PREFACE. 



When I first prepared this work for the press, I 

 sought to make it a complete Journal of the Voyage 

 of the Fly, from our departure in 1842 until our 

 return to England in 1846. This design I sub- 

 sequently abandoned, as I had no wish to repeat what 

 might be already known, and no desire to re-describe 

 scenes already familiar. That the purpose and the 

 results of the Voyage might not, however, appear en- 

 tirely unexplained, I have given a short narrative of 

 these in the Appendix, and reserved for the more 

 particular attention of my readers those portions only 

 of my Journal which relate to places either hitherto 

 imperfectly known, or of which, at least, no very 

 recent accounts have been given to the public. These 

 places are included between Sandy Cape on the 

 N. E. coast of Australia, and the Strait of Malacca. 

 I would add, that if it should seem I have apparently 

 entered into too trifling details (more especially with 

 reference to our intercourse with the natives), I have 

 so done, not from any desire to extend my work, 

 but because it appeared to me the only method of 

 accurately conveying to the minds of others my own 

 impressions, or of describing the manners, habits, 

 social state, aspect, and condition, of the people and 



