PREFACE 



TO THE LONDON EDITION. 



On presenting this volume to my country, it is not 

 necessary to enter into a particular account of those 

 voyages whose journals form the principal part of it, 

 as they will be found, I trust, to explain themselves. 

 It appears, however, to be a duty, which the public 

 have a right to expect from me, to state the reasons 

 which have influenced me in delaying the publica- 

 tion of them. 



It has been asserted, that a misunderstanding be- 

 tween a person high in office and myself, was the 

 cause of this procrastination. It has also been pro- 

 pagated, that it was occasioned by that precaution 

 which the policy of commerce will sometimes sug- 

 gest ; but they are both equally devoid of founda- 

 tion. The one is an idle tale | and there could be 

 no solid reason for concealing the circumstances of 

 discoveries, whose arrangements and prosecution 

 were so honourable to my associates and myself, at 

 Whose expense they were undertaken. The delay 

 actually arose from the very active and busy mode 

 of life in which I was engaged since the voyages 

 have been completed 5 and when, at length, the op- 

 portunity arrived, the apprehension of presenting 

 myself to the Public in the character of an Author, 

 for which the course and occupations of my life have 

 by no means qualified me, made me hesitate in con> 

 mitting my papers to the press ; being much better 

 calculated to perform the voyages, arduous as they 

 might be. than to write an account of them. How- 

 ever, they are now offered to the Public with the 

 submission that becomes me. 



I was led, at an early period of life, by commer- 

 cial views, to the country North-West of Lake Su- 



