INTRODUCTION. 



IN offering this little Work to the Public, more 

 especially to Sailors and Travellers, it may not 

 be improper to state, that the following pages 

 are,generally, the result of my own observations, 

 during fifteen years that I was at sea, and sub- 

 sequently whilst I was resident for six years in 

 Spanish America, and the Brazils. 



HAVING sailed to most parts of the globe, I 

 may say, from experience, that there is no 

 station which affords such facilities for collect- 

 ing shells, and other productions of Nature, as 



