And so, weak education in the cities only erased native customs and character. But beyond the gates of the city, everything takes on a different form: there you will not hear another language except the natural one, that is, Arabic, but distorted; The national costume, passed down from father to son, has been preserved since ancient times. Men wear striped trousers made from paper, a vest or camisole made from the same material, fastened only on holidays with round silver buttons, and a white or colored paper cap. Ordinary workers walk barefoot; but farmers who are richer tie rawhide soles, a kind of sandal, to their feet with ribbons or belts. Women, like city women, wear epanechka, but not silk, but cloth, and only put it on when going to church.
I looked with particular pleasure at the good-natured people of Malta. You won’t find a single drunkard on the entire island; That’s why people are strong, fresh, and even the old people of Crimea. Work, in the name of a healthy climate, the usual moderation in everything, preserve morality, health, (and gobizoegza (how to say it here). This is the success of the happy villagers in Malet! Live like me all over the island, and you will see these workers, forcing the dry, ungrateful soil, to reward their hard and constant labors. You will win ninety-year-old people, not lagging behind the young in work and labor.
But the greed of powerful peoples does not allow them to enjoy these benefits! The Maltese remember with grief their spiritual knights who watched over them independently. power and prosperity. Now the English proconsul, under the name of the Governor-General, rules this country unaccountably, and one might say autocratically, like a military dictator. He makes laws, rejects them, even repeals them according to his own will; elects judges and judges whenever he wants; Pompowers Ro, he picks up the winter crops and throws them away whenever he pleases. The will of the Maltese governor is unlimited here! Because of this, the whims of him, and those around him and the Ankhlichans who are punished by him with almost all vengeance, are unbearably burdensome, with illegal exactions and extortions of all kinds, for the poor inhabitants of Malta. The British are coming here to enrich themselves, and they are trying to fulfill this, wanting to return home soon.
During the order's administration, all positions were occupied by residents of the island. Although there is no law that would prohibit this, the British everywhere prefer to identify their compatriots, leaving the Maltese the very last and most meaningless positions. For this reason, the Maltese grumble loudly and sincerely hate the British.
The island of Malta is nothing more than a bare rock outcrop; But. the labors and industry of mankind would make it fruitful. It serves as proof of what a hardworking person can produce when he diligently and constantly deals with one subject, even, as here, in a hot climate, on barren land, on bare stone. Wherever you look at the island, there is a milky-white stone: it is soft and easy to cut; and between the two you will find beautiful gardens everywhere, and here and there small fields with barley, wheat and cotton paper; groves of orange and lemon trees. All kinds of radiant vegetables grow on the ridges. Many travelers told that the Maltese brought land from Sicily; but these are fairy tales. The closest coast of Sicily from Malta is about a hundred miles away; On small ships you can’t manage land, and it’s too expensive to occupy larger ones. The land on Malta5 is nothing more than dust and rotting rubbish collected in coastal crevices; Most of it came from the stone itself, decomposed by time, and from manure collected over many years. The land here is precious, and that is why the smallest dachas are fenced with stones, firstly to mark the property, and also to protect the land, which could otherwise be blown away by the gusty and strong winds that occur here.