wn President of the Alpine Club,
then resident at Pisa, and with many others, among whom the name of a very
cultivated German scholar, H. Meyer, specially recurs to memory.

In the spring of 1864, Yule took a spacious and delightful old villa,
situated in the highest part of the Bagni di Lucca,[55] and commanding
lovely views over the surrounding chestnut-clad hills and winding river.

Here he wrote much of what ultimately took form in _Cathay, and the Way
Thither_. It was this summer, too, that Yule commenced his investigations
among the Venetian archives, and also visited the province of Friuli in
pursuit of materials for the history of one of his old travellers, the
_Beato Odorico_. At Verona--then still Austrian--he had the amusing
experience of being arrested for sketching too near the fortifications.
However, his captors had all the usual Austrian _bonhomie_ and courtesy,
and Yule experienced no real inconvenience. He was much more disturbed
when, a day or two later, the old mother of one of his Venetian
acquaintances insisted on embracing him on account of his supposed
likeness to Garibaldi!

As winter approached, a warmer climate became necessary for Mrs. Yule, and
the family proceeded to Sicily, landing at Messina in October, 1864. From
this point, Yule made a very interesting excursion to the then little
known group of the Lipari Islands, in the company of that eminent
geologist, the late Robert Mallet, F.R.S., a most agreeable companion.

On Martinmas Day, the Yules reached the beautiful capital of Sicily,
Palermo, which, though they knew it not, was to be their home--a very
happy one--for nearly eleven years.

During the ensuing winter and spring, Yule continued the preparation of
_Cathay_, but his appetite for work not being satisfied by this, he, when
in London in 1865, volunteered to make an Index to the third decade of the
_Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, in exchange for a set of such
volumes as he did not possess. That was long before any Index Society
existed; but Yule had special and very strong views of his own as to what
an Index should be, and he spared no labour to realise his ideal.[56] This
proved a heavier task than he had anticipated, and he got very weary
before the Index was completed.

In the spring of 1866, _Cathay and the Way Thither_ appeared, and at once
took the high place which it has ever since retained. In the autumn of the
same year Yule's attention was momentarily