The opening of Preface
In this Work, the result of nine years' voyaging, partly on coasts little known, an attempt has been made to combine giving general information with the paramount object--that of fulfilling a duty to the Admiralty, for the benefit of Seamen.
Details, purely technical, have been avoided in the narrative more than I could have wished; but some are added in the Appendix to each volume: and in a nautical memoir, drawn up for the Admiralty, those which are here omitted will be found.
There are a few words used frequently in the following pages, which may not at first sight be familiar to every reader, therefore I need hardly apologize for saying that, although the great Portuguese navigator's name was Magalhaens--it is generally pronounced as if written Magellan:--that the natives of Tierra del Fuego are commonly called Fuegians;--and that Chil['o]e is thus accented for reasons given in page 384 of the second volume.