Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file made from scans of public domain material at
Austrian Literature Online.)
[Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been faithfully
replicated except as listed near the end of this document under another
Transcriber's Note. Italicized words are indicated _like this_. Bold words
are indicated =like this=. Fractions are indicated like this:
3-14159/100000. The oe ligature is indicated like this: man[oe]uvre.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: CHART OF THE TRACK OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE NOVARA
ON HER VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE _In The Years 1857, 1858 & 1859._]
NARRATIVE
OF THE
Circumnavigation of the Globe
BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE
NOVARA,
(COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)
_Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government_,
IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, & 1859,
UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.
DR. KARL SCHERZER,
MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF
"TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.
VOL. I.
[Illustration]
LONDON:
_SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO._
66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.
1861.
[THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
TO
SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON,
G.C.S.ST., M.A., D.C.L., V.P.R.S., G.S., L.S., F.R.G.S.,
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
TRUST. BRIT. MUS., ETC., ETC.,
THE GREAT PROMOTER OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE,
These Pages are respectfully Inscribed,
IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VALUABLE EXERTIONS IN
ADVANCING THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTS
OF THE AUSTRIAN EXPEDITION,
AS WELL AS
IN GRATITUDE FOR THE HOSPITABLE RECEPTION SECURED TO THE NAVIGATORS
THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DEPENDENCIES,
WHEREVER IT WAS THEIR GOOD FORTUNE TO CAST ANCHOR,
BY
THE AUTHOR OF THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE.
[Illustration: LETTER.]
[Illustration: LETTER CONTINUED.]
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
A member of the scientific corps attached to the Expedition, which, under
the auspices of that enlightened friend of science and liberty, the
Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, was despatched on a voyage round the globe,
the high honour has been conferred upon me of having entrusted to my care
the publication of the Narrative of our Cruise.
In this not more difficult than enviable task, I have been most liberally
assisted by my eminent fellow-labourers--the whole literary material
collected during the voyage having been kindly placed at my disposal. The
comprehensive journals and reports of the venerable Commander-in-Chief of
the Expedition, Commodore Wullerstorff-Urbair, as well as the various
memoranda of the other members of the Scientific Commission, contributed
materially to the elucidation of my own general notes, as well as my
observations upon special subjects, which latter chiefly referred to the
Geography, Ethnography, and general Statistics of the various countries
visited.
While preparing the details of our voyage for publication in my own
language, the idea perpetually presented itself that a translation of this
narrative into English might prove not unacceptable to the British public.
And although fully aware that a voyage round the globe, in the course of
which little more than the coasts were visited of the various countries we
touched at, could not pretend to offer much new information to the
greatest of maritime nations, it seemed, nevertheless, that it might
interest a people so eager in the pursuit of knowledge as the English, to
know the impression which has been made upon travellers of education by
the Colonies and Settlements of Britain throughout the world.
The English language, moreover, being spoken more or less over the greater
part of the earth's surface, geographically speaking, the author who
addresses his readers in that tongue is sustained by the flattering
conviction that he will be understood by the majority of the nations of
the globe! For it is not alone the educated classes of all countries that
seek to master a language which possesses such a grand--all but unrivalled
literature! The political and commercial development which Great Britain
enjoys under the benign influence of liberal institutions, has made
English the medium of intercourse among almost all sea-faring nations;
nay, even barbarous tribes find it their obvious interest to get a slight
inkling at least of the language of a people whose civilizing and
elevating energies they may not, it is true, understand, far less
appreciate, but whose imposing power inspires them with awe, while they
are more closely attached by the tie of material advantage.
The following narrative describes the most important occurrences and most
lasting impressions of a voyage during which we traversed 51,686 miles,
visited twenty-five different places, and spent 551 days at sea, and 298
at anchor or on shore.
As the purely scientific results of the Expedition will be published
separately under the supervision of Commodore Wullerstorf and the other
members of the scientific corps, I shall, in this place, only attempt to
place before the reader a general outline of the countries and races
visited during our cruise in different regions of the world.
In relating simply and concisely what was seen and experienced, I have
endeavoured to avoid incurring the reproach, so frequently launched by
English critics against German works of travel, of dryness and minute
detail, such as render them distasteful to the English reader, and make it
almost impossible to enlist his attention or evoke his sympathy.
