barren appearance, but there are many fertile gardens and fields, enclosed in high walls, where fine oranges, grapes, and figs, and other crops are grown. The Maltese language is a mixture of Arabic and Italian, but most of the townspeople have sufficient knowledge of Italian to transact business in that tongue. The port of Malta is situated somewhat to the E. of the centre of the Northern shore of the island. It consists of two fine harbours, separated by the narrow promontory called Mount Xiberras, or Sciberras. The Western or quarantine harbour, protected by Fort Tigne on the W., is called Marsamuschetto; the other is Valetta, the great harbour. The entrance to the great harbour is protected on the W. by Fort St Elmo at the end of Sciberras, and on the E. by Fort Ricasoli, both very formidable. At Fort St Elmo is one of the finest lighthouses in the Mediterranean. The great harbour runs away into numerous creeks and inlets, in which are the dockyard, victualling-yard, and arsenalall of which are commanded by the guns of St Angelo, which is a fort behind St Elmo; on the E. side here is the town called Citta Vittoriosa. The mail steamers are moored in the quarantine harbour; the charge for landing is sixpence per head. On landing a long flight of steps is ascended to the Strada San Marco, which leads to the principal street, Strada Reale, m. long, in the town of Valetta, so called from Jean de La Valette, Grand Master of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, who built it after the Turkish armament sent against Malta by Sultan Soliman II. had been repulsed. The foundation stone was laid on the 28th of March 1566, and the whole town, designed by one architect, Girolamo Cassar, was completed in May 1571.

Left of the Strada Reale is St John's Cathedral-a remarkable church, both historically and architecturally-designed by Cassar. The floor is paved with slabs bearing the arms of scores of knights who have been interred in this church. In the first chapel on the right the altar-piece represents the beheading of John the Baptist, and is by M. Angelo Caravaggio. In the next chapel, which belonged to the Portuguese, are the monuments of Manoel Pinto and Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena, the latter of bronze. chapel, has the monuments of Grand N. Cotoner, and two others. The fourth Provençals. The fifth chapel is sacred to kept the town keys, taken from the Turks. is a bronze monument of Grand Master Marc Antonio Sondadario. The first chapel on the left is the sacristy. The second chapel belonged to the Austrians, the third to Italians, containing pictures, ascribed to Caravaggio, of St Jerome and Mary Magdalene. The fourth is the French chapel, and the fifth the Bavarian, and hence a

The third, or Spanish Masters Perellos and chapel belonged to the the Virgin, and here are On the left of the entrance

staircase descends to the crypt, where are the sarcophagi of the first Grand Master who ruled in Malta, L'Isle Adam, and of de La Valette and others.

The Governor's Palace, formerly the Grand Master's, close to the Strada Reale, is a noble range of building, containing marble-paved corridors and staircase, and many portraits, and armed figures carrying the shields of all the Governors from the first Grand Master to the present day. The armoury is full of interesting relics, including the original deed granted to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem by Pope Pascal II. in 1126, and the deed when they left Rhodes in 1522. The Library, close to the Palace, contains 40,000 volumes and some Phoenician and Roman antiquities. The highest battery commands a fine view of both harbours and of the fortifications. There are several statues of Grand Masters and Governors in the walk on the ramparts. The Opera House, the Bourse, the Courts of Justice, once the Auberge d'Auvergne, and the Union Club, once the Auberge de Province, and the statues of L'Isle Adam and de La Valette, are in the Strada Reale. In front of the Auberge de Castille are the Piazza Regina and Upper Barracca, affording splendid views of the great harbour. The Military Hospital has the largest room in Europe, 480 ft. long, erected in 1628 by Grand Master Vasconcelos. Below the Military Hospital is the Civil Hospital for Incurables, founded by Caterina Scappi in 1646.

