On arrival at Malta, I and others were put through our firing course,
and the regiment took over the charge of prisoners and interned Germans,
of whom, together, there were on the island--so soon after the beginning
of hostilities--no fewer than 8,000. One of the first sketches I made
was of our Bivouac.

[Illustration: BIVOUAC AT MALTA.]


MALTA AND THE PIRATES.

Malta, which has been called "the master key of the Mediterranean and
the Levant," "the stepping-stone to Egypt and the Dardanelles," and "the
connecting link between England and India," is one of our Empire's most
valuable possessions, and its physical formation has made it for
generations past of great maritime value. The island is, in itself, a
rock, and all its earth and mould has been imported. In the days when
there were no submarines or warships, it was the headquarters of pirates
roaming at large in the Mediterranean. These pirate crews, after
capturing their prey, used to bring their captures into one of the
entrances of the island, now called the Grand Harbour. At the base of
the harbour is the town of Valetta, which was catacombed in those early
times, and tunnels were made through the island rock. When pirates had
brought a ship under cover of the natural harbour to these tunnels, they
took all the merchandise ashore and then broke up the vessel, so as to
leave no trace of the incident. The crew were usually massacred to a
man, and when chase was given, no trace whatever could be found of
either the pirates or their captures, and later on their ill-gotten
gains would be shipped off from the other end of the tunnel in another