N 0 T E. 
It may apologize, perhaps, for some imperfections 
in this hook, to mention, that the greater portion of it 
has gone through the press without the author’s re- 
visal. While he was engaged in preparing it, the lib- 
erality of Mr. Grinnell, of New York, and Mr. Peabody, 
of London, enabled him to set on foot a second Polar 
Expedition, which sailed under his command on the 
31st of May last. It was his purpose to remodel some 
of the chapters, and to add one or two on collateral 
topics, if his time had not been engrossed by the prep- 
arations for his departure. 
July^ 1853 . 
