igator and
VASCO 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 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 IVEN, 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 10th
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 Royal 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.[393] Our stay in England, at all events, was exceedingly pleasant.
Palander and I travelled on the night before Good Friday to London,
where we were received at the railway station by the Swedish minister,
Count PIPER, and a large number of our countrymen living in London.
Count Piper carried me to my future host, the distinguished Secretary of
the Ge