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.
[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.