[64] When they came alongside of the Undaunted, Napoleon desired the captain to ascend, and then followed; the officers were on deck to receive him; they mutually bowed, and the Emperor instantly went forward alone among the men, most of whom spoke French, having been on this station for some years. They all kept their hats on; but he so fascinated them by his manner, that in a few minutes they, of their own accord, took them off. Captain Usher was very glad of this, as he was apprehensive the sailors might have thrown him overboard.--_Memorable Events_, p. 254. [65] The Prussian commissioner wrote an account of their journey, called "Itineraire de Buonaparte, jusqu'à son embarquement à Frejus, Paris, 1815." The facts are amply confirmed by the accounts of his fellow-travellers. Napoleon always reckoned the pamphlet of General Truchsess Waldbourg, together with the account of De Pradt's Embassy to Poland, as the works calculated to do him most injury. Perhaps he was sensible that during this journey he had behaved beneath the character of a hero, or perhaps he disliked the publication of details which inferred his extreme unpopularity in the south of France.--S. [66] Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 92. [67] The honest boatswain, however, could understand and value what was solid in Napoleon's merits. As he had to return thanks in name of the ship's company, for 200 louis with which the Emperor presented them, he wished "his honour good health, and better luck the next time."--S. CHAPTER LXXXII. _Elba--Napoleon's mode of Life and occupation there--Effects of his residence at Elba upon the adjoining Kingdom of Italy--He is visited by his Mother and the Princess Pauline--and by a Polish lady--Sir Niel Campbell the only Commissioner left at Elba--Napoleon's Conversations on the State of Europe--His pecuniary Difficulties--and fears of Assassination--Symptoms of some approaching crisis--A part of the Old Guard disbanded--Napoleon escapes from Elba--Fruitless pursuit by Sir Niel Campbell._ [Sidenote: ELBA.] Elba, to the limits of which the mighty empire of Napoleon was now contracted, is an island opposite to the coast of Tuscany, about sixty miles in circumference. The air is healthy, excepting in the neighbourhood of the salt marshes. The country is mountainous, and, having all the florid vegetation of Italy, is, in general, of a romantic character. It produces little grain, but exports a considerable quantity of wines; and its iron ore has been famous since the days of Virgil, who describes Elba as, "Insula inexhaustis chalybum generosa metallis."