If, as is specially the case with respect to natural science, many a
doubtful point still remains undecided--if the ingenious "Suggestions" of
the immortal Alexander von Humboldt (for the translation of which I feel
particularly indebted to that profound scholar, my learned and esteemed
friend Mr. Haidinger, whose name will be familiar to the scientific world
in Great Britain), could not be acted upon to the extent and in the
effectual manner each of us could have wished, the reason for such
deficiencies will be found in the peculiar mission of the Expedition, and
in the arrangement of our route, which was specially laid out with
reference to the numerous and widely different objects, which it was
specially intended to keep in view throughout the voyage.
Among the more prominent of these, may be specified the opportunity thus
afforded for the practical instruction of our young and rapidly-increasing
navy; the unfurling of the Imperial flag of Austria in those distant
climes, where it had never before floated; the promulgation of commercial
treaties; the aid afforded to science in exploration and investigation, as
well as by the collection of those objects of Natural History, the
acquisition of which is all but impossible to the solitary naturalist,
owing to the expense and difficulty of transport,[1] and the establishment
everywhere of friendly correspondence between our own scientific
institutions and those in remote regions, I have considered it necessary
to invite the attention of the British reading public to these
circumstances, in order to make them more intimately cognisant of our
various and manifold tasks, and thus make them the more readily disposed
to overlook the deficiencies and discrepancies of this book, which I now
respectfully commit to their perusal.
[Footnote 1: Notwithstanding the short period at our disposal at each
port, which concomitant necessity militates so much against the practical
utility of a circumnavigation of the globe as compared with an expedition
solely directed to one single centre of scientific observation, the
collection of objects of Natural History made during the cruise are very
extensive, and unusually rich in new or rare species. The zoological
department alone embraces above 23,700 individuals of different kinds of
animals: viz. 440 mammalia, 300 reptiles, 1500 birds, 1400 _Amphibiæ_,
1330 fish, 9000 insects, 8900 Molluscs and _Crustaceæ_, 300 birds' eggs
and nests, besides numerous skeletons. The botanical collection consists
of _Herbaria_, seeds of useful plants, special regard being had to those
best adapted for the various climates of the respective Austrian
provinces, drugs, specimens of dye-woods, and timber, fruits preserved in
alcohol, &c. The Geological and Palæontological Museums of our country
have likewise been enriched with various rare and valuable specimens,
particularly in consequence of Dr. Hochstetter, the geologist of the
Expedition, having prolonged his stay in New Zealand, where, at the
special request of the Colonial Government, he explored the province of
Auckland. The Ethnographical and Anthropological collection consists of
above 550 objects, among which are 100 skulls, representing the craniology
of almost all the races of the globe.]
Before concluding, I beg leave to express my hearty thanks to all those
who have contributed in such various ways to aid my humble efforts--to
specify some were invidious, as in so doing I must wrong others. To each
and all I return the most heartfelt gratitude.
May the indulgent reader peruse the following pages with an approving
eye--may they afford him as much satisfaction and as much interest as I
experienced in committing to paper the descriptions and impressions
therein set forth, since in so doing, I, so to speak, made the delightful
voyage for the second time, and in thought visited once more the different
localities, from every one of which I, and my fellow-travellers, brought
away none but the most friendly and agreeable recollections.
It inspires a _German_ traveller with a peculiar and lofty feeling of
pride and delight that he can look upon himself as belonging to a race, to
whom seems to have been reserved the diffusion of a New Life over the
earth--whose special mission it appears to be to make even the most
primitive tribes in the remotest corner of the world acquainted with the
blessings of Christian civilization, of political liberty, of intellectual
culture, and, standing triumphant on the ruins of slavery and despotism,
to proclaim to the great family of universal mankind, the advent of a new,
a vernal era of Faith, Freedom, and Happiness!
DR. KARL SCHERZER.
TRIESTE, _18th March, 1861_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
PAGE
Approval of the Plan to fit out an Austrian Man-of-War for a
Voyage round the World.--Object of the Expedition.--
Appointment of a Scientific Commission.--Preparations.--
Fitting out the Frigate _Novara_ at Pola.--Departure for
Trieste.--Visit of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on board. 1