During our stay in j.a.pan and our voyage thence to Ceylon I had endeavoured at least in some degree to preserve the character of the voyage of the _Vega_ as a scientific expedition, an attempt which, considering the short time the _Vega_ remained at each place, could not yield any very important results, and which besides was rendered difficult, though in a way that was agreeable and flattering to us, by I may almost say the tempestuous hospitality with which the _Vega_ men were everywhere received during their visits to the ports of j.a.pan and East Asia. It was besides difficult to find any new untouched field of research in regions which were the seat of culture and civilisation long before the time when the forest began to be cut down and seed to be sown in the Scandinavian North, and which for centuries have formed the goal of exploratory expeditions from all the countries of Europe. I hope however that the _Vega_ will leave lasting memorials even of this part of her voyage through the contributions of Stuxberg, Nordquist, Kjellman, and Almquist to the evertebrate fauna and the sea-weed and lichen flora of East Asia, and by my collections of j.a.panese books, of fossil plants from Mogi and Labuan, &c.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SCIENTIFIC MEN OF THE _"VEGA."_ F.R. Kjellman.
A. Stuxberg.
E. Almquist O. Nordquist. ]
With the new overpowering impression which nature and people exerted on those of us, who now for the first time visited j.a.pan, China, India, Borneo, and Ceylon, it was however specially difficult, during a stay of a few days at each place, to preserve this side of the _Vega_ expedition. I therefore determined after leaving Ceylon to let it drop completely, that is, from that point merely to _travel home_. Regarding this part of the voyage of the _Vega_ I would thus have very little to say, were it not that an obligation of grat.i.tude compels me to express in a few words the thanks of the _Vega_ men for all the honours bestowed upon them, and all the goodwill they enjoyed during the last part of the voyage. For many of my readers this sketch may perhaps be of interest as reminding them of some happy days which they themselves have lived through, and it may even happen that it will not be unwelcome to the friends of geography in a future time to read this description of the way in which the first circ.u.mnavigators of Asia and Europe were _feted_ in the ports and capitals of the civilised countries. In this sketch however I am compelled to be as brief as possible, and I must therefore sue for pardon if every instance of hospitality shown us cannot be mentioned.
We started from Point de Galle on the 22nd December, and arrived at Aden on the 7th January. The pa.s.sage was tedious in consequence of light winds or calms. Christmas Eve we did not celebrate on this occasion, tired as we were of entertainments, in such a festive way as at Pitlekaj, but only with a few Christmas-boxes and some extra treating. On New Year"s Eve, on the other hand, the officers in the gunroom were surprised by a deputation from the forecastle clad in _pesks_ as Chukches, who came, in good Swedish, mixed with a few words of the Pitlekaj _lingua franca_ not yet forgotten, to bring us a salutation from our friends among the ice of the north, thanks for the past and good wishes for the coming year, mixed with Chukch complaints of the great heat hereaway in the neighbourhood of the equator, which for fur-clad men was said to be altogether unendurable.
We remained at Aden only a couple of days, received in a friendly manner by the then acting Swedish-Norwegian consul, who took us round to the most remarkable points of the desolate environs of this important haven, among others to the immense, but then and generally empty water reservoirs which the English have made in the neighbourhood of the town. No place in the high north, not the granite cliffs of the Seven Islands, or the pebble rocks of Low Island on Spitzbergen, not the mountain sides on the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, or the figure-marked ground at Cape Chelyuskin is so bare of vegetation as the environs of Aden and the parts of the east coast of the Red Sea which we saw. Nor can there be any comparison in respect of the abundance of animal life between the equatorial countries and the Polar regions we have named. On the whole animal life in the coast lands of the highest north, where the mountains are high and surrounded by deep water, appears to be richer in individuals than in the south, and this depends not only on the populousness of the fowl-colonies and the number of large animals of the chase that we find there, but also on the abundance of evertebrates in the sea. At least the dredgings made from the _Vega_ during the voyage between j.a.pan and Ceylon gave an exceedingly scanty yield in comparison with our dredgings north of Cape Chelyuskin.
Aden is now an important port of call for the vessels which pa.s.s through the Suez Ca.n.a.l from European waters to the Indian Ocean, and also one of the chief places for the export of the productions of Yemen or Arabia Felix. In the latter respect the harbour was of importance as far back as about four hundred years ago, when the Italian, LUDOVICO DE VARTHEMA, was for a considerable time kept a prisoner by the Arab tribes at the place.
