ISBN: 9781236092281

RareBooksClub. Paperback. New. This item is printed on demand. Paperback. 176 pages. Dimensions: 9.7in. x 7.4in. x 0.4in.This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Pur… More...

RareBooksClub. Paperback. New. This item is printed on demand. Paperback. 176 pages. Dimensions: 9.7in. x 7.4in. x 0.4in.This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: . . . of fleas the company contrived to sustain on board. The state-room was thronged with them, as well as the saloon sofas, and throughout the night the vigilant nibblers battled with Somnus for supremacy. As the Florio company is Sicilian, the home port being Palermo, such an accession in a steamer on a short route is in every way appropriate. If there is one object above another to which the average Sicilian is partial, it is fleas; and hence they are liberally supplied to every household, hotel, and public conveyance. The traveller, however, who is accustomed to cleanliness, and pays thirty francs for an eight hours voyage, generally prefers to dispense with such favorites. We arrived at Malta early in the morning, ran in under the pretentious walls of the Castle of St. Angelo and Fort St. Elmo, and anchored close to the British war-fleet. Among the ships was the five-masted iron-clad Minotaur, an impressive specimen of Englands strength on the ocean. If Theseus of old could arise from his sepulchre in the noble Athenian temple, he would scarcely dare grapple with this modern John Bull of the seas. Upon landing at Valetta the stranger verily falls among thieves, as a more rascally fraternity than the Maltese porters could not exist. When these parasites are disposed of, and the traveller is installed at the inviting English hotel, it is not difficult to discover that Malta is a pleasant resort and a favorite haven for fagged Londoners and exhausted Anglo-Indiamen. We were fortunate in seeing the place exceptionally animated, because of the presence of some twenty thousand more troops than usual. The society of the island at the time of our visit was led by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, whose presence there was necessitated by the dukes captaincy of . . . This item ships from La Vergne,TN., RareBooksClub<