Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Iii Part 17

The indications of the Aneroid are moreover independent of the influence of universal gravity and the disturbing conditions it introduces into the instrument, to which the column of mercury is of course subject. a.s.suming, for example, that the ordinary barometer and the Aneroid gave the same readings, the similarity will no longer exist at a given distance from the Equator--the Aneroid, owing to the elimination of the disturbing element of gravity, indicating an increased pressure of the column of air, whereas the ordinary barometer will continue to indicate the same pressure as at the Equator. The difference between the two readings will, however, be directly proportionate to the amount of gravity thus got rid of, and is consequently susceptible of calculation. Although the data collected during the voyage for widely different purposes, and those now collected by means of the Aneroid, do not realize the antic.i.p.ations that had been formed, to the length of utmost precision, the result has shown that much may be achieved in this direction by observations easily made in the course of a voyage even by ordinary navigators, such as would greatly benefit science; and captains of all grades, who in the course of their voyages have occasion to traverse these special lat.i.tudes, and are able to use good, reliable, thoroughly-tested instruments, might by a series of such observations add materially to our acquaintance with physical phenomena.[118]

The _Novara_ sailed into the Atlantic with fair strong winds, and on 1st June was about the lat.i.tude of the Falklands,[119] that interesting group of islands, which have belonged to England since 1842. The few colonists at present resident there, not exceeding some hundreds in all, are maintained here at the expense of the British Government, and trade in skins and salt provisions. However, the annual cost of keeping up the colony does not amount to above 5000. Should the project of cutting a ca.n.a.l across the Isthmus of Central America, which has been the dream of centuries, ever be realized, the Falklands will become one of the most solitary spots on the face of the globe, owing to the entire abandonment of the route round Cape Horn, and as such would become admirably adapted for a penal colony. Judging, however, from the information respecting the southern parts of South America furnished by Admiral Fitzroy, so well known in connection with meteorological science, the eastern side of Terra del Fuego presents much greater advantages for such a project, and we cannot but feel surprised that England has not already founded an establishment there, where so many advantages are obvious at a glance, especially those relating to navigation.

From the Falkland lat.i.tude, the _Novara_ steered nearly a great circle course, or, in other words, followed the shortest line of distance, to the point where she must pa.s.s through the "Horse lat.i.tudes," about 25 W. of Greenwich, and with favourable west winds, sometimes rather stormy, sped along at from 200 to 250 knots per diem on her homeward voyage. On 5th June, about 9 P.M., a sudden squall from W.N.W. struck the s.h.i.+p about the lat.i.tude of the most northerly part of Patagonia, so violent that had not the sails been taken in with all despatch, the very masts must have been blown out of the vessel, or at all events have sustained serious injury.

Notwithstanding her being short of upper sails, the frigate heeled over more at this time than at any other period throughout the voyage.

On 7th and 8th June, the _Novara_ encountered a severe tornado, about the lat.i.tude of the mouth of the La Plata. A violent wind, which blew from the N.N.E., on the 7th, hauled round by N. and N.N.W. to W.S.W., and reached its greatest power on the 8th, about 9 A.M., the wind being N.W. At this moment the motion of the s.h.i.+p was so great, and she laboured so heavily in the high short waves, that the boats on her lee quarter were in imminent danger of being swept overboard. By observations made it was found that she heeled over 38 to starboard and 12 to port, so that the entire amount of oscillation was 50.

Unfortunately one of the barometers got broke on this occasion; the officer, while observing it, being precipitated against it by a sudden roll of the s.h.i.+p. It was the most trustworthy instrument on board, and, albeit near the end of the voyage, it was not the less vexatious to have the series of admirable observations made with this instrument suddenly interrupted.

The 11th June possessed an interest of its own for those on board the _Novara_, as on that day she crossed the course which she had followed two years before, in sailing from Rio to the Cape of Good Hope. Thus the actual circ.u.mnavigation had been successfully completed, and at least the material portion of the undertaking happily achieved.

Meanwhile the wind, though still always favourable, had abated greatly from its first strength, and each day saw the barometer steadily rising.