In the harbour of Aden the _Vega_ was saluted by the firing of twenty-one guns and the hoisting of the Swedish flag at the maintop of an Italian war vessel, the despatch steamer _Esploratore_ under the command of Captain AMEZAGA. The _Esploratore_ took part in an expedition consisting of three war vessels, charged with founding an Italian colony at a.s.sab Bay, which cuts into the east coast of Africa, north of Bab-el-Mandeb, on a tract of land purchased for the purpose by Rubbattino, an Italian commercial company. On board was Professor SAPETTO, an elderly man, who had concluded the bargain and had lived at the place for forty years. It was settled that he should be the administrator of the new colony. On board the _Esploratore_ were also the _savants_ BECCARI and the Marquis DORIA, famous for their extensive travels in the tropics and their valuable scientific labours. The officers of the Italian vessel invited us to a dinner which was one of the pleasantest and gayest of the many entertainments we were present at during our homeward journey. When at the close of it we parted from our hosts they lighted up the way by which we rowed forward over the tranquil waves of the Bay of Aden with blue lights, and the desert mountain sides of the Arabian coast resounded with the hurrahs which were exchanged in the clear, calm night between the representatives of the south and north of Europe.
The _Vega_ left Aden, or more correctly its port-town, Steamer Point, on the 9th January, and sailed the following day through Bab-el-Mandeb into the Red Sea. The pa.s.sage of this sea, which is narrow, but 2,200 kilometres long, was tedious, especially in its northern part, where a strong head wind blew. This caused so great a lowering of the temperature that a film of ice was formed on the fresh-water pools in Cairo, and that we, Polar travellers as we were, had again to put on winter clothes in Egypt itself.
The _Vega_ anch.o.r.ed on the 27th January at the now inconsiderable port, Suez, situated at the southern entrance to the Suez Ca.n.a.l.
Most of the scientific men and officers of the _Vega_ expedition made an excursion thence to Cairo and the Pyramids, and were everywhere received in a very kind way. Among other things the Egyptian Geographical Society sent a deputation to welcome us under the leadership of the President of the Society, the American, STONE PACHA. He had in his youth visited Sweden, and appeared to have a very pleasant recollection of it. The Geographical Society gave a stately banquet in honour of the _Vega_ expedition. An excursion was made to the Great Pyramids, and, as far as the short time permitted, to other remarkable places in and around the heap of ruins of all kinds and from all periods, which forms the capital of the Egypt of to-day. During our visit to the Pyramids the Swedish-Norwegian consul-general, BoDTKER, gave us a dinner in the European hotel there, and the same evening a ball was given us by the Italian consul-general, DE MARTINO. A day was besides devoted by some of us, in company with M. GUISEPPE HAIMANN, to a short excursion to the Mokattam Mountains, famous for the silicified tree-stems found there. I hoped along with the petrified wood to find some strata of clay-slate or schist with leaf-impressions. I was however unsuccessful in this, but I loaded heavily a carriage drawn by a pair of horses with large and small tree-stems converted into hard flint. These he spread about in the desert in incredible ma.s.ses, partly broken up into small pieces, partly as long fallen stems, without root or branches, but in a wonderfully good state of preservation. Probably they had originally lain embedded in a layer of sand above the present surface of the desert. This layer has afterwards been carried away by storms, leaving the heavy ma.s.ses of stone as a peculiar stratum upon the desert sand, which is not covered by any gra.s.sy sward. No root-stumps were found, and it thus appeared as if the stems had been carried by currents of water to the place where they were imbedded in the sandy layers and silicified. In their exterior all these petrifactions resemble each other, and by the microscopical examination which has. .h.i.therto been made naturalists have only succeeded in distinguishing two species belonging to the family Nicolia, and a palm, a pine, and a leguminous plant, all now extinct. It is possible that among the abundant materials I brought home with me some other types may be discovered by polishing and microscopical examination. Such at least was my expectation in bringing home this large quant.i.ty of stones, the transport of which to the _Vega_ was attended with a heavy expenditure.
From Cairo we returned, on the 2nd February, to Suez, and the following day the _Vega_ weighed anchor to steam through the Suez Ca.n.a.l into the Mediterranean. This gigantic work, created by the genius and perseverance of LESSEPS, which is unsurpa.s.sed by the many marvels of construction in the land of the Pharaohs, has not a very striking appearance, for the famous ca.n.a.l runs, like a small river with low banks, through the monotonously yellow plain of the desert.
There are no sluices. No bold rock-blastings stand as monuments of difficulties overcome. But proud must every child of our century be when he gazes on this proof that private enterprise can in our day accomplish what world-empires in former times were unable to carry into execution. We touched at Port Said for a few hours on the 5th February, after which we continued our voyage to Naples, the first European port we were to visit.
