INTRODUCTION. 
Ixxxiii 
that we fhall hear no more of the delay; and only he grate¬ 
ful to that munificent Patron of Science, who not only di- 
redted the hiftory of the voyage to be publiihed; but to be 
publifhed with fuch a fplendid train of ornaments, at the 
public expence, as will ftill add to the merit of having or¬ 
dered the voyage itfelf to be undertaken. 
And here it feems to be incumbent upon us to add, as 
another inftance of munificent attention, that care has been 
taken to mark, in the moil fignificant manner, the j uft fenfe 
entertained of the humane and liberal relief afforded to our 
fhips in Kamtfchatka. Colonel Behm, the commandant of 
that province, has not been rewarded merely by the plea- 
fure which a benevolent mind feels in reflecting upon the 
blefiings it confers; hut has been thanked in a manner 
equally confiftent with the dignity of his own fovereign 
and of ours, to whofe fubjeCts he extended protection. A 
magnificent piece of plate was prefented to him, with an 
infcription, worthy of a place in the fame book where the 
hiftory of his humanity to our countrymen is recorded, and 
which, while it does honour to our national gratitude, de~ 
ferves alfo to be preferved as a monument of our national 
tafte for elegant compofition. It is as follows: 
Viro egregio magno de Behm ; qui, Imperatrieis Allgllf- 
tijjimce Catharine aufpiciis, fummaque animi benignitate,fava, quibus 
praerat, Kamtfchatka littora , navibus nautifque Britannicis, hofpita 
prabuit; eofque , in terminis,fi qui effent Imperio RuJJico,fruftra explo- 
randis, mala multa perpeffos, iteratd vice excepit , refecit , recreavit , et 
commeatu omni cumulate audios dimi/it ; Rei navalisBritannicve 
Septemviri in aliquam benevolentia tam infignis memoriam , amicif- 
fmo, gratiffimoque animo, fuo , patriaque nomine , D, D. D. 
MDCCLXXXI. 
1 2 
This 
