VI 
PREFACE. 
useful or curious, which he collected for the Horticultural 
Society, or that some of the very enlightened members of 
that Society should not have done so. The field is in some 
respects new; and it is acknowledged by all the foreign 
navigators, that the collection made during the Blonde's 
voyage is one of the most curious in Europe. The few 
notices that are to be found in the present work concerning 
the useful plants were taken chiefly from the books, printed 
and manuscript, in Sir Joseph Banks’s library, to which the 
kindness and liberality of Mr. Brown allowed the Editor 
free access. 
The drawings, from which the engravings were made, 
are by Mr. Dampier, to whom the Editor is greatly indebted 
for the use of his sensible and agreeable journal. 
Something should be said as to the spelling of the names 
of persons and places in the following pages. It differs 
entirely from the system of orthography adopted by Captain 
Cook ; and it was not without consideration that his practice 
was departed from. The Islands are no longer without 
literature : the Roman letters are used ; and the sounds of 
the vowels which have been adopted are rather those given 
them by the Italians than the English; hence the no of 
