XX.] 
THE VEGA AT ADEN. 
439 
In the harbour of Aden the Vega was saluted by the firing of 
twenty-one guns and the hoisting of the Swedish flag at the main¬ 
top of an Italian war vessel, the despatch steamer Esploratore 
under the command of Captain Amezaga. The Esploratore took 
part in an expedition, consisting of three war vessels, charged 
with founding an Italian colony at Assab Bay, which cuts into 
the east coast of Africa, north of Bab-el-Mandeb, on a tract of 
land purchased for the purpose by Rubbattino, an Italian 
commercial company. On board was Professor Sapetto, an 
elderly man, who had concluded the bargain and had lived at 
the place for forty years. It was settled that he should be the 
administrator of the new colony. On board the Esploratore 
were also the savants Beccari and the Marquis Doria, famous 
for their extensive travels in the tropics and their valuable 
scientiflc labours. The officers of the Italian vessel invited us 
to a dinner which was one of the pleasantest and gayest of 
the many entertainments we were present at during our 
homeward journey. When at the close of it we parted from 
our hosts they lighted up the way by which we rowed forward 
over the tranquil waves of the Bay of Aden with blue lights, 
and the desert mountain sides of the Arabian coast resounded 
with the hurrahs which were exchanged in the clear, calm 
night between the representatives of the south and north 
of Europe. 
The Vega left Aden, or more correctly its port-town, Steamer 
Point, on the 9th January, and sailed the following day through 
Bab-el-Mandeb into the Red Sea. The passage of this sea, 
which is narrow, but 2,200 kilometres long, was tedious, 
especially in its northern part, where a strong head wind 
blew. This caused so great a lowering of the temperature that 
a film of ice was formed on the fresh-water pools in Cairo, 
and that we, Polar travellers as we were, had again to put on 
winter clothes in Egypt itself. 
The Vega anchored on the 27th January at the now 
