PREFACE 



IT may be proper to observe, as affording some guarantee 

 for the correctness of the information contained in this 

 Volume, that it has been compiled from a Journal, or a Diary, 

 which the author kept in obedience to a " General Order" 

 from the Navy Department, and that the Journal in question 

 was frequently submitted to the Commander-in- Chief, of the 

 Expedition for his inspection and perusal. 



The work will be found to embrace incidents occurring on 

 board the ship, Descriptions of Natural Scenery, Manners 

 and Customs, Government, Religion, arid Commerce. 



By adopting a more diffusive style, I might have exceeded 

 my present limits ; instead of one such volume I might have 

 produced two or three, but the general reader would have 

 gained nothing by this, his main object being to gather in- 

 formation, and the more succinctly it is conveyed to him the 

 more rapidly he will acquire it, and more easily retain it. In 

 short, I have endeavored to furnish a work which should have 

 the merit of being instructive and entertaining, concise and 

 cheap ; and I hope that the present volume will be found to 

 possess all these advantages. 



G. M. C. 