One mile beyond the Porta Reale and the station of the little railway to Civita Vecchia is the Governor's country Palace of St Antonio, with a lovely garden. About m. farther to the S.W. is Citta Vecchia, which stands on a ridge from 200 to 300 ft. high, affording a view over nearly the whole island. There is a fine church here, St Paul's, and near it are some curious catacombs. St Paul's Bay lies at the N.W. extremity of the island; there is a statue of bronze erected on an islet at its mouth. The Carthaginian or Phoenician ruins at Hagier Chem, properly Hajar Kaim, "upright stone," near the village of Casal Crendi, can be visited on the way to it. These ruins, excavated in 1839, consist of walls of large stones fixed upright in the ground, forming small enclosures, connected with one another by passages, and all contained within one large enclosure. The building is thought to have been a temple of Baal and Astarte. The main entrance is on the S.S.E., and a passage leads from it into a court, on the left of which is an altar, with the semblance of a plant rudely sculptured on it. Similar remains are found in other parts of Malta and in Gozo.

Malta is said to have been B.C. and by the Greeks in 750 B.C.

occupied by the Phoenicians in 1500 The Carthaginians got possession

of it in 500 B.C., and the Romans took it towards the close of the

Second Punic War. The Goths and Vandals invaded it in 420 A.D. In 520 A.D. Belisarius made it a province of the Byzantine Empire, the Moslems conquered it in 730 A.D., and Count Roger, the Norman, captured it in 1100 A.D. It then passed to Louis IX., to the Count of Anjou, and to the Kings of Castile, and then to Charles V., who gave it, in 1530, to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. On 18th May 1565 the Turks attacked St Elmo, St Angelo, and Sanglea, but the siege was raised on the 8th of September (see Major Whitworth Porter's History of the Knights of Malta, Longmans 1858). The Knights had their own mint, fleet, and army, and accredited ambassadors to foreign Courts. In the archives are letters from Henry VIII., Charles II., and Anne, addressed to them as Princes. On the 7th of September 1792 the French Directory commanded the Order to be annulled, and seized all its French possessions. On the 7th of June 1798 Bonaparte arrived with a fleet of 18 ships of the line, 18 frigates, and 600 transports, and Malta was surrendered. A tree of liberty was planted before the Palace, the decorations of the knights were burned, and the churches, palaces, and charitable houses at Valetta and Citta Vecchia were pillaged. On the 2nd of September 1798 a general revolt took place, and Nelson blockaded Valetta; and on the 5th of September 1800 their commander, General Vaubois, surrendered.

EGYPT, PORT SAID, AND THE SUEZ CANAL.-The land about Port Said is so low that the approach to the harbour would be difficult were it not for a lighthouse, 184 ft. high above sea-level, built of concrete, which stands a short distance inland to the right of the harbour, close to the W. mole, and shows an electric light flashing every 10 seconds and visible 20 m. off. The harbour is formed by two converging breakwaters, built of concrete blocks. The depth of water at the entrance exceeds 33 ft. Near the S. end of the West jetty is a bold statue of the illustrious founder, Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894), with the motto Aperire terram gentibus." Port Said town is modern, and is a very important coaling-station. The population is 71,000, of which 16,000 are Europeans (census of 1917). The Canal Company's offices form a conspicuous pile of buildings on the embankment that separates the Dock du Commerce from the Dock de l'Arsenal. Opposite the anchorage on the Marina is the French pilots' office, where the draught, breadth, length, and tonnage of each ship entering the canal is noted. Express trains leave Port Said for Ismailia, Suez, and Cairo, taking about 5 hours to Cairo. The principal hotels at Port Said are the Eastern Exchange, Casino Palace, Continental, and Marina Palace. The P. & O. and British India Companies, Messrs

Cook, the Anglo-American Nile Company and the principal Agents in India have representatives at Port Said. On the high ground in the immediate neighbourhood of Ismailia there exists a fine hospital (Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul) built by the Canal Company.

The Canal, formally opened in November 1869, is about 100 statute m., or 86 nautical m., in length. The distance between Port Said and Ismailia by the Canal is 49 statute m., or 42 nautical m. As far as Ismailia it runs due N. and S.; it then bends to the E. for about 35 m., and is again almost straight for the last 20 m.

