PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



IN the present Edition it has been found necessary 

 to make but few corrections, the only material 

 alteration being in Chapter XX., where I had 

 stated that Easter Island, when first discovered, 

 was uninhabited. This, however, was not the 

 case. All the criticisms made in the many kind 

 reviews of the First Edition have been carefully 

 attended to, but I must draw the attention of 

 one of my critics to the fact that the " sea- 

 monster," recorded and figured in the following 

 pages, was not only " about in the moonlight," 

 but was seen by Mr. Meade- Waldo and myself at 

 10.15 in the morning ! 



A few of my readers have objected to the 

 order in which the various places we visited are 

 described. These I would refer to the Preface of 

 the First Edition (which is printed intact in this 

 new Edition), where my reasons are, I venture to 

 think, sufficiently given. 



With regard to the birds, it has been found 

 necessary to make the following alterations : 



FIRST. The Diving Petrel from Tristan da 

 Cunha (named by me Pelecanoides dacunhce) is said 