At Aden and in Egypt I had received several letters and telegrams informing me that great preparations were being made at Naples for our reception, and that repeated inquiries had been addressed to the Swedish consul-general regarding the day of our arrival, questions which naturally it was not so easy to answer, as our vessel, with its weak steam-power, was very dependent on wind and weather. It was hoped that the _Vega_ might be signalled from the Straits of Messina, but we did not come to the entrance to the Straits until after sunset. I therefore ordered the _Vega_ to lie to there for some hours, while Lieut. Bove and I rowed ash.o.r.e to send off telegrams announcing our arrival in Europe to Sweden, Naples, Rome, and other places. The sh.o.r.e, however, was farther off than we had calculated, and it was quite dark before it was reached. It was not without difficulty that in these circ.u.mstances we could get to land through the breakers in the open road quite unknown to us, and then, in coal-black darkness, find our way through thickets of p.r.i.c.kly bushes to the railway which here runs along the coast. We had then to go along the railway for a considerable distance before we reached a station from which our telegrams could be despatched.
Scarcely had we entered the station when we were surrounded by suspicious railway and coast-guard men, and we considered ourselves fortunate that they had not observed us on the way thither, for they would certainly have taken us for smugglers, whom the coast-guard have the right to salute with sharp shot. Even now we were overwhelmed with questions in a loud and commanding tone, but when they saw to what high personages our telegrams were addressed, and were informed by their countryman Bove, who wore his uniform, to what vessel we belonged, they became very obliging. One of them accompanied us back to our boat, after providing us with excellent torches which spread abundant light around our footsteps. They were much needed, for we were now compelled to share the astonishment of our guide that in the darkness we had succeeded in making our way over the rugged hills covered with cactus plants and bushy thickets between the railway and the coast, and along a railway viaduct which we had pa.s.sed on our way to the station without having any idea of it. It was the last adventure of the voyage of the _Vega_, and my first landing on the glorious soil of Italy.
On the 14th February, at 1 P.M., the _Vega_ arrived at Naples.
At Capri a flag-ornamented steamer from Sorrento met us; somewhat later, another from Naples, both of which accompanied us to the harbour. Here the Swedish expedition was saluted by an American war-vessel, the _Wyoming_, with twenty-one guns. The harbour swarmed with boats adorned with flags. Scarcely had the _Vega_ anch.o.r.ed--or more correctly been moored to a buoy--when the envoy LINDSTRAND, the Swedish-Norwegian consul CLAUSEN, Prince TEANO, president of the Geographical Society, Commander MARTIN FRANKLIN, Commendatore NEGRI, and others came on board. The last-named, who nearly two years before had made a special journey to Sweden to be present at the departure of the _Vega_, now came from Turin commissioned by the Italian government, and deputed by the munic.i.p.alities of Florence and Venice, the Turin Academy of Sciences, and several Italian and foreign geographical societies, to welcome the Expedition, which had now brought its labours to a happy issue.
After Herr Lindstrand, as King Oscar"s representative, had welcomed the Expedition to Europe, and publicly conferred Swedish decorations on Palander and me, and two adjutants of the Italian Ministry of Marine had likewise distributed Italian orders to some of the _Vega_ men, some short speeches were exchanged, on which the members of the Expedition, accompanied by the persons enumerated above, landed in the Admiral"s steam-launch under a salute of twenty-one guns from the Italian guard-ship. On the landing-quay, where a large crowd of the inhabitants of the city was a.s.sembled, the Swedish seafarers were received by the Syndic of Naples, Count GIUSSO, accompanied by a deputation from the munic.i.p.ality, &c. Here we were taken, between rows of enthusiastic students, in the gala carriages of the munic.i.p.ality, to the Hotel Royal des etrangeres, where a handsome suite of apartments, along with equipages and numerous attendants, was placed at our disposal. We were there received by the committee in charge of the festivities, Prince BELMONTE and Cavalier RICCIO, who afterwards, during our stay in the city, in the kindest way arranged everything to make our stay there festive and agreeable.
