PREFACE. 



vii 



ill-fated General Miranda ; and, in the execution of it, 

 I was encouraged and aided by the late lirst-rate nau- 

 tical mathematician, Captain Mendoza y Rios, of the 

 Spanish navy, but long domiciliated in Britain. That 

 the subject is not only important, curious, and entertain- 

 ing, in itself, and valuable, as filling up a chasm in our 

 Knowledge of the globe, will be seen from the annexed 

 Contents ; and, excepting the filling-up of chasms, little 

 probability remains of discoveries of importance being 

 now made. In the course of the voyages out from Spain 

 to the Strait of Magellan, and home again, and in the 

 perilous traverses of the Strait itself, various important 

 particulars are finally settled by the able commander. 

 The description of the countries bordering on the Strait, 

 that is, of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego ; of the pro- 

 ductions, animal and vegetable ; of the famous gigantic 

 race of Patagonians, in the work reduced to a rational 

 standard ; — these, and other matters, are well entitled to 

 notice and to confidence. 



The authority of the whole is not to be questioned. 

 Its importance to mariners, particularly in the present 

 eventful crisis of South American affairs, and of our 

 intimate connections and frequent intercourse with the 

 western coasts of the Spanish possessions (to say no- 

 thing of our growing navigation to New Holland and the 

 whole Pacific), is self-evident; — the notices respecting 

 the productions of the South American promontory, 

 come forward with an air of genuineness sufficient to 

 command our belief, and may in time lead to the dis- 

 covery of other objects of singular value. 



