PREFACE. ix 



quarto volumes, with two or three smaller ones, con- 

 taining together from three to four thousand pages, 

 exclusive of four or ftye other volumes, consisting 

 entirely of subjects in natural history, which on the 

 present occasion do not fall within my province. 



I cannot but feel it a most gratifying reflection 

 that in so great a number of persons, who have been 

 employed and passed several winters in one of the 

 most cold, dark, and desolate regions of the globe, 

 so few lives, in some of the ships none, have been 

 lost. It is equally gratifying to have the oppor- 

 tunity of recording, which I have not omitted to do, 

 that most of those who survived the trial have re- 

 ceived advancement in their professional career, or 

 some distinction of honour, in reward of their ser- 

 vices ; and that there are few of those, in the inferior 

 ranks, who have not improved their condition in 

 life, in consequence of their good conduct on very 

 trying occasions. 



I have used the liberty of making a few brief 

 occasional remarks on some of the voyages, which 

 I am sure the gallant conductors of them will take 

 in good part, knowing, as they well do, the great 

 interest I have felt in their success, from their 

 commencement down to the existing expedition 



