VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 81 



finishing many of them, rendered this a tedious ope- 

 ration ; paper fit for printing them upon was to be 

 procured from abroad ; and after all these various 

 and unavoidable difficulties were surmounted, much 

 time was necessarily required for executing a numer- 

 ous impression of the long list of plates, with so much 

 care as might do justice both to Mr. Webber and to his 

 several engravers. When all these circumstances are 

 taken into consideration, we trust that we shall hear 

 no more of the delay ; and only be grateful to that 

 munificent Patron of Science, who not only directed 

 the history of the voyage to be published, but to be 

 published with such a splendid train of ornaments, at 

 the public expense, as will still add to the merit of 

 having ordered the voyage itself to be undertaken. 



And here it seems to be incumbent upon us to 

 add, as another instance of munificent attention, that 

 care has been taken to mark, in the most significant 

 manner, the just sense entertained of the humane 

 and liberal relief afforded to our ships in Kamts- 

 chatka. Colonel Behm, the commandant of that 

 province, has not been rewarded merely by the plea- 

 sure which a benevolent mind feels in reflecting upon 

 the blessings it confers ; but has been thanked in a 

 manner equally consistent with the dignity of his 

 own sovereign and of ours, to whose subjects he ex- 

 tended protection. A magnificent piece of plate was 

 presented to him with an inscription, worthy of a 

 place in the same book where the history of his hu- 

 manity to our countrymen is recorded, and which, 

 while it does honour to our national gratitude, de- 

 serves also to be preserved as a monument of our 

 national taste for elegant composition. It is as follows: 



Viro egregio magno de Behm ; qui, Imperatricis 

 Augustissimae Catherinae auspiciis, summaque animi benig- 

 nitate, saeva, quibus praeerat, Kamtschatkae littora, navibus 

 nautisque Britannicis, hospita praebuit; eosque, in terminis, 

 si qui essent lmperio Russico, frustra explorandis, mala multa 

 perpessos, iterata vice excepit, refecit, recreavit, & commeatu 

 VOL. V. - G 



