather, Etna is visible; and where, in the cool of the
evening, the inhabitants may enjoy the refreshing breeze from the sea,
and behold it, in its intense blueness, dotted with white sails gliding in
all directions over its surface. It is full of fine churches, the towers of
which rise above the flat roofs of the palace-like houses, the whole

surrounded by a broad walk, and a fringe of ramparts bristling with
cannon.
It is to that part of the fortifications facing the mouth of the Great Port
that I particularly wish to conduct the reader.
It was some four hours or so past noon when the boat of a British
man-of-war ran in alongside the landing-place at the fort of Nix
Mangiare stairs, and out of her stepped two persons, whose blue jackets,
adorned with crown-and-anchor buttons, and the patches of white cloth
on their cohars proclaimed them to belong to the exalted rank of
midshipmen in the Royal Navy. But many might envy the free joyous
laugh in which they indulged, seemingly on finding themselves on
shore, and the light elastic tread with which they sprang up the long
flight of steps before them, distancing, in a moment, several civilians
and soldiers of various ranks, who, puffing and blowing, with
handkerchiefs at their foreheads, were toiling upwards, while they
arrived at the summit without even giving way to a gasp, and as cool,
apparently, as when they landed. Their ears, as they went up, were
saluted by--
"Yah hassare, carita--Nix mangiar these ten days, sar--Mi moder him
die plague, sar! mi fader him die too," and other pathetic cries and
similar equally veracious assertions, from numerous cripples, deformed
creatures, and children of all ages, in rags and tatters, who endeavoured
to excite their compassion by exhibiting their wounds and scars. The
two youths had time to put their hands in their pockets, and to distribute
a few pence to the wretched-looking beings on their way; both pocket
and heart, if that were possible, being made lighter thereby. On
reaching the top of the flight of stairs, without stopping to contemplate
the height they had ascended, they turned to the right, and took the way
along the ramparts towards Fort Saint Elmo. There seemed not to have
been the slightest necessity for their hurry, as they appeared to have
come on shore simply to take a walk, for they now slackened their pace,
and proceeded on side by side.
"Well, I'm so glad, Duff, that you have joined us," exclaimed the one
who appeared to be somewhat the eldest. "Who'd have thought it, when

we parted four years ago at old Railton's that we were next to meet out
here. I didn't think you would have got leave to enter the service."
"Neither did I expect to get afloat, and still less to become your
messmate, when you, lucky dog that I thought you, left school. I moped
on there for nearly another year, and then wrote to my governor and
told him that if he didn't let me go to sea I should