AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FEANCIS ARAGO. 175 



dear nepliew, I will let you want for notbing.'' And truly every morn- 

 ing M. Bertliemie and I received a comfortable repast. 



The church having become necessary to the garrison to serve as a 

 magazine, we were moved on the 25th of September, 1808, to a Trinit}' 

 fort, called the Bouton de Rosas, a citadel situated on a little mountain 

 at the entrance of the roads, and we were deposited deep under ground, 

 where the light of da}' did not penetrate on any side. We did not long 

 remain in this infected place; not because they had pity upon us, but 

 because it offered shelter for a part of the garrison atta's.'ked by the 

 French. They made us descend by night to the edge of the sea, and 

 then transported us on the 17th of October to the port of Palamos. 

 We were shut up in a hulk; we enjoyed, however, a certain degree of 

 liberty; they allowed us to go on land and to parade our miseries and 

 our rags in the town. It Avas there thac I made the acquaintance of the 

 dowager Duchess of Orleans, mother of Louis Phillippe. She had left 

 the town of Figueras where she resided, because, she told me, thirty- 

 two bombs sent from the fortress had fallen in her house. She was then 

 intending to take refuge in Algiers, and she asked me to bring the cap- 

 tain of the vessel to her, of wliom, perhaps, she would have to implore 

 protection. I related to my "r«V&" the misfortunes of the princess; he 

 was moved by them, and I conducted him to her. On entering he took 

 oft" his slippers from respect, as if he had entered within a mosque, and 

 holding them in his hand, he went to kiss the front of the dress of 

 Madame d'Orleans. The princess vras alarmed at the sight of this manly 

 figure, wearing the longest beard I ever saw ; she quickly recovered her- 

 self, and the interview proceeded with a mixture of French politeness 

 and oriental courtesy. 



The sixty francs from Rosas were expended. Madame d'Orleans 

 would have liked much to assist us, but she was herself without money. 

 All that she could gratify us with was a i)iece of sugar-bread. The 

 evening of our visit I was richer than the princess. To avoid the fury 

 of the people the Spanish government sent those French who had 

 escaped the first massacres back to France in slight boats. One of the 

 cartels came and cast anchor by the side of our hulk. One of the un- 

 happy emigrants offered me a pinch of snuti'. On oj^ening the snuff-box 

 I found there ^hma onza de oro,''^ (an ounce of gold,) the sole remains of 

 his fortune. I returned the snuff'-box to him, with warm thanks, after 

 having shut up in it a paper containing these words: "My fellow-coun- 

 tryman who carries this note has rendered me a great service ; treat 

 him as one of your children." My petition was naturally favorably 

 received; it was by this bit of paper, the size-of the onza de oro, that 

 my family learnt that I was still in existence, and it enabled my mother, 

 a model of piety, to cease saying masses for the repose of my soul. 



Five days afterward, one of my hardy compatriots arrived at Pal- 

 amos, after having traversed the line of posts, both French and Spanish, 

 carrying to a merchant who had friends at Perpiguau the proposal to 