On Sunday the 15th several deputations were received, among them one from the University. A beautifully-bound address was presented by "Ateneo Benjammo Franklin," and a number of official visits were made and received. We dined with the Swedish-Norwegian consul, Clausen. On Monday the 16th an address was presented from "Scuola d"Applicazione per gl"Ingenieri," and from "Neapolitana Archaeologiae, Litterarum et Artium Academia," a song of welcome in Latin, written by Professor ANTONIO MIRABELLI. Then followed a grand dinner given by the munic.i.p.ality of the city in a hall of the hotel, which was now inaugurated and was named the _Vega_ Hall, and was on this occasion ornamented with the royal cipher, the Swedish and Italian flags, &c. In the evening there was a gala representation at San Carlo, where the members of the Expedition scattered among the different boxes were saluted with repeated loud cries of "Bravo!"--On Tuesday the 17th the Committee had arranged an excursion to Lake Averno, the Temple of Serapis, and other places famous in a geological and historical respect, situated to the north-west of Naples. Prince URUSOV entertained some of the members of the Expedition to dinner. There was an afternoon musical entertainment at the "Societa Filarmonica," where there was a numerous attendance of persons moving in the first circles in the city.--Wednesday the 18th, excursion along with the Committee to Pompeii, where the Swedish guests were received by the famous superintendent of the excavations, Director RUGGIERI. Breakfast was eaten with merry jests and gay speeches in a splendid Roman bath, still in good preservation, excavations were undertaken, &c. In the afternoon there was a grand dinner, followed by a reception by the admiral in command, and a festive representation at the Bellini Theatre.--Thursday the 19th, Dr. FRANZ KuHN, arrived from Vienna, deputed by the Geographical Society there to welcome us. Excursion in company with Professor PALMIERI and the Committee to Vesuvius, which at the time of our visit was emitting thick columns of smoke, was pouring out a stream of lava, and casting out ma.s.ses of glowing stone. We ascended the border of the crater, not without inconvenience from the heat of the half-solidified lava streams over which we walked, from the gases escaping from the crater, and from the red-hot stones flung out of it. The new railway, not then ready, was inspected, and the observatory visited. We dined with the Committee at the hotel--Friday the 20th, journey to Rome, where the members of the Expedition arrived at 2 P.M., and were, in the same way as at Naples, received in a festive manner by the Syndic of the city, Prince RUSPOLI, president and director of the Geographical Society, by members of the University, the Scandinavian Union, &c.
Carriages met the Swedish guests, in which they were taken past the Swedish-Norwegian minister"s hotel, decked with innumerable flags, to Albergo di Roma in the Corso, where a splendid suite of apartments, along with equipages, was placed at the disposal of the Expedition. In the evening we dined with the Swedish minister, and were afterwards received by Prince PALLAVICINI at his magnificent palace--Sat.u.r.day the 21st, visit to the Chamber of Deputies, private excursions, dinner given by the Duke NICOLAS of Leuchtenberg, to Nordenskiold and Nordquist.--Sunday the 22nd, public meeting of the Geographical Society, at which its grand gold medal was presented to Nordenskiold. In the evening a grand dinner, given by the Geographical Society, in the Continental Hotel. Among the toasts which were drunk may be mentioned one to the King of Sweden and Norway, proposed in a very warm and eloquent speech by the Premier, CAIROLI; to Nordenskiold, by Prince Teano; to Palander, by the Minister of Marine, Admiral ACTON; to the other members of the Expedition, to its munificent patrons, Oscar d.i.c.kson and Alexander Sibiriakoff, to Bove, the Italian officer, who took part in it, &c.--Monday the 23rd. Audience of the King. In the evening a grand reception at the Palazzo Teano, where almost all that was distinguished and splendid of Roman society appeared to be a.s.sembled.--Tuesday the 24th. Dined at the Quirinal with King Humbert. There were present, besides the King and his suite, the Swedish minister, the members of the _Vega_ expedition, Prince Teano, President of the Geographical Society; Commendatore Negri; Cairoli, Premier; Acton, Minister of Marine; MALVANO, Secretary of the Cabinet; Major BARATIERI, and the Italian naval officer, EUGENIO PARENT, a member of the Swedish Polar expedition of 1872-3, and others. In the evening, reception by the English minister, Sir A.B.
PAGET, and a beautifully arranged _fete_ at the Scandinavian Union, at which a number of enthusiastic speeches were made, and flowers and printed verses were distributed.--Wednesday the 25th. Farewell visits. Some of the members of the Expedition travelled north by rail. Captain Palander made an excursion to Spezzia to take part in a cruise on the large ironclad _Duilio_. The others remained some days longer in Rome in order to see its lions, undisturbed by official _fetes_.
