THE NOVARA EXPEDITION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1201, 31 December 1858, Page 3

THE NOVARA EXPEDITION.

The Austrian frigate Novara, the first man-of-war of our faithful ally that ever visited these shores , and probably the largest vessel that has yet entered this harbour, was built at the Imperial docks of Venice about 10 years ago. She is pierced for 44 guns, but on the present occasion — a mission of peace — she carries but 32 guns, the rest being' removed and naturalists put in their place. The expedition was organized by H. I. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and Governor-General of Lombardy, with the object of giving the young naval officers an opportunity of becoming familiarized with the navigation of different seas, to display the Austrian flag at places where it had never been seen before, and to afford likewise to professors of the natural sciences the means of increasing the knowledge of the natural history of the different countries visited. The command of the whole expedition was intrusted to Commodore B. de Wuellerstorf Urtair, a gentleman not lgss distinguished as naval officer than as a,<man of science, who fully appreciates the importance of a task from which the whole of the continental scientific world^ are^ expecting great results; Under his direction is placed the scientific commission, as well as that of the different astronomical,' meteorological, magnetical, and geodetical labours executed by the naval officers. The command of the frigate is in the hands of Captain Baron de Pock, under whose direct orders is placed a staff of about 80 officers and midshipmen (including 3 physicians and 1 chaplain) with a crew of about 310 men. The scientific commission consists of one geologist, two zoologists, one botanist, one botanical collector, one ethnographer and political economist, and one draughtsman. These gentlemen had been partly invited by H. I. Highness the Archduke himself* to join the expedition, and had partly ,^ with his permission, been elected by the Imperial Academy of Sciences for that purpose. All the collections made during the circumnavigation in the different departments of natural history are intended by the Prince to increase the fine collections of the Imperial Museum of Natural History at Vienna, and those of other institutions of the Empire. ' The expedition sailed from Trieste, the principal port of Austria in the Adriatic Gulf, on the 30th ot. April 1847, and has since visited Gibraltar, Madeira, *Eio Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, the islands of St. 'Paul and Amsterdam in ai 6 * n<^ an °cean (at the particular desire of Alexander Voa Humboldt, who honoured the scientific commission with*most valuable instructions respecting physical and geognostical investigations), the" Island of Ceylon, the Nicobar

Archipelago, Singapbifef the' Isle of Java, Luzon, Hongkong,. Shanghai, • Sydney, , and this port. From here Pie Commodore proposes to proceed to the -'White (Sulphur) Island ; thence to Tahiti, Valparaiso, Lima, round Cape Horn to the i.Faukland Islands, Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, R?o, Lisbon, and Trieste. The whole cruise will yet occupy from 12 to 15 months. Most extensive collections have been made at the Cape of Good Hope, at the Island of St. Paul, and the Nicobar Islands (both of which have been likewise thoroughly surveyed by the officers of the frigate), at Java, Shanghai, and Sydney. More than 150 large boxes, containing botanical, zoological^eological, and ethnographical objects have already been sent home, where a hall has been speoially appropriated to receive them until the return of the expedition. Among the 'objects sent, are likewise some very valuable anatomical preparations, showing the different states of development of some of the most prominent diseases of the tropics, a large craniological collection, with a Bushman and Papuan skeleton. It is the intention of H I. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian to publish, soon after its return, at the expense of the government, the history* of the whole voyage together, with its principal results. Besides this general account — a most useful contribution to general knowledge — special reports will be published by members of the scientific commision .on the different results gained by each particular branch of science represented in the mission j so that the scientific world may expect & series of reports on astronomical, meteoreological, and magnetical observations ; on the physical geography of the sea (by the Commodore himself) j on the geology, botany, zoology, ethnography, anthropology, and political economy of the con tries visited by the naturalists of the expedition. An album of about 100 drawings, selected out of more than 1000 sketches from the sketch book of the artist, and executed with the greatest care is moreover intended to illustrate the whole voyage. We shall take an early opportunity of expanding this short notice of the purposes and endeavour of the first Austrian expedition of circumnavigation, which is just now visiting our harbour. But it will suffice to explain the intentions which gave the impulse to the expedition, and likewise ihow that not only Austria but the whole civilized world will 1 derive numerous advantages from an enterprise undertaken by a utilitarian Prince with no other but the noble object — to diffuse knowledge amongst men.