734 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



my thanks for all the goodwill we, during those memorable 

 days, enjoyed on the part of the President of the Republic, of 

 Admiral La Eonciere le Noury, President of the Geographical 

 Society, his colleague, M. Hecht, M. Maunoir, the Secretary of 

 the Society, M. Quatrefage, and M. Daubree, members of the 

 Institute, not to forget many other Frenchmen and Scandi- 

 navians. Among the fetes of Paris I must confine myself to 

 an enumeration of the principal ones. 



Friday, the' 2nd April. Public stance 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. — Saturday the 3rd. Invitation 

 to a festive meeting of delegates from twenty-eight learned 

 societies in France in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne.^ 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 

 Bepuhlic 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 

 FSte Committee, Herr Jensen, Fru Kristina Nilson-Rouzeaud, 

 the Danish minister, the Swedish embassy, members of the 

 Russian embassy, a large number of Scandinavian artists, many 

 of the yjrincipal representatives of the French and foreign 

 press, and lastly, what ought jDerhaps 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 

 Institute 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 Municipal Council, 

 in " la Salle des fitats," situated in that part of the Tnileries 

 where the Geographical Congress was held in 1878. The hall 



^ These are enumerated in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic, Mai, 

 1880, p. 463. In the same part (p. 450) there is also a report of the 

 speeches made at the seance de reception. 



