INTRODUCTION. 
XV 
who had the good fortune to be employed on that voyage. Here, 
however, I must be permitted to say that, whatever the extent 
of our success may have been, it is to be ascribed, in a great 
degree, to the zealous and cordial cooperation of Lieutenant 
Liddon and all the officers of both ships, and the uniform good 
conduct of the men, to all of whom, collectively and indivi- 
dually, I am most happy in availing myself of this opportunity, 
of publicly rendering that justice which is so eminently their 
due. 
In closing this introductory part of the work, I would willingly 
offer a few words by way of apology, for the many faults which, I 
am but too well convinced, will be found in the stile of the 
Narrative. It has been said, “ Les marins ecrivent mal, mais avec 
assez de candeur .” None can feel more deeply than myself the truth of 
the former part of this assertion ; and none, I can with equal sincerity 
aver, have studied more to deserve the concluding part; but I 
build my chief hopes of disarming the severity of criticism, on a 
consideration of that early period of life at which the nature of 
our profession calls us from our studies, and which, in my own 
case, drew me away at the age of twelve, and has kept me 
constantly employed at sea ever since. The extent of my aim has 
been, to give a plain and faithful account of the facts which I 
collected, and the observations which were made by myself and 
others, in the course of the voyage ; and these, as far as they go, may 
be relied on as scrupulously exact. It is for others, better qualified 
than ourselves, to make their deductions from those facts. 
We collected, and have brought home, specimens of the natural 
productions of those seas and islands which we visited ; marking with 
