Show BRITAIN'S A N MALTA Af v AA r l 1 vl W r p iI f fy i t w. w C k Ir I A i or T r I JL w Y i 7 rj nr-gt nr 4 f. f i f s M i-M it I T t i li ic fc r y a w 4 3 View of or the Crowded Harbor of or Malta r KJ a t II jr Gour pl lo Sool Society tr w. w Inston U. U C. C C. 8 seventeen and a half halt ONLY miles tiles long and nowhere more than nine miles wide Malta Important island bland in Britain's lifeline to to- the East Is the tile principal Island of ot one of the smallest archipelagoes in the world It survives from those remote days when continents were differently shaped and the Mediterranean was wasa a series of lakes divided by land bridges that connected Europe with Africa Of one of these Ulese bridges the Maltese archipelago Is today the sole existing pier the one fragment frag frag- ment meat extant of a causeway along which prehistoric pachyderms and ruminants groped their puzzled way to the African warmth when driven from Europe by its increasing gla- gla elation Some of these mighty beasts lingered lin lin- lingered too long on the Maltese pier and the cave of Char Ghar Dalam near the southern extremity of the Is Island Ise Ia land is full of their bones converted converted converted con con- in the course of ages into perfectly preserved fossils i Together with the other inhabited islands of the group Gozo population tion and Comino population 41 and including the naval mill tary and air force establishments Malta has some souls that souls thai is 11 to say more than 2000 to the square mile mUe Thus it is 11 one of the most densely settled geographical units In Strategic Position Why has this rocky little excrescence excrescence cence from the bed of ot the tho Mediterranean Mediterranean Medi played a major part in Ir history Why does it play playa a part Inthe Inthe In Ir the life of the modern modem world at such variance with its topographical dimensions dimensions dimensions di di- The answer lies first in its Us all all- important strategic position between between between be be- tween Sicily and North Africa and am secondly In its possession of some of the nest finest harbors in the world The tongue of rock on which La built his capital is in shape not unlike Manhattan island with the Grand harbor where here the battleships battleships battleships battle battle- 1 ships are berthed corresponding to tc the Hudson and harbor the anchorage of destroyers destroyer and smaller craft to the East river But there is the difference that both from the Grand harbor and ond there branch several sev sev- eral oral subsidiary creeks providing secure and ideal anchorages in the tho past for the tho galley of the knights knight and their predecessors at ot the present present pres pres- ent day for the Mediterranean fleet of Great Britain All around Grand harbor rise bold and still perfect the Knights' Knights magnificent fortifications intended to insure that never again should Malta and the order have to endure endure endure en en- dure at the hands of or the Moslems to whom the were ar on present ever menace another such siege as that of 1503 1505 Then after a desperate struggle of nearly half hail a year the Knights Knight and the local population were just able by superhuman efforts to repel repel re re- pel pal the flower of the army of Sultan the Magnificent If Maltas Malta's quarter of a million population is large measured b by bythe bythe the area on which it has to live ilis it il itis is 11 small for a separate nation For Foi Forthe Forthe the Maltese are a nation unto themI themselves themselves them them- selves with their own language I their own traditions their own physical phys phys- ical characteristics and a history I that Is perhaps one of the longest to which any people car can lay claim I er Very Ancient Civilization I In Malta and Gozo the art of oi building in remote Stone age days daysI I reached a development of skill and refinement unknown In other centers cen ceri- I tens of the megalithic world Thus Malta was waa already an ancient center center center cen cen- ter of civilization when the tempestuous tem tempestuous wind called that still whistles across it during the winter months under Us its modern modem name of the Greek wind wind drove St Paul to Its shores Thereafter There There- I after the Roman noman chief of the island Publius became Its first bishop I During the many centuries of I their recorded history the Maltese have bad had many rulers the Phoenicians Phoenicians Phoe I and their offspring the Carthaginians Car Car- then Romans Arabs Normans Aragonese and then for two and a half hall centuries the International Order of St St. John of J Jerusalem we also know them themas as 81 the and as 81 the