VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 77 



nothing more need be said than that it was com- 

 pletely prepared for the press by Captain King him- 

 self. All that the editor of the work has to answer 

 for, are the notes occasionally introduced in the 

 course of the two volumes, contributed by Captain 

 Cook ; and this introduction, which was intended as 

 a kind of epilogue to our voyages of discovery. He 

 must be permitted, however, to say, that he con- 

 siders himself as intitled to no inconsiderable share 

 of candid indulgence from the public ; having en- 

 gaged in a very tedious and troublesome undertaking 

 upon the most disinterested motives ; his only reward 

 being the satisfaction he feels, in having been able to 

 do an essential service to the family of our great 

 navigator, who had honoured him in the journal of 

 this voyage, with the appellation of friend. 



They who have repeatedly asked why this publi- 

 cation has been so long delayed, need only look at 

 the volumes, and their attendant illustrations and 

 ornaments, to be satisfied that it might, with at least 

 equal reason, be wondered at, that it has not been 

 delayed longer. The journal of Captain Cook, from 

 the first moment that it came into the hands of the 

 editor had been ready for the press ; and Captain 

 King had left with him his part of the narrative, so 

 long ago as his departure for the West Indies, when 

 he commanded the Resistance man-of-war. But 

 much besides remained to be done. The charts, 

 particularly the general one, were to be prepared by 

 Mr. Roberts, who gives an account of his work in 

 the note* ; the very numerous and elegant drawings 



* Soon after our departure from England, I was instructed by 

 Captain Cook to complete a map of the world as a general chart, 

 from the best materials he was in possession of for that purpose ; 

 and before his death this business was in a great measure ac- 

 complished : That is, the grand outline of the whole was arranged, 

 leaving only those parts vacant or unfinished, which he expected 

 to fall in with and explore. But on our return home, when the 

 fruits of our voyage were ordered by the Lords Commissioners of 

 the Admiralty to be published, the care of the general chart being 



