final arrangement of the impression and the duties of typographical
revision devolved on others.

Although no pains have been spared to render these volumes worthy of the
public eye, the circumstances under which they appear will naturally
occasion them to be marked by defects which, doubtless, would not have
escaped the author's notice and correction had he been present.

It would be an act of injustice not to express here the obligations the
author is under to Mr. J.E. Gray of the British Museum for his valuable
assistance in whatever relates to natural history in the body of the
work, as well as for the contributions in the same branch of science
which will be found in the Appendix; nor are his thanks less due to Mr.
Adam White for an interesting paper on the Entomology of Australia; and
to Mr. Gould, who has lately visited that country, for his list of the
Birds of the Western Coast.

...

JOURNALS OF EXPEDITIONS OF DISCOVERY.

CHAPTER 1. COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION. TENERIFE.

GENERAL PLAN AND OBJECTS.

The Expeditions of which the results are narrated in the following pages
took their origin from a proposition made to Government by myself, in
conjunction with Lieutenant Lushington,* in the latter part of the year
1836.

(*Footnote. Now Captain Lushington of the 9th Foot.)

At that time a large portion of the western coast and interior of the
great Australian continent had remained unvisited and unknown; whilst the
opinions of the celebrated navigators Captains Dampier and King,
connected with other circumstances, led to the inference, or at least the
hope, that a great river, or water inlet, might be found to open out at
some point on its western or north-western side; which had then been only
partially surveyed from seaward.

DESIGN OF THE EXPEDITION.

Anxious to solve this interesting geographical problem, we addressed a
letter to Lord Glenelg, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, wherein
we offered our services to conduct an exploration from the Swan River to
the northward, having regard to the direction of the coast, so as to
intersect any considerable body of water connecting it with the interior;
and, in the event of such being discovered, to extend our examination of
it as far as circumstances might admit.

The letter containing this offer also enumerated several secondary
objects, to which we proposed to direct our attention, and which were
ultimately comprehended in our instructi