The Maltese Cart Ruts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18947396 |
|---|---|
| Authors | E G Fenton (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1918 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Pages | 67 |
| Publication date | 1918-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Man (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0025-1496 • E-ISSN: 2397-2548 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2787374 |
| OpenAlex | W2795933360 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
Malta as it exists today might be looked upon as having attained almost \nas high a degree of agricultural development as it is possible for any small state to \nattain, considering its situation and its present rather unfavourable climatic conditions. \nAlthough most of the island is subdivided by stone walls into \nthousands of little fields which are cultivated throughout like kitchen gardens, yet \nthere are to be seen here and there small barren patches where the original bedrock \nshows on the surface in its old-time nakedness. In fact, we might say that the \nMaltese take as much as it is possible to take out of the parts of the island which \nare under cultivation, and are, as far as their means allow them, slowly reclaiming \nthe uncultivated bare areas. \nHistory relates that some five or six centuries ago a large portion of the surface \nof Malta was naked and uncultivated, and that for some considerable time after the \noccupation of the island by the Knights (A.D. 1520), the inhabitants regularly imported \nthousands of shiploads of earth, and spread it over the ground to make a skin of \nsoil for cultivation. The inhabitants of Malta are by nature very industrious,and \nthe conditions of peace which they have enjoyed since the occupation of the island, \nfirst by the Knights and afterwards by the British, have enabled them to bring \ntheir little state to a condition of agricultural perfection which, considering all the \nadverse circumstances of climate, distance from markets, etc., with which they have \nto contend, might be regarded as model. \nFor one half of the year, from May to November, practically no rain falls orn \nMlalta, and although during the other half year there is a fair average rainfall, yet \nthe desiccating action of the summer so predominates over the winter railns that if \nit were not for the number of sheltering stone walls which are erected all over the \nisland, and the artificial watering carried on by the natives, Malta would soon be \nreduced to the semi-barren rock condition which it was in some centuries ago. This \ncondition of affairs is characteristic of many parts of the littoral of the Mediterranean, \nand it is a curious fact that although there is, as a rule, in most places a fair total annual rainfall, the conditions found are of arid, dried-up countries. A rainfall of \n25 or even 30 inches does not seem to help a country if it all falls in one short \nseason and leaves the land parched for the rest of the year. \nThe stone walls, then, and the artificial watering, are the preservation of Malta, \nand these could only be carried out in a country protected from plunder and pillage. \nLet us now visit some of the barren patches alluded to as existing here and there \nover the island, and we shall be \nsurprised to see what seem to be \npeculiar cart ruts cut in the hard \nrock
Archaeology · Cart · Geography · Linguistics · Maltese · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Law, logistics, and international trade · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |