INTRODUCTION. lvii 
and coasting trade of the colonies ; the state of the home 
and foreign fisheries; of the national, and mercantile 
marine ; and generally of all maritime establishments and 
regulations. It is a work of useful reference, and one that 
may safely be recommended for general information. 
In August 1814, Mr. Tuckey was promoted by Lord 
Melville to the rank of commander ; and in the followmg 
year, on hearing of the intention of Government to send 
an expedition to explore the river Zaire, he made an ap- 
plication, with several other officers, to be appointed to 
that service; his claims and his abilities were unquestion- 
able; he had stored his mind with so much various know- 
ledge and, for the last nine years, had given so much 
attention to the subject of nautical discovery and river 
navigation, that he was considered as most eligible for the 
undertaking; but his health appeared delicate: he was, 
however, so confident that his constitution would improve 
by the voyage, and in a warm climate, and urged hig 
wishes so strongly, that the Lords of the Admiralty con- 
ferred on him the appointment. How far his zeal and quali- 
fications were suited to the undertaking, his Journal will 
furnish the best proof. hat document is now given to the 
public, just as it came from the hands of its author. Not 
a sentence has been added or suppressed, nor has the 
least alteration been made therein, beyond the correction 
perhaps of some trifling error in grammar or orthography. 
The information it contains must have been procured under 
very unfavourable circumstances. Had he been permitted 
to penetrate further into the interior, or to return at leisure, 
and in health, from the farthest point even to which he 
ascended, his account of the country would have been so 
i 