Knights of Rhodes and nd nd Knights of Malta and finally after a brief French occupation the British te Dep so cosmopolitan a his tory the Maltese have hae clung tenaciously tenaciously te tee to their ancient Semitic tongue which is recognized by experts experts experts ex ex- to be of Phoenician structure and to all Intents nta and purposes the language of Dido and Hannibal Naturally the old Maltese language lan Ian language guage has haa borrowed In the course of ot ages words from other languages lane lan but it has always fitted lilted them Into its own 0 Semitic frame frame- work The Tho Maltese who emigrated to Asia and to the north coast of no difficulty in making themselves understood by their Arabic speaking neighbors especially espe espo dally in Palestine and Morocco Neolithic Sanctuaries A paleontologist may wander about the cave of Char Ghar Dalam and study the remains of the elephants and hippopotamuses which left their bones there when the world was yet young Advancing from these and from the Neanderthal man of whom possible traces have been found in Malta many thousands of years into the Stone age he will find In Malta Malia and Gozo a 11 series of ot sanctuaries the Hypo Hypo- geum at lit Hal Ilan Haglar lar Kim II to mention only the most Important unequaled unequaled unequaled un- un equaled elsewhere Other survivals of ot a different sort are the cart tracks which traverse many of the barren rocky surfaces 0 of the Island bland the tram lines of prehistoric man The width of the tracks of the two wheeled carts which with their gaily caparisoned little ponies or donkeys are the traditional vehIcle of the Maltese farmer today todal c correspond almost exactly with those thole of his ancient predecessor On the small maU uninhabited Islet of FUna Fulls now now used only as al a target for naval gun Iun practice survives a lizard of dark green spotted with red which occurs nowhere else else- except except except ex- ex ex ex- in this group The museum in Valletta has an admirable collection of the artistic products product of the Stone and Bronze ages Among them are the astonishing astonishing astonishing aston aston- fat tat deities characteristic of ot Maltese neolithic sculpture If It one wishes to see sec how the distant distant distant dis dis- tant forbears of the present population population population lation cultivated their land one has hu only to watch the Maltese farmer of today plowing his field and a student will note the eyes eye I of Osiris still painted on the bows of Maltas Malta's sturdy little schooners In Malta during mid Lent Lent are the carnival festivities common t to other Mediterranean places with features of more special interest One of these is 11 the Parata dance Inthe in inthe inthe the palace square which takes its symbolism from the capture of a Maltese bride by a Moslem corsair The Races At the feast of St S1 Peter and St St. StPaul StPaul Paul June 29 are the tho densely thronged races These races for horses borses and donkeys are of unknown but undoubtedly great age The course is a piece of straight hard road leading uphill to the big square in front of Nota- Nota bile where from his great stone tono box the grand master in former days handed down and now the governor governor governor gover gover- nor of Malta hands down the banners banners ban ban- ners den of victory to the winning com come The nam name is a corruption corruption tion ton of lum hum illumination for forIt forit forit it was the tom torn on that day to illuminate the churches of ot and adjacent Rabat in hour hoar of the two saints A more picturesque If less leas trustworthy tradition derives from Crom Hymen the god of marriage it being supposed that the young men of the island bland were wont in former times Umes to choose their wives from among the maidens coming to watch the contest The banners still given as prizes are long and narrow pieces of brocade brocade bro bro- cade code of different colors The fortunate fortunato fortunato fortu fortu- nato nate winners winner take them back to their village to be used as aa altar cloths of the parish churches for tot forthe forthe the ensuing year ear Visitors are always interested Inthe inthe in inthe the faldetta more properly called of the Maltese women This headdress does docs not owe It its existence as some allege to the excessive gallantry of Bonaparte's troops but Is 11 of much more ancient origin It Is a voluminous hood of rich silk stiffened inside the f t tedge edge edie by a piece of cardboard abe abo a yard long black everywhere save in the villages ea of and nd Zel Zel- tun tua where it is blue One en end rests on the head bead while the other has haa to be held i I I |