138

HISTORY OF MALTA.

consumption of wood was indeed very considerable, amountingto about five thousand quintals a-month, and that merely forthe use of the troops and the bakers.

Provisions* continued till the month of March at the fol-lowing exorbitant prices:

Fresh pork.CheeseA rabbit .

A fowlA pigeon .

A bottle of wineAn egg

Liv. sous. s. d.

3 8 or 2 10 per pound.

SO— 267 4 — 6 2

29 0 — 24 10

6 0 — 5 0

SO— 260 8 — 0 4

The difficulty of procuring them, even at so great anexpence, gave cause to apprehend the most dreadful conse-quences. The number of sick encreased every day; andthough it cannot be said they literally died of hunger, yet theycertainly were in want not only of proper food for people in theirsituations, but of every comfort necessary for the restoration andpreservation of their health. The French had not always, as for-merly, the power of permitting the inhabitants to quit thecity, the besiegers frequently refused receiving those for whomthe gates were thrown open, and these unfortunate people

* Before the blockade, the common price of meat was three pence a-pound y a fowl sixpence ; and wine from two to three pence a bottle.