130 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



three storeys are below the level of the top of the rock on 

 which the old town and palace stand, so that the main 

 entrance from the streets of the town is half-way up the 

 building. Its appearance architecturally is fine from every 

 point of view, but is especially striking from the sea, where 

 the masonry appears to be almost a part of the rock, and to 

 grow up in a series of arches from the ledges of the cHff 

 itself. . . . (That aspect is shown in Fig. 2, on PI. IX.) 



" The Prince's inaugural address, in which he set forth his 

 aims in founding the museum, was followed by congratu- 

 latory speeches from M, Loubet, M. Pichon, Admiral von 

 Koester, and other representatives of the Great Powers 

 present, and the formal proceedings terminated with brief 

 discourses on departments of oceanography by the three 

 professors attached to the institution— Joubin, Poirier and 

 Berget — after which the company was conducted round the 

 museum by the Prince and his scientific staff. . . . 



" It is unnecessary to recount all the ceremonies and fetes 

 of the four days. It will suffice to mention that on one of the 

 days the Prince gave a banquet to his 300 guests, followed by 

 congratulatory speeches from the representatives of the 

 great academies present and other scientific men ; on one 

 evening he entertained us to a gala representation at the 

 opera. A second evening was devoted to a ' Fete Venitienne ' 

 on the bay, on a scale which even our southern friends, who 

 are accustomed to such displays in the open air, on a smooth 

 sea, under a serene sky, and in a balmy atmosphere, told us 

 had never in their experience been equalled. The pageant, 

 performed after dark, represented the legend of Monaco— to 

 the effect that Hercules, in his wanderings, entered the 

 ancient port (stiU known as the Port of Hercules), lyuig 

 between the rock of Monaco and the modern Monte Carlo, 

 andj'struck by the wonderful natural features of the situation, 

 chanted a hymn in praise of beauty and knowledge (art and 

 science), and, notwithstanding the savage assaults of the 

 primitive inhabitants, half human, half beasts, took 