While the _Vega_ lay in the harbour of Naples she was literally exposed to storming by visitors. The crew were on several occasions invited to the theatres there by the managers. Excursions to Pompeii had besides been arranged for them by the consul for the united kingdoms, Clausen, who spared no pains to make the stay of the expedition at Naples honouring to the mother-country and as pleasant as possible to the guests, as well as in arranging the more formal details of the visit. We had besides the joy of meeting in Italy our comrade from the severe wintering of 1872-3, Eugenio Parent, who soon after had the misfortune to be in the tower of the ironclad _Duilio_, when the large Armstrong cannon placed there burst, and the wonderful good fortune to escape with life and without being seriously hurt from this dreadful accident. The only mishap on board the _Vega_ during the latter part of her long voyage home occurred besides in the harbour of Naples, one of the sailors who was keeping back an enthusiastic crowd of people who stormed the _Vega_, being thrown down from the bulwarks with the result that he broke an arm.[392]
On the 29th February the _Vega_ left the harbour of Naples, but no longer with her staff complete. Doctors Kjellman, Almquist, and Stuxberg, and Lieut. Nordquist had preferred the land route from Italy to Stockholm to the long _detour_ by sea, and Lieut. Bove was obliged, by family circ.u.mstances, to leave the _Vega_ at Naples. We, however, all met again at Stockholm. At our departure from Naples the gunroom _personnel_ thus consisted only of me, Captain Palander, and Lieuts. Brusewitz and Hovgaard.
Through M.A. RABAUT, President of the young, but already so well known Geographical Society of Ma.r.s.eilles, I had received repeated invitations to visit along with my companions the birthplace of Pytheas, the first Polar explorer and the discoverer of the Scandinavian Peninsula. With great reluctance I was compelled to decline this invitation. We had to hasten home, and I wished to save some days for a visit to the fatherland of HENRY the Navigator and VASCO DA GAMA.
We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar on the 9th March, and anch.o.r.ed in the harbour of Lisbon on the 11th March at 2 P.M. The following day we made an excursion to the beautiful palace of Cintra, situated about five Portuguese miles from the capital. On Sat.u.r.day we were received in audience by the King, Dom Luiz, of Portugal, who, a seaman himself, appeared to take a great interest in the voyage of the _Vega_. Later in the day the Swedish minister in Lisbon gave a dinner, to which were invited the President of the Portuguese Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the members of the Diplomatic Corps, and others, ending in the evening with a grand reception. On Monday the 15th we were present by special invitation at a meeting of the Geographical Society, at which the newly-returned African travellers, BRITO-CAPELLO and IVEN, gave addresses. Here I had besides the great pleasure of meeting the famous African traveller, Major SERPA PINTO. The King at the same time honoured us with decorations, and at its meeting on the 10th March the Portuguese Chamber of Deputies resolved, on the motion of the Deputies ENNES and ALFREDO, to express its welcome and good wishes in a congratulatory address to the _Vega_ men.
We weighed anchor again on the 15th March. We were favoured at first with a fresh breeze and made rapid progress, but at the entrance to the Channel we met with a steady head-wind, so that it was not until the evening of the 25th March, considerably later than we had counted on, that we could anchor in the harbour of Falmouth, not, as was first intended, in that of Portsmouth. We thus missed some preparations which had been made at the latter place to welcome us to the land which stands first in the line of those that have sent out explorers to the Polar Seas. We besides missed a banquet which the Royal Geographical Society had arranged in honour of the _Vega_ expedition, at which the Prince of Wales was to have presided, and which now, in the midst of the Easter holidays and a keenly-contested parliamentary election, could not be held.[393] Our stay in England, at all events, was exceedingly pleasant.
Palander and I travelled on the night before Good Friday to London, where we were received at the railway station by the Swedish minister, Count PIPER, and a large number of our countrymen living in London.
Count Piper carried me to my future host, the distinguished Secretary of the Geographical Society and famous Arctician and geographical writer, CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, who did everything to make my stay in London as pleasant and instructive as possible. Sat.u.r.day was spent in paying visits. On Easter Sunday Consul-General RICHTER gave a lunch in the Continental Hotel, to which a considerable number of Scandinavians and Englishmen were invited. The same evening we dined with the famous Arctic traveller, Sir ALLEN YOUNG. On Monday we were invited by the Earl of NORTHBROOK, President of the Geographical Society,[394] to his country seat, Stratton, near Winchester. Here we saw the way--an exceedingly quiet one--in which an English parliamentary election goes on. The same day we paid a visit to Mr. SPOTTISWOODE, the President of the Royal Society, at his magnificent country seat, in the neighbourhood of London. Here I saw several instructive experiments with very large machines for the production of light by electric discharges in highly rarified air. Wednesday the 31st, grand dinner at the Swedish minister"s, and in the evening of the same day a Scandinavian _fete_ in the Freemasons" Hall, at which there were great rejoicings according to old northern usages.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OFFICERS OF THE "VEGA."
