THE ODD MAN IN MALTA.*
MALTA has a double claim upon Englishmen. It is one of our chief fortified places, and its position, midway between Sicily and Tunis, makes it a natural stopping-place for Mediterranean travellers. Mr. Wignacourt's amusing volume will be an excellent guide to the lighter aspects of Maltese character, and, as his stay in the island was a long one, be kid time to make acquaintance with the peasantry and with some of the upper classes, as well as with the touts and incompetents of Valetta. Of the first two of, these divisions he has a- high opinion. The peasant is "a simple, contented, hard-working, thrifty, good-humoured fellow, capable of little beyond his daily round, but carrying that out to perfection" ; while of the educated class he writes : "An intellectual man, given the choice of the Maltese Casino and the Union Club, would, I think, choose the former." Unlike some visitors, he was delighted with the "limpidity and brightness" of the Malteae atmosphere, and when he took Venice on his homeward journey it seemed, with the exception of St. Mark's, "fiat and colourless" after Malta. Small as the island is, there are parts of it that are little visited, and Mr. Wignaeourt gives an attractive account of the south-west coast, with its views of sea and cliff, and of the "kind, open-hearted people, and very pleasant to strangers," who are still found dwelling in the rock caves. The villagers are not at all shy, for the author tells of a picnic in a nook, chosen for the seclusion it seemed to offer, which ended in company with the whole popu- lation of a village, who " entered freely into the conversation • The Odd Man in Malta. By John Wignaconrt. London Chapman ani% Sall. pa. 6d. nat.]
as if it had been one great family party." Malta is over- inhabited—it has about three times the population to the square mile that Belgium has—but emigration, though very necessary, is not easy to carry out. Emigrants have been sent home on the plea that "Australians will not work with niggers," and though Mr. Wignacourt protests that, " what- ever you can say of the Maltese, you can't call them niggers," the Australians rise superior to verbal accuracy and refuse to call them anything else. The volume is well illustrated by photographs of scenery, architecture, and antiquities.
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