VI 
INTRODUCTION. 
merchant-ship then expected to leave England 
in the space of three days, and spend my sum¬ 
mer in Iceland. To this I most readily and 
thankfully acceded, and, having made such pre¬ 
parations as the shortness of the notice would 
allow, I repaired to Gravesend, and was on board 
the Margaret and Anne at the time appointed. 
The unfortunate accident which has deprived 
me of nearly the whole of the fruits of this ex¬ 
cursion, and has obliged me in the following 
sheets to rely in no small degree upon my me¬ 
mory, needs not here to be detailed: it will find 
its place in the narrative of the voyage. Suffice 
it now to observe, that the only things rescued 
from the flames were, a portion of my journal, 
containing little more than the occurrences of the 
first four weeks of my stay on the island, and an 
Icelandic lady’s wedding-dress, which was saved 
by the extraordinary exertions of the steward of 
the ship. Of the rest of my manuscripts and 
collections, including plants, books, drawings, 
minerals, and other subjects of natural history, 
nothing could be preserved. 
With the slender materials that remained to 
me I should not have ventured upon committing 
the following Recollections to paper, even, as they 
are now intended, merely for the perusal of some 