E. Bruzewitz.
G. Bove.
A. Hovgaard. ]
We started for Paris on the night before the 1st April. We went by Boulogne-sur-Mer, whose Chamber of Commerce had invited us to a _fete_ to celebrate the first landing of the _Vega_ men on the soil of France after the North-east Pa.s.sage was achieved. Several of the authorities of the town and Dr. HAMY, a delegate from the Geographical Society of Paris met us in the waiting-room at the station. Here a breakfast had been arranged, in the course of which we were presented to a number of eminent persons of the place, with whom we afterwards pa.s.sed the greater part of the day in the most agreeable way. After making several excursions in the neighbourhood of the town and paying the necessary official visits, we partook of a festive dinner arranged by the munic.i.p.ality. From Boulogne we travelled by night to Paris, arriving there on the 2nd April at 7 A.M.
Notwithstanding the early morning hour we were received here at the station in a festive way by the Swedish-Norwegian minister and the _personnel_ of the Legation, a deputation from the Geographical Society of Paris, and a considerable number of the members of the Scandinavian colony in the capital of France. The famous Madagascar traveller, GRANDIDIER, President of the Geographical Society"s Central Committee, welcomed us, with lively expressions of a.s.sent from the surrounding crowd. We were invited during our stay in the city to live with our countryman, A. n.o.bEL, in a very comfortable villa belonging to him, Rue Malakoff, No. 53, and I cannot sufficiently commend the liberal way in which he here discharged the duties of a host and a.s.sisted us during our stay in Paris, which, though very agreeable and honouring to us, demanded an extraordinary amount of exertion.
Our reception in Paris was magnificent, and it appeared as if the metropolis of the world wished to show by the way in which she honoured a feat of navigation that it is not without reason that she bears on her shield a vessel surrounded by swelling billows. It is a pleasant duty for me here to offer my thanks for all the goodwill we, during those memorable days, enjoyed on the part of the President of the Republic, of Admiral LA RONCIeRE LE NOURY, President of the Geographical Society, his colleague, M. HECHT, M.
MAUNOIR, the Secretary of the Society, M. QUATREf.a.gE, and M.
DAUBReE, members of the Inst.i.tute, not to forget many other Frenchmen and Scandinavians. Among the _fetes_ of Paris I must confine myself to an enumeration of the princ.i.p.al ones.
Friday, the 2nd April. Public _seance de reception_ by the Geographical Society in the Cirque des Champs Elysee in the presence of a very large and select audience. Admiral La Ronciere delivered the speech on this occasion, which I replied to by giving a pretty full account of the Swedish Arctic expeditions, on which the President handed me the large gold medal of the Society "as a proof of the interest which the public and the geographers of France take in the voyage of the _Vega_." Dined the same day with the Swedish-Norwegian minister, SIBBERN.--Sat.u.r.day the 3rd. Invitation to a festive meeting of delegates from twenty-eight learned societies in France in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne.[395] We were greeted by the Minister of Education in a masterly and eloquent speech, after which he conferred upon us, on the part of the Republic, Commander"s and Officer"s Insignia of the French Legion of Honour. "A reward," as the Minister of the _Republic_ expressed himself, "for the blood of the brave and the sleepless nights of the learned." After that an official dinner and reception by M. Jules Ferry.--On Sunday the 4th, an address was presented from the Scandinavian Union, under the presidency of Herr Fortmeijer. In the evening a brilliant entertainment on a large scale given by the Scandinavian Union in the Hotel Continental. Among those present may be mentioned Prince OSCAR of Sweden, the President of the _Fete_ Committee, Herr JENSEN, Fru KRISTINA NILSON-ROUZEAUD the Danish minister, the Swedish emba.s.sy, members of the Russian emba.s.sy, a large number of Scandinavian artists, many of the princ.i.p.al representatives of the French and foreign press, and lastly, what ought perhaps to have been mentioned first, a flower-garden of ladies, of which every dweller in the north might feel proud.--Monday the 5th. Meeting of the Inst.i.tute in its well-known hall, with speeches of welcome. Hence we were conducted to a grand festive reception, arranged beforehand to the minutest details by the Munic.i.p.al Council, in "la Salle des etats," situated in that part of the Tuileries where the Geographical Congress was held in 1878. The hall and the ascent to it were richly ornamented with French tri-colours and Swedish flags, beautiful Gobelins, and living plants. A number of speeches were made, after which the President of the Munic.i.p.al Council, on the part of the City of Paris, presented to me a large, artistically executed medal as a memorial of the voyage of the _Vega_[396]. In the evening a grand dinner was given by the Societe de Geographie, with several eloquent speeches for King Oscar (General Pittie), for President Grevy, for the prosperity of France (Prince Oscar), for the _Vega_ expedition (M. Quatref.a.ge), and so on.--Tuesday the 6th. Dinner given by the President of the Republic, M. Grevy, to Prince Oscar and the _Vega_ men then in Paris.--Wednesday the 7th. Dinner given to a numerous and select company of French _savants_ by the then President of the Geographical Society and of the Inst.i.tute, M.A. Daubree.--Thursday the 8th. Dinner to a small circle at Victor Hugo"s house, where the elderly poet and youthful-minded enthusiast in very warm, and I need not say eloquent, words congratulated me on the accomplishment of my task. Reception there the same evening.
