Commodore Troubridge began life as a ship's boy at fifteen, and rose from seaman to be an officer through his steady attention to his duty, so in all ways he was a good example for a Scout to follow.
Malta remains to-day a British colony, small in size—not much bigger than the Isle of Wight—but having a numerous population of people speaking their own language, and at the same time loyal to King George and the British Empire.
Malta is chiefly valuable as having a harbour, dockyard, and coal stores for our Mediterranean Fleet, and is therefore strongly fortified and garrisoned by British troops, both infantry and artillery.
The Maltese themselves supply some companies of Fortress Artillery and two battalions of Infantry Militia.
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MALTESE BOY SCOUTS.
Now, also, they have their Boy Scouts, whom I saw during my visit.
For Sea Scouts it is an ideal place, with its fine harbours, and its coasts with their numerous creeks and landing places.
The warm climate also induces much to bathing, and the Maltese are naturally good swimmers and handy men in boats. Their boats are very graceful in shape; they are called "daisas," which is spelt "dghaisa," but I never could see the use of the letters "gh" in the word; it sounds all right without them.
[Illustration: A MALTESE "DGHAISA.">[