d'Orleans would have liked much to assist us, but she was herself without money. All that she could gratify us with was a piece of sugar-bread. The evening of our visit I was richer than the Princess. To avoid the fury of the people, the Spanish Government sent those French who had escaped the first massacres back to France in slight boats. One of these cartels came and cast anchor by the side of our hulk. One of the unhappy emigrants offered me a pinch of snuff. On opening the snuffbox I found there "una onza de oro" (an ounce of gold), the sole remains of his fortune. I returned the snuffbox to him, with warm thanks, after having shut up in it a paper containing these words, "My fellow-countryman who carries this note has rendered me a great service; treat him as one of your children." My petition was naturally favorably received; it was by this bit of paper, the size of the onza de oro, that my family learned that I was still in existence, and it enabled my mother- a model of piety a model of piety—to cease saying masses for the repose of my soul. Five days afterwards one of my hardy compatriots arrived at Palamos, after having traversed the line of posts both French and Spanish, carrying to a merchant who had friends at Perpignan the proposal to furnish me with all I was in need of. The Spaniard showed a great inclination to agree to the proposal, but I did not profit by his good will, because of the occurrence of events which I shall relate presently. The Observatory at Paris is very near the barrier. In my youth, curious to study the manner of the people, I used to walk in sight of the public-houses which the desire of escaping payment of the duty has multiplied outside the walls of the capital; on these excursions I was often humiliated to see men disputing for a piece of bread, just as animals might have done. My feelings on this subject have very much altered since I have been personally exposed to the tortures of hunger. I have discovered, in fact, that a man, whatever may have been his origin, his education, and his habits, is governed under certain circumstances much more by his stomach than by his intelligence and his heart. Here is the fact which suggested these reflections to me. To celebrate the unhoped-for arrival of una onza de oro, M. Berthémie and I had procured an immense dish of potatoes. The ordnance officer of the Emperor was already devouring it with his eyes, when a Moroccan, who was making his ablutions near us with one of his companions, accidentally filled it with dirt. M. Berthémie could not control his anger; he darted upon the clumsy Mussulman, and inflicted upon him a rough punishment. I remained a passive spectator of the combat, until the second Moroccan came to the aid of his compatriot. The party no longer being equal, I also took part in the conflict by seizing the new assailant by the beard. The combat ceased at once, because the Moroccan would not raise his hand against a man who could write a petition so rapidly. This conflict, like the struggles of which I had often been a witness outside the barriers of Paris, had originated in a dish of potatoes. The Spaniards always cherished the idea that the ship and her cargo might be confiscated; a commission came from Girone to question us. It was composed of two civil judges and one inquisitor. I acted as interpreter. When M. Berthémie's turn came, I went to fetch him, and said to him, "Pretend that you can only talk Styrian, and be at ease; I will not compromise you in translating your answers." It was done as we agreed; unfortunately the language spoken by M. Berthémie had but little variety, and the sacrement der Teufel, which he had learnt in Germany, when he was aide-de-camp to Hautpoul, predominated too much in his discourse. Be that as it may, the judges observed that there was too great a conformity between his answer and those which I had made myself, to render it necessary to continue an interrogatory which, I may say by the way, disturbed me much. The wish to terminate it was still more decided on the part of the judges, when it came to the turn of a sailor named Mehemet. Instead of making him swear on the Koran to tell the truth, the judges were determined to make him place his thumb on the forefinger so as to represent the cross. I warned them that great offense would thus be given; and, accordingly, when Mehemet became aware of the meaning of this sign, he began to spit upon it with inconceivable violence. The meeting ended at once. The next day things had wholly changed their appearance; one of the judges from Girone came to declare to us that we were free to depart, and to go with our ship wherever we chose. What was the cause of this sudden change? It was this. During our quarantine in the windmill at Rosas, I had written, in the name of Captain Braham, a letter to the Dey of Algiers. I gave him an account of the illegal arrest of his vessel, and of the death of one of the lions which the Dey had sent to the Emperor. The last circumstances transported the African monarch with rage. He sent immediately for the Spanish Consul, M. Onis, claimed pecuniary damages for his dear lion, and threatened war if his ship was not released directly. Spain had then to do with too many difficulties to undertake wantonly any new ones, and the order to release the vessel so anxiously coveted arrived at Girone, and from thence at Palamos. This solution, to which our consul at Algiers, M. Dubois Thainville, had not remained inattentive, reached us at the moment when we least expected it. We at once made