Here ended our visit to the capital of France. Thoroughly exhausted, but bringing with us memories which shall never pa.s.s away, we travelled the following day to Vlissingen, whither the _Vega_ had gone from Falmouth, under the command of Brusewitz. We had been compelled to decline warm and hearty invitations to Holland and Belgium from want of time and strength to take part in any more festivities. The anchor was weighed immediately after we came on board, and the course shaped for Copenhagen. At noon on the 15th we pa.s.sed Helsingborg, which was richly ornamented with flags for the occasion. Already at Kullaberg we had been met by the steamer _H.P.
Prior_, with Lund students on board, and eight other steamers with deputations of welcome and enthusiasts for the voyage of the _Vega_, from Copenhagen, Malmo, Helsingborg, and Elsinore. The number of pa.s.sengers was stated to be 1,500, including a number of ladies.
Songs were sung, speeches made, fireworks let off, &c. At night we lay at anchor in the outer road of Copenhagen, so that it was not until the following forenoon that we steamed into the harbour, saluting the fort with nine shots of our little cannon, and saluted in turn by as many. While the _Vega_ was sailing into the harbour, and after she had anch.o.r.ed, there came on board the Swedish Minister, Baron BECK-FRIIS, the Swedish consul-general EVERLoF, the representatives of the University, of the merchants, and of the Geographical Society under the presidency of the former President of the Council, Count HOLSTEIN-HOLSTEINBORG, to bring us a welcome from the corporations they represented, and accompany us to the Toldbod, where we were received by the President-in-chief, the Presidents of the Communal Authority, and the Bourse, and the Swedish Unions of Copenhagen. We then drove through the festively ornamented city, saluted by resounding hurrahs, from a countless throng of human beings, to the Hotel d"Angleterre, where apartments had been prepared for us. On the 17th a _fete_ was given by the Geographical Society in the Casino Hall, which was attended by the King, the Crown Prince, and Prince John of Glucksborg, and nearly all the distinguished men of Copenhagen in the fields of science, business, and politics. The speech of the _fete_ was delivered by Professor ERSLEV. Thereafter a gay and lively banquet was given, at which the Crown Prince of Denmark presided.
The 18th April. Grand entertainment given by the King.--The 19th April. Magnificent banquet given by the Society of Merchants to the members of the _Vega_ expedition at the Bourse, the rooms being richly ornamented with flowers and flags, and with busts and paintings executed for the occasion by eminent artists. Councillor of state MELCHIOR presided, and amongst those present, were observed the Crown Prince, the ministers, the speakers and vice-speakers of the _folke-_ and _lands-ting_, and a number of the princ.i.p.al scientific and military men and officials. Speeches were delivered by the Crown Prince, State-councillor TEITGEN, Manager of the Great Northern Telegraph Company, Admiral BILLE, Professor MADVIG, State-councillor Melchior, &c. At another place, an entertainment was given at the same time to the crew. In the evening, _fete_ of the Students" Union, the Swedish National Union, and the Norwegian Union.
I was obliged to decline an invitation to Lund, because his Majesty, King Oscar, had expressed the wish that we should first set foot on Swedish ground at the Palace of Stockholm.
It was settled that our entry into Stockholm should take place in the evening of the 24th April, but we started from Copenhagen as early as the night before the 20th in order to be sure that we would not, in consequence of head winds or other unforeseen hindrances, arrive too late for the festivities in the capital of Sweden. In consequence of this precaution we arrived at the archipelago of Stockholm as early as the 23rd, so that we were compelled during the night between the 23rd and 24th to lie still at Dalaro. Here we were met by Commander LAGERCRANTZ, who by the King"s orders brought our families on the steamer _Skoldmon_ to meet us.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CREW OF THE "VEGA." After a photograph taken at Naples. ]
On the 24th at 8 A.M. the _Vega_ again weighed anchor in order to steam on slowly, past Vaxholm into Stockholm. We met innumerable flag-decked steamers by the way, fully laden with friends, known and unknown, who with shouts of rejoicing welcomed the _Vega_ men home.
