^ PREFACE. Xlvii 



honourable to his country, if he was aware of the 

 existence of these facts ; his ignorance if he was 

 unacquainted with them ; and his consummate assu- 

 rance, in the latter case, in attempting to review a 

 book, with the subject of which he was utterly un- 

 acquainted. Indeed, he seems, in reality, never to 

 have read any voyages but those of " honest Dam- 

 pier," as he calls the old bucanier, and to be entirely 

 ignorant of both Anson and Cook, except by name. 

 Captain Porter defies the critic to produce any pas- 

 sage from the first or the present edition of this Jour- 

 nal, conveying a picture of voluptuous sensuality, 

 and indiscriminate, vulgar licentiousness, equal to 

 that pourtrayed in the extracts quoted in the prece 

 ding pages. At the same time, having given to the 

 first edition a careful perusal, he has thought proper 

 to comply with the dictates of his sober judgment, 

 in omitting a few passages that might possibly ad- 

 mit of some objections, and which he can only apo- 

 logize for, on the ground of having been led astray 

 by the example of so many British navigators. The 

 Reviewer is welcome to the credit of having 

 wrought thus far upon his hardened conscience. 



Captain Porter is next accused of having prac 

 tised wanton and unnecessary cruelties upon the 

 natives of Nooaheevah. It is impossible," says the 

 Reviewer, to read, without the strongest feeling of 

 indignation, the feats of destruction committed by 

 this execrable marauder, on the property of these 

 innocent people. He tells us that he and his blood- 

 hounds halted on the ridge, to take breath, and to 

 view, for a few minutes, a most delightful valley, 

 that was soon to become a scene of desolation." He 

 accuses him of having, without either the plea of 

 self-defence, or the excuse of provocation of any 

 kind, violated the hospitality of a people who had 



