Ixvi 
ACCOUNT OF THE 
return of the proper season for travelling, wliicli would be 
in November or December following. The event has shewn 
that he would have acted more wisely in deferring the 
expedition. But the motives which might lead him to a 
contrary determination, were obvious and powerful ; and 
will be found, on the whole, sufficient for the justification 
of his conduct. He must naturally have considered that 
the postponement of the expedition /or seven months, be- 
sides being in the greatest degree irksome both to himself 
and the companions of his journey, would occasion a great 
additional expense, and disappoint the expectations of 
Government ; and he might perhaps entertain doubts, since 
the case was not provided for by his official instructions, 
whether he should altogether escape censure, if he should 
postpone his journey for so long a period, under any cir- 
cumstances much short of a positive and undoubted ne- 
cessity. 
In this difficult situation, he adopted that alternative 
which was most congenial to his character and feelings ; 
and having once formed this resolution, he adhered to it 
with tranquillity and firmness ; dismissing from his own 
mind all doubts and apprehensions, or at least effectually 
concealing them from the companions of his journey, and 
from his friends and correspondents in England. 
For the particulars of this second expedition, the reader 
must be referred to the Journal now published, which 
commences from this period. But in order to give a general 