preparations for our departure, and on the 28th of November, 1808, we set sail, steering for Marseilles; but, as the Mussulmans on board the vessel declared, it was written above that we should not enter that town. We could already perceive the white buildings which crown the neighboring hills of Marseilles, when a gust of the "mistral," of great violence, sent us from the north toward the south. I do not know what route we followed, for I was lying in my cabin, overcome with seasickness. I may, therefore, though an astronomer, avow without shame that at the moment when our unqualified pilots supposed themselves to be off the Baléares, we landed, on the 6th of November, at Bougie. There, they pretended that during the three months of winter all communication with Algiers by means of the little boat named Sandalis would be impossible, and I resigned myself to the painful prospect of so long a stay in a place at that time almost a desert. One evening I was making these sad reflections while pacing the deck of the vessel, when a shot from a gun on the coast came and struck the side plank close to which I was passing. This suggested to me the thought of going to Algiers by land. I went next day, accompanied by M. Berthémie and Captain Spiro Calligero, to the Caïd of the town: "I wished," said I to him, "to go to Algiers by land." The man, quite frightened, exclaimed, "I cannot allow you to do so; you would certainly be killed on the road; your consul would make a complaint to the Dey, and I should have my head cut off." "Fear not on that ground. I will give you an acquit tance." It was immediately drawn up in these terms: 66 We, the undersigned, certify that the Caïd of Bougie wished to dissuade us from going to Algiers by land; that he has assured us that we shall be massacred on the road; that notwithstanding his representations, reiterated twenty times, we have persisted in our project. We beg the Algerine authorities, particularly our consul, not to make him responsible for this event if it should occur. We once more repeat, that the voyage has been undertaken against his will. "Signed: ARAGO and BERTHÉMIE." Having given this declaration to the Caid, we considered ourselves quit of this functionary; but he came up to me, undid, without saying a word, the knot of my cravat, took it off, and put it into his pocket. All this was done so quickly that I had not time, I will add that I had not even the wish, to reclaim it. 66 At the conclusion of this audience, which had terminated in so singular a manner, we made a bargain with a Mahommedan priest, who promised to conduct us to Algiers for the sum of twenty piastres fortes," and a red mantle. The day was occupied in disguising ourselves well or ill, and we set out the next morning, accompanied by several Moorish sailors belonging to the crew of the ship, after having shown the Mahommedan priest that we had nothing with us worth a sou, so that if we were killed on the road he would inevitably lose all reward. I went, at the last moment, to make my bow to the only lion that was still alive, and with whom I had lived in very good harmony; I wished also to say good-bye to the monkeys, who during nearly five months had been equally my companions in misfortune. These monkeys during our frightful misery had rendered us a service which I scarcely dare mention, and which will scarcely be guessed by the inhabitants of our cities, who look upon these animals as objects of diversion; they freed us from the vermin which infested us, and showed particularly a remarkable cleverness in seeking out the hideous insects which lodged themselves in our hair. Poor animals! they seemed to me very unfortunate in being shut up in the narrow inclosure of the vessel, when, on the neighboring coast, other monkeys, as if to bully them, came on to the branches of the trees, giving innumerable proofs of their agility. HAKON JARL. BY ADAM GOTTLOB OEHLENSCHLÄGER. [ADAM GOTTLOB OEHLENSCHLÄGER, Danish poet and dramatist, the greatest name in Scandinavian poetry, was born 1779 near Copenhagen; his father was organist and steward of the royal palace, and he feasted on its works of art, and wrote pieces for private theatricals which he and his sister got up. After being a "supe " at the Copenhagen theater, he entered the University to study law. On the bombardment in 1801 he served in the volunteer corps; and, fired with mingled patriotism and romanticism, turned from law to literary quarrying from the Northern Sagas. This made him speedily famous and gained him a traveling pension, with which he journeyed over Europe, visiting Weimar and the Goethe circle. At Halle in 1807 he wrote "Hakon Jarl," the first of his great roll of Scandinavian history and myth dramas, followed by others, nineteen in all, besides five on other subjects; some of the chief are "Balder the Good, "Thor's Journey to Jotunheim," "Palnatoke," "Axel and Valborg," "The Gods of the North," "The Varangians in Micklegarth," "Knud the Great,' and “Correggio." He filled the chair of æsthetics in the University of Copenhagen; and in 1849 a great public festival was held in his honor in that city. He died two months later, January, 1850.] HAKON'S SACRIFICE OF HIS FIRSTBORN, ERLING. Erling 'Tis cold, my father! Hakon 'Tis yet early morning. Erling Nay Hakon I shall behold the rising sun-how grand! A sight that I have never known before. See'st thou yon ruddy streaks along the east? What roses! how they bloom and spread on high! Hakon They are not pearls-it is the morning dew! Oh, what a beauteous whirling globe he seems! |