Even the sea-birds, those constant attendants of vessels, so long as they are in the extra-tropical lat.i.tudes of the Southern Ocean, now gradually began to cease flitting around the s.h.i.+p, as she approached the hot zones.

On 15th June, in 25 40' S., by 25 9' W., the s.h.i.+p reached the S.E.

trades. The weather was divine; the deep blue sky above, the exquisite tints of the atmosphere and the ocean, and the calm beauty of the long full-moon nights, exercised a most marked and beneficial influence upon the spirits and bodily health of the crew. Huge whales disported about, "blowing," as it is termed, immense ma.s.ses of water into the air, like so many springs leaping from the bosom of the deep, or rus.h.i.+ng upwards till half of their immense bodies emerged vertically from the water, into which they slowly plunged once more with a tremendous splash, the whole surface of the sea boiling and undulating as they fell back, athwart which might be seen dolphins gambolling about, or cleaving the blue depths with unmatched velocity. The S.E. trade blew with unbroken regularity, usually in its normal direction, but occasionally hauling up a little towards N.E., till, as we approached the Equator, it gradually blew steadily from the S.E.

On 23rd June the Equator was reached and crossed for the sixth and last time in 26 13' W. In 25 days the frigate had run in a direct line 3800 nautical miles, or an average of 6-1/3 knots an hour.

The very strongly-marked westerly current which prevails near the Equator materially lengthened the voyage, its strength in 2 39' N. and 26 14' W.

being such that while the s.h.i.+p made 213 knots in the 24 hours upon her direct course, she was carried within the same period no fewer than 65 miles in a direction of W. by N.

The S.E. trade remained as such as far as 4 36' N., 25 38' W., when fresh N.E. breezes were encountered, and stayed by the s.h.i.+p till she reached 9 54' N. by 29 42' W. She now had to make her way slowly forward through a belt of calms, rain-squalls, and occasional puffs of wind from W. and S.W., till, at length, on 2nd July, the wind came on to blow from N.N.E., in 11 47' N., by 29 29' W.

The French corvette _Eurydice_, which had laid her course for St. Helena, had on that account kept more to the eastward, and had crossed the line in about 22 W., and had in consequence lost so much more way than the _Novara_ that she took three days longer than our frigate to get from St.

Helena to lat. 20 N., to which this other circ.u.mstance contributed, that the N.E. trade does not blow so strongly or so steadily in the vicinity of the Cape de Verd Islands as a little further out.

On 7th July, in 22 58' N., 36 51' W., the _Novara_ reached the well-known Mar de Sarga.s.so, a portion of the Atlantic Ocean, in which the current, setting from the coast of Africa, encounters a branch of the great gulf stream, and forms a basin of still water, in which is collected an immense ma.s.s of seaweed (_sarga.s.sum bacciferum_, etc.) which is propelled slowly forward in long ranks by the action of the wind.

The 9th July was a day of mourning on board. One of the sailors, who for a year past had been ailing and almost constantly in sick bay, died, and was committed to the deep, the last victim during the voyage.

Next day, in 37 37' N., 39 1' W., the N.E. trade began to draw to the eastward, and gradually became more favourable, but at the same time lost in strength, till on the 14th it failed entirely.

Several s.h.i.+ps now hove in sight, and as one of these by her course must obviously approach the frigate pretty close, it seemed a good opportunity to get news from Europe, which the voyagers had for 54 days been speculating upon with anxious hearts. Accordingly a boat was lowered from the frigate and sent to board the merchantman, which proved to be the brig _Hero_, Captain Williams. He had left Barcelona 50 days before, and was bound for New York. The captain accordingly was not in a position to satisfy the very natural curiosity of those on board the _Novara_ as to the turn affairs had taken in Europe, or to give them late intelligence of public events especially in Austria. A few half-torn newspaper leaves round some bottles of cognac was all that the most earnest wish to oblige could furbish up in the way of information. In the course of conversation with the captain, it was only casually elicited that war had broken out two months before. More than this the honest seaman did not know, feeling, in fact, much greater interest in securing a profitable freight for his s.h.i.+p than in the political state of Europe.

