477 



j g 2. 2. ADVERTISEMENT 



SI 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



1 HAVE indulged many of my friends by permitting them 

 to peruse my Journal, and all have requested me to publish 

 it, assuring me, that the public expected me to give some 

 detailed account of my cruise, and that it would be recei- 

 ved and read with much interest. I had, however, formed 

 a determination not to pubhsh it, unless some imperfect 

 account should be printed ; in which case I intended to 

 employ a friend to embeihsh and present it to you. I 

 have waited from day to day ; none other has appeared ; 

 my friends have become more pressing ; and I have at 

 length consented. 1 have snatched a moment from my 

 public occupations to reperuse and give it to you, as it was 

 written in the midst of anxious duties. 



If there are faults in style and grammar (and no doubt 

 there are many,) they are the faults of my education. I 

 liave only occupied myself with facts, and some few refiec- 

 iions arising from them. The whole is my own : and wern 

 it in a more polished state, this might be doubted. 



Many readers will perhaps find some of my nautical re- 

 marks dry and uninteresting* Navigators will view them 

 differently, and will not esteem them the less for not having 

 had the ornamental touches of a fine writer. 



I have not pressed my Journal on you ; it has been ex- 

 torted from me ; and if it should not meet your expectation 

 as to style, I hope facts will amply compensate you for your 

 /disappointment. If you admit this only, I will follow the 

 practice of other navigators, and endeavour to find some 

 Aiend who shall so ornament it for a second edition, as t<> 

 put all cause of complaint out of the question. 



D. PORTER. 



