re made, and flowers
and printed verses were distributed.--Wednesday the 25th. Farewell
visits. Some of the members of the Expedition travelled north by
rail. Captain Palander made an excursion to Spezzia to take part in
a cruise on the large ironclad _Duilio_. The others remained some
days longer in Rome in order to see its lions, undisturbed by
official _fetes_.

While the _Vega_ lay in the harbour of Naples she was literally
exposed to storming by visitors. The crew were on several occasions
invited to the theatres there by the managers. Excursions to Pompeii
had besides been arranged for them by the consul for the united
kingdoms, Clausen, who spared no pains to make the stay of the
expedition at Naples honouring to the mother-country and as pleasant
as possible to the guests, as well as in arranging the more formal
details of the visit. We had besides the joy of meeting in Italy our
comrade from the severe wintering of 1872-3, Eugenio Parent, who
soon 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.[392]

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 _detour_ 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 _personnel_ thus consisted only of me, Captain Palander,
and Lieuts. Brusewitz and Hovgaard.

Through M.A. RABAUT, President of the young, but already so well
known Geographical Society of Marseilles, I had received 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 reluctance 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 Nav