Page "François Arago" Paragraph 5

After Biot's departure, the political ferment caused by the entrance of the French into Spain extended to the Balearic Islands, and the population suspected Arago's movements and his lighting of fires on the top of Mount Galatzó ( Catalan: Mola de l ' Esclop ) as the activities of a spy for the invading army.

Their reaction was such that he was obliged to give himself up for imprisonment in the fortress of Bellver in June 1808.

On 28 July he escaped from the island in a fishing-boat, and after an adventurous voyage he reached