As soon as the frigate's boat had returned, the officer in charge was met with a storm of questions and inquiries. His reply was very unsatisfactory, and little consolatory. Among the fragments of papers there was little that was important, still less that could give satisfaction, and, as usually happens under such circ.u.mstances, precisely at the spot where some news of our own country had been printed, the leaf was torn across, and the rest missing. Thus the antic.i.p.ations formed of obtaining intelligence from the merchantman which should allay the anxiety on board had not merely failed to do so, but had in fact increased it in intensity, and the excitement caused by this episode on the minds of all on board reached almost fever heat. One would far sooner have encountered a tempest than such uncertainty, especially if it could have driven the frigate more rapidly towards her goal!

On the 19th July, at midnight, with favourable west winds and a lovely moon, the _Novara_ pa.s.sed between Flores and Corvo, through the narrow channel of the Azores Islands--the first land that had been sighted since the frigate left the west coast of South America, 71 days before! The fact that it was. .h.i.t so accurately, also furnished satisfactory proof, in a scientific point of view, that the seven chronometers in use on board, despite 27 months of constant handling under the most varying and frequently unfavourable conditions, were still in perfect order, and indicated with admirable accuracy the longitude of the s.h.i.+p.

Unfortunately--a circ.u.mstance to be expected in such lat.i.tudes in the height of summer--the s.h.i.+p now lost entirely the favouring gales which hitherto had filled her sails, and sped her rapidly on her course. When not above a few hundred miles distant from Gibraltar, those on board had to toss about for a number of days in calms that seemed as though they would never cease. Anxiety was at its height.

FOOTNOTES:

[101] In one single year (1854), the imports into Australia of Chilean grain amounted to 630,000. In a good year Chile produces 2,500,000 fanegas (920,755 quarters) of wheat, 4,500,000 fanegas (1,855,054 quarters) of barley, and 180,000 fanegas (16,071 tons) of beans. The _fanega_ varies in weight according to the article measured; thus a fanega of wheat is 165 lbs., of barley 155 lbs., and of beans 200 lbs.

[102] That s.h.i.+ps in good holding ground and with sound tackle are in no great danger riding out even a heavy storm in the roads, is best proved by the fact, that in the inner harbour there is a floating dry dock in use throughout the year, which, notwithstanding the occasionally severe weather while we were there, had a three-masted s.h.i.+p, full-rigged, masted and tackled upon it, with repairs of all sorts going on upon her sides.

[103] About 1_s._ 1_d._; a dollar is about 4_s._ 4_d._, and a dollar has 8 reals.

[104] We must especially remark the large and valuable zoological collection with which our natural history stores were enriched by a German gentleman, Dr. C. Seget of Santiago de Chili. With similar liberality another gentleman, Mr. Friedrich Leybold, a Bavarian by birth, now resident in Santiago, where he practises as a chemist, presented the Expedition with several valuable geological and botanical specimens.

[105] The charge for apartments of three persons (two sleeping and one drawing-room), including board, was 30 Spanish piastres=6 6_s._ per diem!

[106] The Chilean Mint is entirely arranged on the French system, and is provided with French machinery.

[107] "Historia fisica y politica de Chile, segun doc.u.mentos adquiridos en esta Republica durante doze anos de residencia en ella, y publicado bajo los auspicios del supremo Gobierno por Claudio Gay, &c., Paris, 1844, 8vo.;" besides two large quarto volumes, "Atlas de la historia fisica y politica de Chile."

[108] The results of the great attention bestowed on public instruction have not been inadequate, as is apparent from the latest statistics on the subject, according to which the average proportion of the inhabitants, who can read and write, is 100 out of every 561 of the male population, and 100 in 1095 of the females, or an average of 100 in every 828. In 1858, there were on the whole State 950 schools, attended by 39,657 scholars (viz. 27,288 male and 12,369 female). There is, however, a difference in these two statements of 6 per cent. The proportion of females to males _attending school_ is 45 to 100; of those able to read and write, of 51 females to 100 males.

