turned in a very different
direction by a local insurrection, followed by severe reprisals, and the
bombardment of Palermo by the Italian Fleet. His sick wife was for some
time under rifle as well as shell fire; but cheerfully remarking that
"every bullet has its billet," she remained perfectly serene and
undisturbed. It was the year of the last war with Austria, and also of the
suppression of the Monastic Orders in Sicily; two events which probably
helped to produce the outbreak, of which Yule contributed an account to
_The Times_, and subsequently a more detailed one to the _Quarterly
Review_.[57]

Yule had no more predilection for the Monastic Orders than most of his
countrymen, but his sense of justice was shocked by the cruel incidence of
the measure in many cases, and also by the harshness with which both it
and the punishment of suspected insurgents was carried out. Cholera was
prevalent in Italy that year, but Sicily, which had maintained stringent
quarantine, entirely escaped until large bodies of troops were landed to
quell the insurrection, when a devastating epidemic immediately ensued,
and re-appeared in 1867. In after years, when serving on the Army Sanitary
Committee at the India Office, Yule more than once quoted this experience
as indicating that quarantine restrictions may, in some cases, have more
value than British medical authority is usually willing to admit.

In 1867, on his return from London, Yule commenced systematic work on his
long projected new edition of the _Travels of Marco Polo_. It was
apparently in this year that the scheme first took definite form, but it
had long been latent in his mind. The Public Libraries of Palermo afforded
him much good material, whilst occasional visits to the Libraries of
Venice, Florence, Paris, and London, opened other sources. But his most
important channel of supply came from his very extensive private
correspondence, extending to nearly all parts of Europe and many centres
in Asia. His work brought him many new and valued friends, indeed too many
to mention, but amongst whom, as belonging specially to this period, three
honoured names must be recalled here: Commendatore (afterwards Baron)
CRISTOFORO NEGRI, the large-hearted Founder and First President of the
Geographical Society of Italy, from whom Yule received his first public
recognition as a geographer, Commendatore GUGLIELMO BERCHET
(affectionately nicknamed _il Bello e Buono_), ever generous in lea