THE TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XXI 



interefling productions of the creation, but i9 

 interfperfed with defcriptions of countries and 

 people, manners, cuftoms, and language ; no- 

 thing efcapes his active refearches ; none of the 

 elements long conceal from his penetrating eye 

 their diverfified riches ; he explores thelnmoft 

 receffes of Nature, and reveals thofe beauties 

 which lie hidden from the view of an ordinary 

 obferver. s 



In the nomenclature of a few particular places, 

 I have not thought myfelf at liberty to depart 

 from my original. Thus, what Captain Cook 

 and all Englifh navigators term Van Diemen's 

 Land, I have, after M. Labillardiere, denomi- 

 nated Cape Diemen. But I have ventured to 

 amend the orthography adopted by M. Labillar- 

 diere in the courfe of other parts of his naviga- 

 tion, particularly in the names of the iflands 

 lying to the northward of Ne\v Guinea, and 

 thence through Pitt's Strait to the Moluccas. 

 -I have tranferibed the names of thefe different 

 iflands and places from the voyage of Captain 

 Forreft, who had more frequent opportunities of 

 learning the names given them by the natives, 

 b 3 I think 



