The Argosy — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Day at Malia. 147 all leave off at the very same instant. One moment the air is full of a sound more or less distracting until you grow used to it; the next moment complete silence ‘‘ falls upon the listening ear.” Lower down, steps led to a terrace where was a basin in which gold fish disported. And if fish are to envied at all, surely it is here, where they exist in perpetual cool waters. Immense butterflies— almost as large as one’s hand—of the brightest and most gorgeous colours, flew from bush to bush, from flower to flower. Gigantic bushes of flaming geraniums and the more delicate plumbago scattered their beauty and perfume—as did the fruit-laden orange trees. We picked up and eat an orange that lay upon the ground. Although pale and still unripe, its scent and flavour were exquisite, and reminded one of the oranges of Majorca. But in Majorca the trees grow to a much larger size. Here they were all small ; because, said the gardener, they grow too quickly to perfection, and want more soil. Over all was the intense, burning sky, whilst the air seemed literally painted with sunshine. It was like passing out of Paradise to leave this garden and set out upon our barren drive to Valetta. The garden had been luxuriant and lovely beyond description ; but now not a tree or shrub was to be seen ; not a bird to be heard. Most of the birds in Malta are migratory ; ; and some make merely a resting place of the island as they journey eastward or westward. Re-entering Valetta, from the different eee a we obtained a matchless view. Far down lay the harbours, with their impregnable forts, that of St. Angelo standing out conspicuously. The sun , flashed upon the waters. Boats with their awnings flitted about in search of prey. Steamers were at anchor; our own good old Batavia still in the agonies of coaling. We could almost fancy we heard the periodical avalanche, see the clouds of dust flying. Cabin doors and port-holes were, of course, all hermetically closed: not only to keep out the dust, but other insidious intruders who occasionally make a » mistake, enter, and, seized with a slight obfuscation of intellect, carry away other people’s possessions under the impression that they are their own. _ At our feet lies the lower part of the town—so far down that you , quite shudder as you look into the depths. Peacocks are strutting about in areas so confined that the poor birds have no chance of gratifying their pride and spreading their tails. Nothing can be more Eastern-looking than the scene. Far away stretch the white houses with their flat roofs. For miles you can trace the Island, barren and rocky. Across there in the distance, the great hospital stands out conspicuously on its sandy height. Far | out and around stretches the deep blue sea, always flashing in the sunlight. Round there is St. Paul’s Bay, where the Apostle was shipwrecked, and of which he gives so graphic an account in the Acts. A statue was erected here to St. Paul in 1845. It is certain COMIC OOO <S) (CO)