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.