The object of this book is to discuss the Mediterranean race and its supposed successors, the modern Maltese, from the points of view of archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics.
In the field of archaeology the views of the author are important, because he shared in the recent work of excavation. His account of the great megalithic structures at Hal Safiieni and Hagiar Kim, illustrated by a series of fine photographs, are valuable. He deals with the prehistoric remains found in the island under the heads of—caves; hypaethral sanctuaries; hypogaea or underground buildings; rock tombs; dolmens; megalithic towers, walls, and villages; and menhirs or single upright stones. He suggests that the dolmen had its origin in the attempt to shapen or reduce the width of the opening of the cave occupied by the primitive troglodytes.
In anthropology he follows the guidance of Professor Sergi, and he hesitates to accept the view of Professor Elliot Smith that the dolmen-building impulse was derived from Egypt. The curious steatopygous figures or idols found in the excavations he connects with a South African race like the Bushmen. He is on less safe ground when he traces the Celtic plaid to "Mycenaean" costume, and the taste of the modern Maltese for lace to the pre-Aryan race, or when he finds in the blue eyes of some Maltese girls a link between Africa and Ireland. We may readily admit that the almost complete absence of the double-axe symbol and the unique character of the local pottery prove the isolation of the people in the prehistoric age.[1] But, even granting this, it is difficult to believe that a race occupying an island provided with fine harbours, on the highway of commerce, could, in spite of the occupation of the island by successive bodies of foreigners, have maintained its purity.
The chapter on folklore records variants of the legends of Hercules and of Perseus and Andromeda, and a local tale of the Serpent and the Apples. The curious carving on the altar at
- ↑ Cf. Folk-Lore, vol. xxiv., p. 267.
