iv INTRODUCTION. 
By the present improved state of nautical science, 
by means of His Majesty’s ships of war employed ow 
surveys, of the surveying marine of the East India Com- 
pany, and of the accidental discoveries of commercial 
vessels, the hydrographical knowledge of every part of 
the globe is daily extending itself. The line of the coasts 
which form the boundaries of the continents and larger 
islands, are traced with more or less accuracy ; the po- 
sitions of most of the islands or groups of islands are 
generally ascertained ; and the prevailing winds and cur- 
rents of the ocean are so much better understood than 
formerly, that the usual time of an eight or nine months 
passage to or from China, is now reduced to four months, 
and rarely exceeds five. It may be said indeed, ge- 
nerally speaking, that, as far as regards maritime disco- 
very, the edge of curiosity has been taken off. Enough 
however still remains to be done. The deficiency m 
the detail, and the want of that accuracy so essentially 
necessary for the advantage and security of navigation, 
still furnish ample scope for further investigation and 
research. 
But the object of the voyage, of which the narrative is 
contained in the present volume, though fitted out in the 
naval department, is nearly, if not altogether, unconnected 
either with maritime discovery or nautical surveying. 
It was planned and undertaken with the view and in 
the hope of solving, or of being instrumental in solving, a 
great geographical problem, in which all Europe had, for 
some time past, manifested no common degree of interest ; 
and, at any rate, in the almost certain means it would 
afford of adding something to our present very confined 
