72 CAPTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 



scientific gentlemen may be as well carried on in company 

 as if separated, it is therefore strongly recommended to 

 them to keep together as much as possible for their mutual 

 support and safety. Should they however think proper to 

 separate in their excursions, it is to be understood that the 

 two or three marines, who will always be appointed to ac- 

 company them, are to remain with the gentleman having 

 the direction on leaving the vessel; and, in order to avoid 

 the possibility of any dispute for precedence in this last 

 respect, the succession in which the Lords of the Admiralty 

 have given me the names of the scientific gentlemen, is to 

 be considered as the estabhshed rule, viz. Mr. Professor 

 Smith, Mr. Tudor, Mr. Cranch ; and when it shall be thought 

 necessary to send a midshipman or other petty officer to 

 command the escort which may accompany the naturalists, 

 he is strictly directed to comply with the wishes of the gen- 

 tleman having the direction of the excursion, as far as his 

 ideas of safety will authorise. 



" The health of the persons accompanying the naturaUsts 

 in their excursions will of course be a particular object with 

 those gentlemen, by taking care not to expose them unne- 

 cessarily to the sun in the hottest hours of the day, or to the 

 rain, if shelter can be had, and by carrying them as little as 

 possible into swampy tracts. 



