Vlll 
INTRODUCTION. 
On our return to England, in the beginning of November, 1820, 
all the journals, logs, charts, and drawings, which had been furnished 
by every individual belonging to the Expedition, were delivered to the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to be at their disposal; and 
their Lordships were pleased immediately to direct them to be returned 
into my hands, for the purpose of preparing for publication, under 
their authority, an official account of the voyage. 
In performing this duty, it has been my earnest endeavour equally 
to avoid, on the one hand, a too minute and tedious detail of occur- 
rences, which, as the materials for a future account, properly form a 
part of a manuscript journal, but which, if given in their original 
form, would only serve to tire by their repetition ; and on the other, 
to omit nothing which came under my notice, and that may be con- 
sidered interesting, either by the scientific or the general reader. It 
having been suggested to me that both these purposes would be best 
answered by throwing into an Appendix the whole of the matter 
which relates exclusively to geography, natural history, and the details 
of scientific observations, this method has been adopted ; except in 
a few cases, in which it was considered expedient, for elucidating the 
subject under consideration, to introduce a brief notice of them into 
the body of the work, without occasioning any material interruption 
in the Narrative. 
The following account of the proceedings of the Expedition is taken 
principally from the official Journal kept by myself on board the 
Hecla, and always written within twenty-four hours after the occur- 
rence of the events recorded in it. In several instances, however, 
I have been happy to avail myself of the journals or reports furnished 
by the other officers, in all which cases the obligation is acknowledged 
