FRENCH GEODESY. 279 



escape and reach Algiers. Thence he sailed for Mar- 

 seilles on an Algerian ship. This ship was captured 

 by a Spanish privateer, and so Arago was brought 

 back to Spain, and dragged from dungeon to dun- 

 geon in the midst of vermin and in the most horrible 

 misery. 



If it had only been a question of his subjects and 

 his guests, the Dey would have said nothing. But 

 there were two lions on board, a present the African 

 sovereign was sending to Napoleon. The Dey 

 threatened war. 



The vessel and the prisoners were released. The 

 point should have been correctly made, since there was 

 an astronomer on board ; but the astronomer was sea- 

 sick, and the Algerian sailors, who wished to go to 

 Marseilles, put in at Bougie. Thence Arago travelled 

 to Algiers, crossing Kabylia on foot through a thousand 

 dangers. He was detained for a long time in Africa 

 and threatened with penal servitude. At last he was 

 able to return to France. His observations, which he 

 had preserved under his shirt, and more extraordinary 

 still, his instruments, had come through these terrible 

 adventures without damage. 



Up to this point, France not only occupied the first 

 place, but she held the field almost alone. In the 

 years that followed she did not remain inactive, and 

 the French ordnance map is a model. Yet the new 

 methods of observation and of calculation came 

 principally from Germany and England. It is only 

 during the last forty years that France has regained 

 her position. 



She owes it to a scientific officer. General Bcrrier, 

 who carried out successfully a truly audacious enter- 



