448 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. XX. 
by the King, Dom Luiz, of Portugal, who, a seaman himself, 
appeared to take a great interest in the voyage of the Vega. 
Later in the day the Swedish minister in Lisbon gave a 
dinner, to which were invited the President of the Portuguese 
Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the members of the 
Diplomatic Corps, and others, ending in the evening with a 
grand reception. On Monday the 15th we were present by 
special invitation at a meeting of the Geographical Society, at 
which the newly-returned African travellers, Brito-Capello 
and I YEN, gave addresses. Here I had besides the great pleasure 
of meeting the famous African traveller. Major Serpa Pinto. 
The King at the same time honoured us with decorations, and 
at its meeting on the 10 th March the Portuguese Chamber of 
Deputies resolved, on the motion of the Deputies Ennes 
and Alfredo, to express its welcome and good wishes in a 
congratulatory address to the Vega men. 
We weighed anchor again on the 15th March. We were 
favoured at first with a fresh breeze and made rapid progress, 
but at the entrance to the Channel we met with a steady head¬ 
wind, so that it was not until the evening of the 25th March, 
considerably later than we had counted on, that we could 
anchor in the harbour of Falmouth, not, as was first intended, 
in that of Portsmouth. We thus missed some preparations 
which had been made at the latter place to welcome us to the 
land which stands first in the line of those that have sent 
out explorers to the Polar Seas. We besides missed a banquet 
which the Koyal Geographical Society had arranged in honour 
of the Vega expedition, at which the Prince of Wales was to 
have presided, and which now, in the midst of the Easter 
holidays and a keenly-contested parliamentary election, could 
not be held.^ Our stay in England, at all events, was exceedingly 
^ Further particulars on this point are given in tlie Annual Address on 
the Progress ^of Geography by the Right Hon. the Earl of Northbrook 
{Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1880, p. 401). 
