6 
PREFACE. 
States sent out the North Pacific Surveying and 
Exploring Expedition; and the following pages are 
simply intended to show where it was that we went, 
and what it was that we saw, while engaged in the 
attainment of these objects. 
And now, in presenting them to the public, I ad- 
vance but one claim to its approbation : i.e. their 
contents, though limited, and confined mostly to 
personal observation while serving successively on 
board of several vessels of the squadron, are strictb/ 
matter-of-fact, and, though slightly coloured by the 
excitement of feeling consequent upon my having 
participated in most of the scenes of peril and ad- 
venture which they will be found to contain, yet is 
the colouring honest, and not at all calculated to 
impart incorrect impressions. 
The Author. 
