PKEFACE. 



The circumstances under which the voyage here re- 

 corded was undertaken need not be fully entered into. 

 Suiifice it to say, that, actuated solely by a desire of in- 

 creasing my own information, and the hope of, in some 

 measure, advancing science, I was induced to seize an 

 opportunity which seemed to present itself of fulfilling 

 what had always been an object of my ambition. The 

 pleasure I have myself derived from it has entirely ob- 

 scured the vexations and drawbacks to which I have been 

 subjected in its fulfilment. That I have met with dis- 

 appointment and discouragement from those to whom I 

 had most right to look for support and co-operation, is a 

 circumstance which, although it greatly limited and cur- 

 tailed my operations, is entirely forgotten in the dehght 

 of having visited Nature in her deepest recesses, and 

 viewed her in her grandest aspects. 



Whatever sHght value the following pages may possess, 

 will be due to the circumstance that the facts they re- 

 cord are derived from observation, and not from books ; 

 and that I have not endeavoured to adjust my own ob- 

 servations to the experience of others, but have rather 

 corrected my previous knowledge by the aid of personal 

 research. 



I feel bound in this place to tender my thanks to 

 certain gentlemen who have kindly aided me in my plans 

 and movements : — To Captain Richards, Hydrographer of 

 the Navy, to whose recommendation I am indebted for 



