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elers and rob them or keep them for a ransom. Brigandage has for generations been the dominant industry in the Sicilies, but it is due to the present Italian government to say that they are doing all in their power to suppress it.

On the 28th, General Grant and party arrived at La Valetta, Malta. At this place the General was visited by the Duke of Edinburgh, who was at Malta in cormand of the Sultan, an English ironclad. His Royal Highness was received at the gangway by Captain Robeson. He was dressed in his uniform as Captain, wearing on his breast the star of the Garter.

General Grant advanced and greeted the Duke, and presented the gentlemen with him, and they retired to the cabin. They remained in conversation for the best part of an hour, talking about Malta, its antiquities, its history, England, education and the Eastern question. The Duke spoke of the visit of his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke Alexis, to America, and of the gratification of the family at the reception tendered him in America. His Royal Highness is a pattern of a sailor, and has all the ease and off-hand grace of the family. On taking his leave, he invited the General and family to visit him at his palace of San Antonio and take luncheon, which was accepted.

The palace of San Antonio is about four miles from town; it is surrounded by orange groves and walls, and is noted as the only large garden on the island. The drive was through an interesting country, and greatly enjoyed by the visitors. At the palace, the Duke and Duchess received the General and Mrs. Grant and their son in the most gracious manner. After luncheon His Royal Highness escorted them through the orange groves. At noon General Grant visited the Governor-General of Malta.

On leaving, the General was saluted with twenty-one guns. A regiment was drawn up in front of the palace as a guard of honor. The Governor, a famous old English

General, Van Straubeuzee, wore the Order of the Grand Cross of the Bath. He received the General and party at the door of the palace, surrounded by his council and a group of Maltese noblemen. After presentation to Lady Van Straubeuzee the same ceremonies were repeated. In the evening there was a state dinner to the General and party at the palace, including, among the guests, Commander Robeson and Lieutenant-Commander Caldwell, of the Vandalia, as well as the Captain and executive officers of the Gettysburg At the dinner General Grant's health was proposed, which was responded to in the heartiest manner.

There were many temptations to remain in Malta. Hospitalities were showered upon General Grant. All the great ones vied with one another in making his visit a pleasant one. Yet on the last day of the year the Gen. eral bid good-bye and sailed for the land of the Lotus.

CHAPTER XXVI.

IN EGYPT AND THE LOTUS LAND.

The voyage from Malta to Egypt was exceedingly unpleasant. A severe storm prevailed most of the time, rendering life anything but comfortable. Unlike the majority of military heroes, General Grant seems to take kindly to the waves, and to be as much at home on them as if he had been educated at Annapolis instead of West Point.

No storm, however severe, could deprive him of his cigar, or, to use a sea phrase, keep him below. In this respect he is very unlike Napoleon, who detested the sea, and whom the smell of tar invariably sickened. The English humorists never tired of twitting him on the fact, and the patriotic prints and cartoons at the time he was planning his celebrated invasion depict the conqueror of the continent in some exceedingly ludicrous positions.

The General and party stopped at Alexandria because they wanted a safe anchorage, though they had intended going direct to Cairo. He remained there three days. The Vandalia had hardly anchored when the Governor of the district, the Admiral and the General, Pachas and Beys, Consul-General Farman, Judges Barringer and Morgan, and resident missionaries, came on board, and were received by General Grant. The Governor, in the name of the Khedive, welcomed General Grant to Egypt, and offered him a palace in Cairo and a special steamer up the Nile. It is Oriental etiquette to return calls as soon as possible, and accordingly in the afternoon the General, accompanied

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