[109] There are in the whole country 37 public and 12 private libraries (including in the latter only such as are really worthy of the name).

[110] See Gay's History of Chile, Zoology, vol. i, p. 161.

[111] The whole consumption of ice used in Valparaiso and Santiago is supplied by American s.h.i.+ps, which take in their cargo at Boston, and sell it here at about 2-1/4d. per lb. It is cheaper to import the ice from America round the Horn than from the Andes, though the latter are only 50 or 60 miles distant, and though ice is found on these at certain seasons at an elevation of only 6000 feet.

[112] Mr. Haidinger, who at the very first exerted himself to the utmost of his ability and patriotism to promote the objects of the _Novara_ Expedition, was so thoughtfully kind as to provide the geologist attached to it with a number of copies of publications of the Imperial Inst.i.tute, as well as a corresponding number of neat little specimens of tertiary petrifactions from the Vienna basin, for the purpose of presenting them to kindred inst.i.tutes in different quarters of the globe.

[113] The lines of road already in operation or projected throughout Chile are as follows:--

_a._ From Valparaiso to Santiago, 110 miles, constructed at the expense of the State, and estimated to cost $7,150,000 (2,860,000). This had been opened when we were there, as far as Guillota, 30 miles, but the whole was to be finished by 1862.

_b._ From Valparaiso to Talca (180 miles), and

_c._ From Port Caldera to Copiapo, the mining capital (50 miles), both constructed by private companies. From Copiapo a tramway leads to Pabellar, whence there is a mule-road to the mines of Chanarullo (4400 feet above sea-level). Mr. Evans had invented a new description of locomotive, capable of climbing even to this elevated region. Lastly, a road is projected to unite Copiapo with the mining district of Tres Puntos.

[114] See a very interesting "Essay" upon Chile, published at Hamburg by Senor Vicente Perez-Rosales, Consul-General for Chile at that port.

[115] This estimate is founded on the following calculations:--

120,000 tons at $40 per ton, comes to $4,800,000, the annual expenses of which, such as crew, insurance, &c., and including interest for money invested, amounts to 30 per cent. for 20 days $80,000

Further saving of interest and insurance on goods valued at $16,000,000 at 20 per cent. for 20 days 177,776 -------- Total saving effected by vessels using the Straits of Magelhaen $257,776

[116] The Steam-packet Company which now carries the mails twice a month from Valparaiso to the southern ports of Chile, receives an annual subsidy from Government of $50,000 (10,500).

[117] According to the reports of Mr. George Schuthe, governor of the little colony in the Straits of Magelhaen, some very valuable coal-strata exist near Punta Arenas. These, although difficult of access, would, nevertheless, fetch a high price, considering the high price of coal in the harbours along the east coast of South America. In Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, 12 to 15 days' sail distant, the average price of coal is 12 dollars (2 10_s._) per ton.

[118] We cannot help stating here that we think it far from unimportant, that when employed to measure the alt.i.tude of prominent objects, the Aneroid may be made to supply widely different results from those of the ordinary barometer, as the elimination of gravity in the Aneroid readings remains as a constant element, and hence the difference between the two can only be rectified by due regard being had to this circ.u.mstance, when performing the requisite calculations.

[119] This group, between 51 and 53 S., and 57 and 62 W., comprises, besides the two larger islands, 90 smaller islands, the superficial area of the whole being about 6000 square miles, or 3,840,000 acres. The summer temperature is 69.8 Fahr. and that of winter rarely falls below 30.2 Fahr., so that the climate greatly resembles that of Scotland in many respects. The islands present a cheerless aspect; a rolling country with peat soil, covered with rank gra.s.ses, and intersected by low ranges of hills, alternating with marshy rivers and torrents. The lower part of the country is clay, slate, and sandstone, covered with turf, which is used for fuel. Tussock gra.s.s (_Dactylis cespitosa_) is the most common plant.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Station on the Panama Railway]