INTRODUCTION. iMxiii 



ful to that munificent Patron of Science, who not onlj' di- 

 recTied the hillory of the voyage to be publiflied ; but to be 

 pubhflied with fuch a fplendid train of ornaments, at the 

 pubHc expence, as will ftill add to the merit of having or- 

 dered the voyage itfelf to be undertaken. 



And here it feems to be incumbent upon us to add, as 

 another inftance of munificent attention, that care has been 

 taken to mark, in the mofl fignificant manner, the juft fenfe 

 entertained of the humane and liberal relief afforded to our 

 fliips in Kamtfchatka. Colonel Behm, the commandant of 

 that province, has not been rewarded merely by the pleafure 

 which a benevolent mind feels in refled:ing upon the blelT- 

 ings it confers ; but has been thanked in a manner equally 

 confiftent with the dignity of his own fovercign and of ours, 

 to whofe fubjecfls he extended protedlion. A magnificent 

 piece of plate was prefented to him, with an infcription 

 worthy of a place in the fame book where the hiftory of his 

 humanity to our countrymen is recorded, and which, while 

 it does honour to our national gratitude, deferves alfo to be 

 pTeferved as a monument of our national tafie for elegant 

 compofition. It is as follows : 



Vi R o E G R EC lo M A G N o D E B E H M ; qui, Imperatricis Augitjli/ftma 

 Catherints aufpiciisjfianmdqiie aniini ben!gnitate,/£va, quibus prtsa'at, 

 Kamtjchatkcs littora, navibiis nautlfqiie Brilamiicis, ho/pita prabiiit ; 

 cofque-, in tenninis, ft qui ejfent Imperio RiiJ/tco, frujlra explorandis, 

 mala multaperpejfos, iteratd'uice excepit, refocit, rccreavit, et comvieatll 

 omni aimulate audos dimtfit\ Rei navalis Britannica; Sep- 

 TEMViRi in aliqiiam benevolenti^ tarn hifignis menioriam, amicijjtmo^ 

 gratijjmoqiie animo, fuo, patri(eque nomine, D. D. D. 



MDGCLXXXL 



1 2 This 



