62 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. 



his talent for writing, as he 'had long before pub- 

 lished a voyage in the Pacific and to Behring's 

 Strait, a well-written volume of 700 pages. It 

 appears indeed that the public would not have 

 had the present work at all, but for the persua- 

 sion of a friend, who casually saw and read the 

 manuscript, when taking a little trip in the vessel 

 he commanded in the Irish Channel. This friend* 

 found it to be interesting, and, as the produce of a 

 voyage set forth by Government, he advised him, 

 and absolutely compelled him, as it were, to pub- 

 lish it ; and for that purpose took it with him to 

 London. It is a well-written and interesting nar- 

 rative, disencumbered of the frequent recurrence 

 of nautical remarks and observations, which are 

 not always understood or relished by the general 

 reader; and it contains lively descriptions of the 

 manners and habits of the various living crea- 

 tures that abound on the shores of Spitzbergen, 

 its seas, and islands of ice; and they are given in 

 so clear and lucid a manner, without the techni- 

 calities peculiarly employed in the description of 

 objects of natural history, that the book is suited 

 for all classes, and may be recommended as a 

 model for future voyagers. 



Though this expedition, like that of Ross, was a 

 failure in its main object, yet, unlike the other, it 

 was not owing to any want of exertion, zeal, or 



* Mr. John Barrow. 



