class="apple-converted-space"> limestone
cliffs, and dotted with deep caves
which were popular with
pirates
and marauders in the
Middle Ages. The caves and coves of
Comino were frequently used as staging posts for raids on hapless boats
crossing between Malta and Gozo. In later years, the
Knights of Malta
used this island as hunting and
recreational grounds. The Knights were fiercely protective of the local game,
which consisted of
wild boar
and
hares
(Maltese:
fenek
tal-grixti): upon conviction, poachers were liable to a penalty of three
years as a
galley slave.
From 1285 until some
time after 1290, Comino was the home of exiled prophetic cabbalist Abraham
Abulafia. It was on Comino that Abulafia composed his "Sefer
ha-Ot" (The Book of
the Sign), and his last work, "Imre Shefer" (Words of Beauty).
