Pawlu Muscat could see that I was truly fascinated to see his beautiful miniature models of horse-drawn carts and carriages used as a mode of transport, as well as others used by different street hawkers in times gone by.

I met him at his workshop in Fgura, where he spends hours on end thinking and working on all forms of material to use for his models (which also include religious statues, traditional boats, a farmhouse, windmills and a traditional Maltese street organ (terramaxka), among others).

Pawlu is a former dockyard worker who retired early and then started his own business making metal railings. I asked him how he goes about making the metal form for certain carts, but he was lost for words. “This is second nature to me now,” he smiled.

He has been making models for the past 20 years, and as he showed me around an area where the carts are neatly displayed, Pawlu explained what each was used for.

The details are truly impressive; I asked him about the different-sized baskets and he started coming up with words such as qartalla, kannestru, mezza, qoffa and bixkilla.

These lovely Maltese words refer to baskets in different forms and sizes used to carry a variety of products – from bigilla (Maltese bean dip), to rizzi (sea urchins), fruit, vegetables, and even granita (lemon-flavoured crushed ice).

In the past, street hawkers selling these products and others, and providing services (such as knife sharpening and street cleaning) were a common sight, and Pawlu decided to start making miniature models representing them; but he also makes horse-drawn carts and carriages that were used as a mode of transport.

He explained however, that he only makes the carts, and gets a friend to make the clay models of the horses and the people.

In his book Minn fuq l-Ghatba (From the Doorstep), author Charles Casha gives colourful descriptions of a number of street hawkers you would come across on Maltese streets in the past.

“Every Monday and Thursday, the paraffin seller [tal-pitrolju] would come. He had a cry that even the deaf could hear. He would stop at three different points in our street and, each time, he would raise [cup] his hand to his mouth and yell with all his might: “Troljuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!” (intended to mimic the sound of his product’s name: pi-trol-ju). He would drag that last vowel till he ran out of breath. 

“…Another street hawker was the one who sold mulberries. I still recollect his call, “żabbarija t-tut”, though I never really understood what that meant exactly! He would come mostly in the afternoon, carrying two wicker baskets; one on each arm. His fingertips were stained black from the berries.

“…In summer, there also came a man who sold sea urchins (tar-rizzi), carrying a large basket over his back. When he stopped, people came out to buy. He would split the urchin over a block of cork tied to his basket and the part of it that was not sold would fall inside a smaller basket tied to the bigger one.

“We, the children, would swarm around him in the hope of being given these remnants so we could pick some meat that might have remained there. At times we would ask him for a whole one and enjoy seeing it move when placed in direct sunlight.” 

As Pawlu carried on explained the use of each horse-drawn cart and carriage he made, I asked him how he remembers certain details, particularly when it comes to the carriages.

“Well I sometimes make them from memory, but I often use pictures, such as those in Guido Lanfranco’s book, Xoghol, Gahgih u Snajja li Spiccaw.”

He went on to tell me about the horse-drawn carriages, including the Omnibus, the Kaless, the funerary carriage and the wedding carriage.

The Kaless was a mode of transport used by wealthy people; it was introduced at the time of the Knights and was used until the end of the 19th century.

Speaking about the Omnibus, Pawlu recalled that people used to (and some still do) refer to it as the ‘nemnebus’.

It was the first form of public transport in the country. The service was introduced in Malta by the British in 1856. The Omnibus could carry 14 people and although it was more affordable than the Kaless, it was still an expensive mode of transport for the poor.