INTRODUCTION. 11 



respecting the internal state of this wholly un- 

 known part of America, if the inhosi)itable regions 

 in which it was to be made would allow of its 

 execution. 4. The crossing of the whole South 

 Sea twice, in quite different directions, would cer- 

 tainly not a little contribute to enlarge our know- 

 ledge of this great ocean, as well as of the inhabit- 

 ants of the very numerous islands scattered over 

 it ; and a rich hanest of objects of natural history 

 was to be expected, as the Count had appointed, 

 besides the ship's surgeon, an able naturalist to 

 accompany the expedition. The projected under- 

 taking was therefore of the highest importance to 

 science ; and, to speak without partiality, worthy 

 of the greatest praise, because it is without a 

 parallel. In the centuries immediately succeeding 

 Vasco de Gama's doubling the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and Magellan's voyage to the South Sea, 

 there were indeed rich individuals who fitted out 

 vessels at their own expense, to make discoveries 

 in the seas so lately made known ; but this zeal 

 has long since expired, and besides, the voyages 

 of discovery in early times were not undertaken 

 with such liberal motives as those w^iicli inspired 

 the author of this expedition. 



It was natural that an individual could not ex- 

 pend any very considerable sum on such an enter- 

 prize, and this could least of all be expected from 

 Count Romanzoff, because he already dedicates 

 the greater part of his revenues to the most ex- 



