11 INTRODUCTION. 



considered advisable to reproduce, althrmgh some 

 of them are graphic and intelligible enough. And 

 here it may not be unacceptable to quote what 

 the author himself says respecting his production, 

 in his address to the reader in the original Ger- 

 man edition, — which address was left untranslated 

 in the English version of the work now reprinted. 



" When," he says, " I undertook some years ago 

 an expedition to Spitzbergen, I resolved to com- 

 mit to paper an account of my voyage, and to make 

 drawings of any objects that admitted of pictorial 

 illustration. On my return, I showed my notes and 

 drawings to several distinguished friends, and among 

 others to Dr. Kirstenius and to Dr. Fogel, who not 

 merely expressed their satisfaction at the result of 

 my labours, but recommended that my work should 

 be published. 



" When, however, I applied myself to my task, 

 Dr. Fogel gave me a translation of the list of queries 

 inserted in the 29th No. of the " Philosophical Trans- 

 actions," by Mr. Oldenburg,^ upon points especially 

 requiring elucidation with regard to Spitzbergen, and 

 hence I was led to enlarge my account of my travels 

 to the extent of one half, and that not from other 

 books, but entirely from my own experience. Nor 

 do I doubt that, though I have not been able to answer 

 every question, I have at least in some cases satisfied 

 the desires of the eminent curiosi above mentioned ; 

 for I have not only noted day by day the weather, 



' Henry Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Society and editor of 

 the " riiilosophical Transactions" from 1665 to 1677. 