The nearer we came to Stockholm, the greater became the number of steamers, that, arranged in a double line and headed by the _Vega_, slowly approached the harbour. Lanterns in variegated colours were lighted on the vessels, fireworks were let off, and the roar of cannon mingled with the loud hurrahs of thousands of spectators.
After being greeted at Kastelholmen with one salute more the _Vega_ anch.o.r.ed in the stream in Stockholm at 10 P.M.
The queen of the Malar had clothed herself for the occasion in a festive dress of incomparable splendour. The city was illuminated, the buildings round the harbour being in the first rank. Specially had the King done everything to make the reception of the _Vega_ expedition, which he had so warmly cherished from the first moment, as magnificent as possible. The whole of the Royal Palace was radiant with a sea of lights and flames, and was ornamented with symbols and ciphers in which the name of the youngest sailor on the _Vega_ was not omitted.
An estrade had been erected from Logaorden to the landing-place.
Here we were received by the town councillors, whose president, the Governor, welcomed us in a short speech, we were then conducted to the Palace, where, in the presence of her Majesty the Queen of Sweden, the members of the Royal House, the highest officials of the State and Court, &c., we were in the grandest manner welcomed in the name of the fatherland by the King of Sweden, who at the same time conferred upon us further marks of his favour and goodwill[397]. It was also at the Royal Palace that the series of festivities commenced with a grand gala dinner, on the 25th of April, at which the King in a few magnanimous words praised the exploit of the _Vega_. Then _fete_ followed _fete_ for several weeks.
On the 26th the Swedish Yacht Club gave an entertainment in the Grand Hotel under the presidency of Admiral Lagercrantz. Among those who were present may be mentioned his Majesty the King, the Crown Prince, Prince Oscar, Oscar d.i.c.kson, and Baron von Otter, Minister of Marine. On the evening of the same day there was a torchlight procession by pupils of the Technical High School. On the 27th there was a gala-play, to which all the _Vega_ men were invited. On the 28th at a festive meeting of the Academy of the Sciences, a medal struck on account of the _Vega_ expedition was distributed, the meeting being followed by a dinner given at the Hotel Phoenix by the Academy under the presidency of the Crown Prince. On the 30th April and 5th May banquets were given by the Publicist Club, and by the Idun Society, by the Naval Officers" Society to the officers of the _Vega_, and by the Stockholm Workman"s Union to the crew. On the 7th and 8th May there were festivities at Upsala, the princ.i.p.al attraction of which consisted of gay, lively, and ingenious carnival representations, in which we received jocular addresses and homage from fantastically dressed representatives of the peoples of different countries and periods.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ENTRANCE OF THE "VEGA" INTO STOCKHOLM ON THE 24TH APRIL, 1880. ]
During this time there were daily received deputations addresses, and telegrams of welcome, among others from the _riksdag_ of Sweden, the _storting_ of Norway, and the princ.i.p.al towns of Norway and Finland, from the student corps at Upsala and Helsingborg, from the St. Petersburg Geographical Society, from women in Northern Russia (the address accompanied by a laurel wreath in silver), &c. In a word, the Stockholm _fetes_ formed the climax of the remarkable triumphal procession from j.a.pan to Stockholm, which stands unique in the history of festivities. Even after the Expedition was broken up in Stockholm, and the _Vega_ had sailed on the 9th May for Karlskrona and Gothenburg, where she was again taken over by the whaling company that previously owned her, the _fetes_ were repeated at these towns. They commenced anew when the _Vega_ exhibition was opened with appropriate solemnities by His Majesty the King in one of the wings of the Royal Palace, and when some months after I visited Berlin, St. Petersburg, and my old dear fatherland, Finland.
But I may not weary my reader with more notes of festivities. It is my wish yet once again to offer my comrades" and my own thanks for all the honours conferred upon us both in foreign lands and in the Scandinavian North. And in conclusion I wish to express the hope that the way in which the accounts of the successful voyage of the _Vega_ have been received in all countries will give encouragement to new campaigns in the service of research, until the natural history of the Siberian Polar Sea be completely investigated and till the veil that still conceals the enormous areas of land and sea at the north and south poles be completely removed, until man at last knows at least the main features of the whole of the planet which has been a.s.signed him as a dwelling-place in the depths of the universe.
Hearty thanks last of all to my companions during the voyage of the _Vega_; to her distinguished commander Louis Palander, her scientific men and officers, her petty officers and crew. Without their courage and the devotion they showed to the task that lay before us, the problem of the North-East Pa.s.sage would perhaps still be waiting for its solution.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of the North Coast of the Old World from Norway to Behring"s Straits, with the track of the _Vega_, constructed from old and recent sources, and from observations made during the Voyage of the _Vega_, by N. Selander, Captain in the General Staff. ]