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Malta
units of liquid capacity

For oil and milk

			kwarta
		kartoċċ	4
	nofs	2	8
terz	2	4	16
2¼ imperial gills	1 1/8 imperial pint	1 1/8 imperial quart	1 1/8 imperial gallon
0.320 L	639.3 L	1.278 L	5.114 L

A British publication of 1843, compiled from official Colonial Office records, uses the earlier Italian names instead of Maltese, but provides smaller units. It also states: “A capso [caffiso] is equal to about 4.38 imperial gallons”, from which estimate all the equivalents below have been calculated.

								barrile
							caffiso	2
					half caffiso		2	4
					quarta	2	4	8
			quarturiso		4	8	16	32
			mezza	2	8	16	32	64
		terzo	2	4	16	32	64	128
	misura	2½	5	10	40	80	160	320
quartini	4	10	20	40	160	320	640	1280
0.055 imp pt	0.22 imp pt	0.55 imp pt	1.10 imp pt	1.10 imp qt	1.10 imp. gal	2.19 imp. gal	4.38 imp. gal	8.76 imp gal
31 mL	124 mL	311 mL	622 mL	1.24 L	4.98 L	9.96 L	19.91 L	39.82 mL

Robert Montgomery Martin.
History of the Colonies of the British Empire in the West Indies, South America, North America, Asia...
London: W. H. Allen & Co. and George Routledge, 1843.

Page 587. There is a typesetting error in the number of half caffisos in a barrile; “7” was set for “4”.

For beer, wine and spirits

						barmil
					garra	4
				kwarta	2	8
			kartoċċ	4.75	9.5	38
		nofs	2	9.5	19	76
	terz	2	4	19	38	152
pinta	2	4	8	38	76	304
1 gill	2 gills	1 imp pint	1 imp qt	4¾ imp qts	2 3/8 imp gal	9½ imp gallons
142.1 mL	284.1 mL	568.3 mL	1.1365 L	5.398 L	10.797 L	43.188 L

As can be seen in the British equivalents, these capacities have been heavily influenced by the British.

Pre-British liquid measures

Martin, cited above, also described the earlier system “for all liquors; oil, milk and honey excepted… The barrile is about equal to 9.37 imperial gallons.” Unfortunately the chart published in History of the Colonies suffers from a serious typesetting error: the quartara was omitted, throwing everything off. In Martin's The British Colonial Library, published a year later, the chart does not have that problem. It is shown below with equivalents calculated from 1 barrile ≈ 9.37 imp. gallons.

Doursther (1840) says, page 431, "Malthe. La pipe vin = 11 barils...458 litres", and there are other questions, such as whether the Maltese botte was really 2 or 3 pipa.

									botte
								pipa	2
						barrile		11	22
				quartara			2	22	44
			mezza quartara			2	4	44	88
			quartino		9½	19	38	418	836
		mezzo		2	19	38	76	836	1672
		terzo	2	4	38	76	152	1672	3344
	pinta	2	4	8	78	152	304	3344	6688
mezza pinta	2	4	8	16	152	304	608	6688	13376
70 mL	140 mL	280 mL	560 mL	1.12 L	5.32 L	10.65 L	42.60 L	468.6 L	937.1 L

Robert Montgomery Martin.
The British Colonial Library, comprising... vol 7.
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1844.
which reprints
History of the British Possessions in the Mediterranean: comprising Gibraltar, Malta, Gozo, and the Ionian Islands.
London: Whittaker & Co., 1837.

Page 286.

Malta units of liquid capacity

For oil and milk

For beer, wine and spirits

Pre-British liquid measures

Malta
units of liquid capacity