The following are the dimensions of the Canal, which are steadily being increased :—

Every few miles there is a gare, or station, and a siding with signal posts, by which the traffic is regulated according to the block system. The average duration of transit in 1922 was 15 hrs. 36 min. The maximum speed authorised is 5 nautical m. an hour, except in the large Bitter Lakes, where ships may go full speed.

The number of passages through the Canal in 1922 was 4345, with a net tonnage of 20,743,245 tons; of this number 62.9 per cent. were British. Tonnage dues are at the rate of 7.50 frs. per ton; and passenger transit dues at the rate of 10 frs. for each person. The gross transit receipts earned in 1922 were 166 million frs. As improvements have been from time to time introduced, the average net tonnage per ship passing through the Canal has increased thus :--in 1870, 898 tons; in 1913, 3742 tons; in 1922, 4774 tons.

The number of passengers, other than military, carried through the Canal in 1922 was 176,431. The share capital of the Canal Company is 200,000,000 frs. (£8,000,000). The cost of the Canal has been-up to 31st December 1922, 805,000,000 frs. The Canal route saves about two-fifths of the length of the route by the Cape of Good Hope from the principal ports of Europe to Bombay, and about one-quarter of the route to China

On the W. of the Canal, as far as Al Kantara (the Bridge)—that is, for about one-fourth of the way-there is a broad expanse of water, called Lake Manzala, and for the rest of the distance to the W. and the whole distance to the E., a sandy desert, on which foxes, jackals, hyenas, wander at night. 20 m. from Port Said the old Pelusiac

branch of the Nile is crossed, and 8 m. to the E. are the ruins of the ancient city of Pelusium. At Al Kantara, 29 m. from Port Said, the Canal intersects the caravan-track between Egypt and Syria. Here the passengers on the railway from Egypt to Palestine have to cross the Canal by ferry; and start again from the railway station on the E. bank. The Al Kantara War Cemetery has 1626 graves, of which 341 are those of Australians and New Zealanders. IO m. to the W. is Tel Dafana, the site of Daphne, the Taphnes of Judith, 1, 9. At 2 m. S. of Al Kantara the Canal enters the Lake Bala, and after 12 m. reaches the promontory Al Fardan, which it cuts through. Thence, after 4 m., it reaches Al Gisr, the highest ground in the isthmus, 65 ft. above sea-level. There was a great camp here when the works were in progress, and a staircase of 100 steps led down to the Canal. Beyond this, near the entrance to Lake Timsa, just half-way between Port Said and Suez, a small channel joins the maritime Canal and the Fresh-Water Canal. The difference of level is 17 ft., which is overcome by two locks. A steam-launch comes to meet steamers in the lake, and land passengers for

ISMAILIA, pop. 15,500 (1917), which once had much of the importance and traffic that formerly belonged to Suez, as the mails and passengers for Egypt were landed here. It was, in the War, an important base of operations against the Turks. From the landingplace a broad road lined with trees traverses the town from E. to W. In the W. quarter are the station, the landing-quays of the FreshWater Canal, and large blocks of warehouses, and beyond them the Arab village. In the E. part are the houses of the employés, and the works by which water is pumped from the Fresh-Water Canal to Port Said.

The course of the Canal through Lake Timsa, or Bahr al Timsa, "The Lake of the Crocodile," to which the Red Sea is believed to have formerly extended, is about 2 m., and is marked by buoys. After 4 m. the Canal reaches the higher ground of Tussum, where the level of the desert is 20 ft. above the sea, and here the first working encampment in the S. half of the isthmus was formed in 1859. 3 m. to the S. is Serapeum, where the level is from 15 to 25 ft. above the sea, so called from some remains of a temple of Serapis, lying 4 m. to the W. 1 m. from this the Canal enters the Bitter Lakes, where the course is again buoyed. These lakes are the ancient Gulf of Heræopolis, and some authorities hold that the passage of the Israelites was through this. At the N. and S. ends of the principal lake is an iron lighthouse 65 ft. high, on a solid masonry base. After 86 m. from Port Said the deep cutting of Shaluf is reached, in which is a band of sandstone, with layers of limestone and conglomerate, in which fossil remains of the shark, hippopotamus,