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 judge was determined to make
him place his thumb on the forefinger so as represent the cross. I
warned him that great offence 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. This last circumstance
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 Mussulmen on board the vessel declared, it was written above that we
should not enter that town. We could already perceive the white