XX.] 
ARRIVAL AT LISBON. 
447 
after had the misfortune to be in the tower of the ironclad 
Duilio, when the large Armstrong cannon placed there burst, 
and the wonderful good fortune to escape with life and without 
being seriously hurt from this dreadful accident. The only 
mishap on board the Vega during the latter part of her long 
voyage home occurred besides in the harbour of Naples, one of 
the sailors who was keeping back an enthusiastic crowd of 
people who stormed the Vega, being thrown down from the 
bulwarks with the result that he broke an arm.^ 
On the 29th February the Vega left the harbour of Naples, 
but no longer with her staff complete. Doctors Kjellman, 
Almquist, and Stuxberg, and Lieut. Nordquist had preferred 
the land route from Italy to Stockholm to the long d6tour by 
sea, and Lieut. Bove was obliged, by family circumstances, to 
leave the Vega at Naples. We, however, all met again at 
Stockholm. At our departure from Naples the gunroom ^er- 
sonnel thus consisted only of me, Captain Palander, and Lieuts. 
Brusewitz and Hovgaard. 
Through M. A. Eabaut, President of the young, but already 
so well known Geographical Society of Marseilles, I had re¬ 
ceived repeated invitations to visit along with my companions 
the birthplace of Pytheas, the first Polar explorer and the 
discoverer of the Scandinavian Peninsula. With great reluct" 
ance I was compelled to decline this invitation. We had to 
hasten home, and I wished to save some days for a visit to the 
fatherland of Henry the Navigator and Yasco da Gama. 
We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar on the 9th March, 
and anchored in the harbour of Lisbon on the 11th March at 
2 P.M. The following day we made an excursion to the 
beautiful palace of Cintra, situated about five Portuguese miles 
from the capital. On Saturday we were received in audience 
1 An accident also happened during the first half of the expedition, the 
steersman, in backing among drift-ice, having been thrown over the wheel 
and hurt very seriously. 
