Our farmers used to spend many long hours in the fields. They needed nutritious food, suitable clothing which was hand made by our tradi-tional female weavers, they also required hats to protect them from the scorching sunlight. These hats were made of dried palm leaves at the village of Qala. Many types of baskets were also made by cane workers at Xaghra and Nadur. These baskets like wicker baskets were of different forms and sizes, had different names and were used for fodder, grapes and fruit, and were also extremely handy for all kinds of work. Luckily, the craft of basket making has not died out yet. During the last World War, a family of rope-makers from Cospicua settled in Gozo and with them they brought the craft of rope-making. Regretfully this craft has died out in Gozo very recently.

Agriculture (including gardening) was the traditional industry par excellence in Gozo. The methods used for digging, sowing, irrigation, harvesting, and threshing were different in many ways from those used in Malta. There were also important differences in vocabulary. In Gozo, technical terms are more abundant and more detailed, and very often more to the point. A very good book which could be used for a comparative study in this regard is that about Selmun written by Paul P. Borg. Two examples will illustrate this point: The plant which in Gozo is called Xatbet 1-Andar (Verbascum Thapsus L.) is called Xahbet 1-Andar in Selmun. Further investigations suggests that the Selmun people cor-rupted the original pronunciation of the plant's name, which literally meant the broom of the threshing floor.

Traditional tools and implements of our farmers and fishermen are also an important topic which could be studied in comparison with that of Malta. Many of our tools and implements were made by our blacksmiths and carpenters. One blacksmith from Gharb even managed to invent the Gozitan knife, sikkina tal-Gharb famous in both islands for its durability and sharpness.

THE BUILDING INDUSTRY AND STONE QUARRYING

The building industry has been with us for thousands of years. Indeed, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the GgantUa Prehistoric Temples are the oldest free standing structures in the world. Gozo has a richer and more varied geological outcrops than Malta, and the Gozitan traditional quarrying and stone cutting industry are an interesting and very important sources of folklore material. Gozo used to have all kinds of stones quarried from various sites: soft franka, that is soft globigerina limestone, fine building stone, the real franka, free from impurities, hard upper and lower coralline limestone, the latter being used for monu-ments. We even have onyx from Zebbug with which several fine pieces of aft have been produced for the embellishment of the parish church of that village. There is also a special kind of franka for the manufacture of stone-stoves (kwiener) which used to be exported to Malta and to Greece, and another special type of franka, a harder type for the making of puteals (herez) for all the wells and cisterns of these islands.

The building industry is well entrenched in the hearts and minds of the humble people of this island, so much so that several Gozitans have become well known master-builders of churches, palaces and other public buildings.

The standard measurements of building blocks of stone in Gozo are different from those of Malta. Even when the Government intervened some years ago to reduce the standard measurements with a view to making smaller and lighter stone blocks for better and easier handling, the differences between Gozitan and Maltese measurements remained. In fact, just to give one example, common Gozitan building blocks have a height of 11 inches while similar Maltese stone-blocks are only 10.25 inches in height. A Gozitan master-builder informed the present author
that Gozitans were very keen on sticking to these differences in spite ol Government intervention, and this, they said, for technical reasons known to them.

Traditionally, the village of Zebbug in Gozo has always been the village of master-builders. Victor Vella built the Ta' Pinu Basilica, the dome and roof of Zebbug Parish Church and the Kercem Parish church. Victor Vella built the Zebbug Cemetery and for some time worked, with Joseph Dimech, on the Ghajnsielem new Parish Church, one of the largest monumental churches in Gozo. Louis Vella built the dome of the Xaghra Parish Church, the Monastery of the Friar Minors (Ta' Giezu) at Mgarr, Munxar and Fontana Parish Churches, and the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes at Mg arr. Michael Vella built the church ofPerpetual Adoration, Ta' Savina; Xavier Vella built the dome of Vittoriosa Collegiate Church, the dome and the naves of St George's Parish Church in Rabat, the original Church and bell-towers of the Qala Parish Church, the chapel of the Sacred Heart at the Seminary and the steeple of St Augustine's Church in Rabat. Other localities of Gozitan master-builders are Xewkija and Rabat, though every village at one time or another had its own master-builder.

We also had the humble and unknown master-builders who erected our rubble walls all over the countryside, which have been with us since Neolithic times. Since then the whole of Gozo has been terraced with fertile fields enclosed by rubble walls.

Stone quarrying in Gozo and the study of the traditional building industry and local architecture are two primary sources of folklore material with considerable richness of technical terms and other infor-mation. Gozitan craftsmen know well the meaning of such words, which may be somewhat different from the meaning current in Malta, and this leads to an important consideration regarding the misuse of certain traditional terms.
 
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