ITELITA (mel'i-ta.), (Gr. IsIEX(r7j, Melita), an island in the Mediterranean, Oil which the ship which was conveying St. Paul as a pris oner to Rome was wrecked, and which was the scene of the interesting circumstances recorded in Acts xxviii (1) Name. Melita was the ancient name of Malta, and also of a small island in the Adriatic, TIOW called Meleda, and each of these has found warm advocates for its identification with the Melita of Scripture. The received and long-estah fished opinion is undoubtedly in favor of Malta; and those who uphold the claims of Meleda are to be regarded as dissenting from the general conclusion. This dissent proceeds chiefly upon the ground that the ship of St. Paul was 'driven about in (the sea of) Adria,' when wrecked on Melita. But the name Adria was not. in its an cient acceptation, limited to the present Adriatic Sea. but comprehended the seas of Greece and Sicily, and extended even to Africa This seems to have been established beyond dispute, and ev ery one acquainted with the mass of evidence brought to bear on this point, must regard the only strong argument in favor of Meleda as hav ing been entirely overthrown.
(2) St. Paul's Bay. The name of St. Paul's Bay has been given to the place where the ship wreck is supposed to have taken place. This, the sacred historian says, was at 'a certain creek with a shore,' i. e. a seemingly practicable shore, on which they purposed, if possible, to strand the vessel, as their only apparent chance to escape be ing broken on the rocks. In attempting this the ship seems to have struck and gone to pieces on the rocky headland at the entrance of the creek. This agrees very well with St. Paul's Bay, more so than with any other creek of the island. This bay is a deep inlet on the north side of the island, being the last indentation of the coast but one from the western extremity of the island. It is about two miles deep, by one mile broad. The harbor which it forms is very unsafe at some dis tance from the shore, although there is good anchorage in the middle for light vessels. The most dangerous part is the western headland at the entrance of the bay, particularly as there is waves. From the headland of the bay the an cient capital of Malta (now Citta Vecchia, Old City) is distinctly seen at the distance of about five miles.
The sacred historian calls the inhabitants ficip flapot, 'barbarians':—'the barbarous people showed us no small kindness.' This is far from im plying that they were savages or uncivilized men : it merely intimates that they were not of Greek or Roman origin. This description applies to the ancient inhabitants of Malta most ac curately; and as it could not apply to the in habitants of Melida, who were Greeks, this is an other argument to show that not Melida but Malta is the Melita of Scripture.
(3) Location. The island of Malta lies in the Mediterranean, about sixty miles south from Cape Passaro in Sicily. It is sixty miles in circumfer ence, twenty in length, and twelve in breadth. Near it, on the west, is a smaller island, called Gozo, about thirty miles in circumference. Malta has no mountains or high hills, and makes no fig ure from the sea. It is naturally a barren rock, close to it a small island (Salamone), and a still smaller islet (Salamonetta), the currents and shoals around which are particularly dangerous in stormy weather. It is usually supposed that the vessel struck at this point.
In 1810 the British frigate Lively went to pieces on those very breakers, at the point of Koura, at the entrance of the bay. The crew, like Paul's shipmen, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, could not see the land, but they saw the surf on the shore. Every ship approaching the land must here pass over twenty fathoms, and not only must this depth be close to the spot where they had the indications of land, but it must bear east by south from the fifteen fathom depth. The fifteen fathom depth is, as nearly as possible, a quarter of a mile from the shore, which is here girt with mural precipices, and on which the sea must have been breaking violently. At the bot tom of the Bay of St. Paul's there is a com munication with the sea outside by a channel not more than a hundred yards in breadth, formed by the separation of Salamone Island, a long rocicy ridge, from the mainland. Near this channel, where "two seas meet," are two creeks, into one of which they ran the ship ashore; the fore part stuck fast in the mud and clay, while the stern was dashed to pieces by the force of the but has been made in parts abundantly fertile by the industry and toil of man.