194 
INTRODUCTORY 
the scenes in which their relatives and friends may be 
engaged, and who so often search in vain for even 
a glimpse of information on the subject : for having 
no written accounts to refer to, at the best they could 
only meet with some person who may have himself 
visited the sperm whale fisheries, but who might not 
always be found in the state of mind or leisure best 
adapted to describe all that might be required by the 
fond mother or the affectionate friend. 
Besides, I sincerely hope that the present hasty 
sketch of the scenes of these labours may be found ser- 
viceable to another class of persons, who heretofore have 
found great difficulty in obtaining information on these 
matters,— I refer to those who may be about embarking 
in this service ; so that they may, before they commence 
the voyage, make themselves acquainted with the plea- 
sures and also with the dangers to which they may be 
subjected during their long journeyings in so many 
various and distant parts of the world. 
I must beg leave also to remark here, that all may 
depend upon the correctness of the information they 
may find scattered throughout the following sketch of a 
voyage in which I was personally engaged,— for although 
I may be an enthusiastic admirer of the works of nature, 
and may sometimes warmly enter into descriptions of 
her beauties, yet I never shall be found straying beyond 
the boundary of truth. 
That something of the kind which I have perhaps 
now presumed to present was required, may, I think, be 
justly inferred from the fact, that the generality of people 
