viii pheface. 



I was led, at the moment of embarking on my 

 voyage, to keep a log-book or journal, in which, 

 at the expiration of each nautical day, I noted 

 the different employments of the crew, manner 

 of saihng the vessel, incidents arising in the 

 capturing of whales, general personal treatment, 

 amount and quality of provisions, and the phases 

 of the weather in different latitudes. 



Thus a description of life at sea alone came 

 within my original intention; but as I pro- 

 gressed, and became more interested in my self- 

 imposed task, (which, by the way, enabled me 

 to occupy pleasantly what would otherwise have 

 been weary and unprofitable hours,) it seemed 

 to me, that my journal would not be complete, 

 unless I should also describe the seaman's bear- 

 ing when ashore, at liberty, and unrestrained by 

 discipline ; and, as such a description involved 

 adventures in various localities of the globe, 

 I at first was unconsciously betrayed into a still 

 farther enlargement of my task : namely, to in- 

 corporate the most striking (or, rather, those 

 in which I was most interested) features and 

 characteristics of the countries and people we 

 visited. 



