360 



For this object, Delambre and Mechain had already measured the 

 part of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona. To continue 

 this operation to the Balearic islands, Messrs. Biot and Arago set 

 out for Spain in the year 1806, and were joined by the Spanish 

 commissioners, Chaix and Rodriguez. In April, 1807, M. Biot 

 returned to Paris to announce the results which had already been 

 obtained, and Arago was left with M. Rodriguez to perform all the 

 operations necessary to unite, geodesically, the islands of Majorca, 

 Ivica, and Formentera ; he thus measured, by means of a single tri- 

 angle, a meridional arc of a degree and a half. At this time, 

 rumours of the approaching war between France and Spain caused 

 the Majorcans to regard with suspicion the nocturnal signals made 

 on the heights of Galatzo, which they imagined w^ere intended to 

 direct the march of the French troops ; Arago was thereupon taken 

 up as a spy, and imprisoned, on the 2nd of June, 1808, in the citadel 

 of Belver, from whence he contrived to escape with his instruments, 

 and embarked on the 28th of July for Algiers. 



The French consul procured him a passage, on the 13th of the 

 same month, for Marseilles ; but on entering the bay of Lyons, when 

 in sight of the coast of Provence, the ship he was on board was 

 captured by a Spanish privateer, and carried to Rosas on the 16th 

 of August. After residing for some time in a windmill, and passing 

 himself off as a travelling pedler, he was imprisoned, with the com- 

 panions of his voyage, on the 25th of September, in the fort of the 

 Trinity, and on the 17th of October was thrown into the hulks of 

 Palamos, where he underwent great hardships, and was often left for 

 two days together without food. It happened that the Algerine 

 vessel in which Arago was captured, contained two lions sent as a 

 present by the Dey to the Emperor Napoleon ; one of these animals 

 had died in consequence of neglect or ill-treatment on the part of 

 the Spaniards, and the Dey threatened reprisals on the Spanish 

 government unless satisfaction was given, and the vessel immediately 

 restored. On the 28th of November, 1808, Arago reimbarked for 

 Marseilles, but in consequence of the incompetence of the pilot, 

 after being driven about the Mediterranean for several days, was 

 landed at Bougie, from whence he proceeded on foot, disguised as 

 an Arab, to Algiers. He arrived at this city on the 26th of Decem- 

 ber, but a revolution had taken place immediately before ; the 

 former Dey had just been beheaded, and disputes having arisen 

 between the French and Algerine governments, the new Dey refused 

 Arago permission to depart, and, had it not been for the protection 

 of the Danish consul, the future academician would have been sent 

 as a slave to the galleys. Fortunately, another revolution broke 

 out ; the new Dey was hung, and Arago was enabled to leave 

 Algiers on the 21st of June, 1809 ; but his misfortunes had not yet 

 entirely ceased, for when he was in sight of Marseilles, the vessel in 

 which he had embarked was pursued by an English frigate, from 

 which however it escaped, and Arago was safely landed, after his 

 three years of adventure, with all his instruments, at Marseilles on 

 the 2nd of July. 



