238 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



reached on October 24, whence, proceeding down the Eh one, the 

 travellers arrived at Marseilles on the evening of the 27th. 

 The whole of the following morning was occupied in the 

 examination of passports, 1 a troublesome business, in which 

 it was evident that the only knowledge of official routine 

 possessed by the Prussian consul, Herr Sauvages of Prenzlau, 

 was restricted to the names of such persons as were entitled to 

 6 Your Excellency ' a list he had most faithfully committed to 

 memory from the calendar. The Swedish frigate had not yet 

 arrived, but was hourly expected. The intervening time was 

 spent by the travellers, notwithstanding the extreme heat of the 

 weather, in making an extensive collection of the plants to be 

 found along the coast, especially of several varieties of sea-weed, 

 as well as in the collection of specimens of crabs and mussels, 

 of which they made drawings ; they also, undertook various 

 magnetic, meteorological, and astronomical observations, not- 

 withstanding the serious injury some of the instruments had 

 received, and in this labour were assisted by the director of the 

 Observatory, M. Thulis, formerly a merchant at Cairo, who not- 

 withstanding many unpleasing peculiarities was very affable 

 and obliging. 



On November 10, an excursion to Toulon was undertaken, 

 which lasted three days. The town, thronged with its 5,000 

 prisoners, did not impress them agreeably ; they visited all 

 the objects of interest, the magnificent Botanic Garden, the 

 Arsenal, the collection of models, the great harbour, the inner 

 and the outer roadsteads, where, next to the ship of the line 

 6 La Hardie ' of 74 guns, the interest of the travellers was most 

 keenly excited by the frigate ' La Boudeuse,' as the vessel in 

 which Bougainville had made his celebrated expedition round 

 the world. ' She is now preparing to set sail,' he remarks in his 

 note-book, ' to convoy a fleet of merchant-men to Marseilles, 

 which they hope to reach in five hours. The whole ship was 

 astir, and all hands were on deck working the sails. My heart 

 swelled with joyous emotion as I witnessed the preparations 

 around me, but when I descended to the cabin, a spacious 

 apartment, the thought of Baudin's voyage completely over- 



1 See Appendix. 



