About noon the Archduke came on board, and inspected the crew and ship, after which he expressed himself in the most kind terms to the officers of the ship and the scientific corps of the expedition. The Archduchess afterwards had a levee, at which the officers and naturalists had the honour of being presented to her Highness, who addressed to each a few gracious words of welcome and interest.
In the evening there was an elegant banquet of forty covers, at which the Archduke presided, his consort also sharing in the festivities, during which his Highness distinguished the members of the Expedition in proposing the toast, "The men of the Novara, whose names will belong to Austrian history."
On 23rd August our frigate, accompanied by the Lucia and the screw-corvette Dandolo, sailed for Pola. Shortly before our departure the Archduke again came on board, and himself brought with him a long list of promotions. The entire crew were promoted one grade, and all the midshipmen were made officers.
On the 25th August we passed, during the morning, the light-tower of Promontore, standing on a solitary rock that rises out of the sea, hardly a cable's length from the shore, and at 11 reached Pola, the chief naval arsenal of Austria. Here we availed ourselves of the stoppage to visit some of the classical monuments of Pola.
Few cities can present better-preserved or more extensive mementoes of Roman architecture than this, the ancient Pietas Julia, so named because shortly after its destruction by Julius Cæsar, it was rebuilt at the instance of Julia, the daughter of Augustus. The majestic amphitheatre, of elliptical form, rises on the slope of the hills, so that to remedy the inequality of the ground the portion next the sea is held up by a succession of buttresses. The dazzling white of the stone does not present any traces by which one would guess its age. This relic of antiquity is in far better preservation than the Colosseum of Rome, or the Amphitheatre of Verona, and would have been far more perfect had it not been used as a stone-quarry during the days of Venetian supremacy, when entire ship-loads of this brilliant white stone were transported to Venice, there to be used as building material.
Near the amphitheatre, on the side next the city, the stranger is struck by another beautiful edifice, the Porta Aurea (golden gate), a monumental structure in the Corinthian style, which, according to one of the inscriptions, was erected by his widow, Salvia, at her own expense, in honour of Lucius Sergius Lepidus, tribune. For harmony of proportion, richness and elegance of decoration, and perfect preservation, it may be cited as one of the best existing specimens of Roman architecture. A temple to Augustus and another to Diana also attract the astonished gaze of the artist and antiquary, while many another object of classical interest lies prostrate on the earth for want of means, or perhaps, more probably,
through indifference. It is highly probable that, with the rapid development of the town, some interest will also be taken in preserving its antiquities.
The importance of this spacious, easily accessible, secure, and well-fortified harbour, induced the Austrian Government during the last few years to commence public works on a large scale, which was munificently projected and fully carried out, and have resulted in opening for Pola a prospect of future importance second to none on the Adriatic, making it the Portsmouth of the Austrian Empire.
In the evening we again set sail, and about 11 A.M. of the 26th escorted by a squadron of above a dozen ships of war, in two columns, the one led by H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the other by our Commodore, we neared the imposing roadstead of Trieste. As the Novara passed beneath the walls of the splendid château of Miramar, the residence of the Archduke, a guard of artillery saluted the home-returning wanderer, and almost immediately afterwards the cannon of the citadel of Trieste thundered forth their salute.