The Maltese had a violent love for money but never got drunk, while the women were very well built with beautiful, black eyes but who “regrettably” had flat noses and upturned lips, “confirming the proximity of Africa”, a French priest writing in 1758 observed.

In a book entitled Le Voyageur François (the French traveller), Joseph de Laporte includes an eyewitness account of his visit to the Maltese islands between November 4-20, 1758, in the process annoying the Knights of Malta who wrote a long letter of complaint to the Journal de Paris, claiming his description was unfair and inaccurate.

David Roderick Lyon, a committee member of the Malta Map Society who has been living in Malta for the past 17 years, came across the old book in the tiny village of Bazus-Neste in the French Pyrenees. He explains that the publication was quite successful, as it ran into several editions. However, it is rare today, because the books were destroyed in order to take out the engravings they contained.

“The question is: was Delaporte a pious priest (according to his own estimation and that of his publishers) or a charlatan (according to the Knights)?”

In his account, Laporte describes the Maltese as extremely strong and healthy, with men being able to row for 10 to 12 hours incessantly without getting tired.

Many other men were engaged in agricultural work, working hard in the scorching heat, which Laporte describes as “unbearable”. Despite the poor quality of the soil, the Maltese managed to achieve the truly remarkable. No soil was left uncultivated while soil was even brought over from Sicily. Corn was not plentiful but cotton harvests were abundant while oranges are described as “delicious”.

Despite the influx of many different nationalities, the Maltese did not lose their original characteristics, he points out. They were calm, patient and kind, worked incessantly, lived in poor conditions and made many sacrifices. They put up with unjustified bad treatment and never complained against their government.

“Their needs as well as living with foreigners have given them a violent love of money,” he writes. The Maltese hoarded money and engaged in usury.

“It is said that some fathers and husbands, although dominated by excesses of jealousy, nevertheless deliver their own daughters or wives to those who will pay for their pleasure. Some Knights take advantage of this”.

Laporte describes the language of the lower classes as Arabic, adding that the peoples of Africa and Malta understood each other perfectly. The Maltese nobility are described as very withdrawn. To avoid problems with the Order, they lived quietly behind closed doors.

The Maltese hoarded money and engaged in usury... They were calm, patient and kind, worked incessantly, lived poorly

Among the places mentioned is St Paul’s Grotto. Among the miraculous properties attributed to the saint was a whitish powder found in the grotto, which was consumed as a remedy to cure a number of illnesses.

The powder was never exhausted, despite the fact that the locals took large quantities of it while large crates were shipped to foreign countries as far away as the Middle East.

An excerpt from the book

It is said that the population of the island, including Gozo, is more than 100,000 souls. The women are small but very well built; they have the most beautiful hands, the prettiest feet in the world, and beautiful black eyes, which sparkle with life and penetrate you.

One is astonished at their white skin which is much whiter than that of Siciliennes; it is true that they take great pains to maintain the light colour of their skin; but what is a little regrettable is that they have flat noses and upturned lips: these last features confirm the proximity of Africa.

Otherwise, they are fiery and have a lot of vivacity, and are of sound mind: they would be the most charming of women were it not for the fact that they do not form attachments but are generally accused of seeking money or advantages from their lovers who shouldn’t for a moment expect from them strong passion or delicate sentiments.

The effects of the African climate are even more obvious in Maltese men. Small but vigorous and lively, they all have large flat noses, thick lips, fleshy chins and strong curly hair. The ordinary people go around barefoot in the winter or summer: they do not wear hats and are happy to just tie their hair up with a handkerchief.

Almost all are excellent sailors, obliged as they are to leave their island in search of a multitude of things necessary for life, which they lack. They are accustomed to facing danger to make the most difficult of manoeuvres: they are better at climbing ships’ masts than Englishmen or Dutchmen.

Their soberness is singular: most of them eat nothing but raw garlic and white onions, with some bread.

A drunk man is a rare sight.

*Translated from the French by David Roderick Lyon.

kim.dalli@timesofmalta.com