VI PREFACE. 



the countries which we visited. No particular in- 

 cidents, however, have been selected for effect, but 

 as they occurred, and illustrated my subject, so 

 were they related. I might possibly, by selection, 

 have rendered them more striking, but their impres- 

 sion would then have been less real ; in works of 

 this nature, one line of plain fact is better than any 

 heightened recollections, for the reader is apt to sus- 

 pect the accuracy of details which are given appa- 

 rently not because they are historical, but because 

 they are amusing. For this reason, also, I have 

 avoided all attempts at brilliancy, elegance, or 

 graces of style, and endeavoured to relate with 

 simplicity and fidelity whatever I had to tell, either 

 of personal adventure, or of scientific research. 

 With regard to the general arrangement of the work, 

 it will be at once perceived that this is Geographi- 

 cal, and not Chronological. Taking them in the 

 order of simple locality, along the coast of Australia, 

 through Torres Strait, into the Indian Archipelago, 

 I have described every place and its incidents as they 

 were visited or as they occurred, but without regard 

 to the particular period. Had I not adopted this 

 plan, I must necessarily have indulged in much 

 repetition. For as we frequently retraced our tracks, 

 so for the mere purpose of chronological accuracy, I 

 must have repeated my narrative, and have succes- 

 sively re-detailed events, possessing no necessary 

 dependence on each other, and only separated by the 

 mere lapse of time. 



