Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/567

Valetta, close to the great harbour. The site is the lowest on that side of the town,, and all the ground falls towards it. There is an apparent advantage of position derived from the proximity of some of the sick wards to the sea, but in a climate like that of Malta, where sanitary condition depends so much on the nature of the winds, this advantage is neutralized and converted into a disadvantage by the circumstance that all healthy winds are cut off from the building partly by its bad construction, partly by its being enclosed on three sides by a densely-packed neighbourhood of lofty houses. (This latter objection may probably not have been foreseen when the site was originally selected.) Also because the lofty works of St. Elmo intervene between the site of the hospital and the north and north-westerly winds, which are the really healthy ones. The only wind that blows directly on the sick wards is the scirocco, a well-known cause of indisposition at Malta, and the effect of which is immediately perceived by the sick. The site is hence exposed only to unhealthy winds, and at all other times there is more or less stagnation of air about it, unless there is stormy weather.” This building, which has been used by the military as a hospital ever since the island was transferred to England, remains very much what it was when originally constructed. It consists of two squares or courts, one on a much lower level than the other. The far side of the lower square is prolonged in one direction until it reaches a length of upwards of 500 feet, with a width of thirty-five feet. One of the other sides of the square is also a single ward, at right angles to this. The lower square with the long ward was probably the first portion of the Hospital constructed. The Rev. W. Bedford, in his preface on the Great Hospital at Valetta, says:—“The first erection seems to have been the great hall, now divided by partitions, which do not reach more than half its height, but containing under one roof a room 503 feet long, 34 feet 10 inches broad, and 30 feet 6 inches high. The beams of the roof appear to be red deal, although common report states Sicilian chesnut to be the wood employed in their construction. The apartment at right angles also formed part of the same great hall, though now divided by another partition of about twelve feet in height. There seems to have been a communica-