iv
DEDICATION.
pretenſions are, the opportunity, it gives, muſt ſerve to teſtify my ſincere reſpect, my laſting gratitude, for your favors; and I repoſe with ſome ſecurity, on an extenſion, of that protection, towards this volume, which has ſo often been the encouragement, of my profeſſional exertions.
The difficulties which navigators have experienced, in traverſing the South Seas and Pacific Ocean, have evidently, from the commencement of your connection with the Admiralty, excited your particular conſideration: and it is certain, in all the changes to which that Board has been ſubject, that the explorer of remote
