It was published in 1768, and is, in my opinion, one of the most
thrilling tales of shipwreck and suffering that has ever been written. I
dare say you remember Campbell's beautiful lines in "The Pleasures of
Hope"; they are pencilled on the fly-leaf of my copy:--

'"And such thy strength-inspiring aid that bore
The hardy Byron to his native shore--
In horrid climes, where Chiloe's tempests sweep
Tumultuous murmurs o'er the troubled deep,
'Twas his to mourn misfortune's rudest shock,
Scourg'd by the winds, and cradled on the rock,
To wake each joyless morn and search again
The famish'd haunts of solitary men."

'There is no map in the volume, much less a chart, to show where the ship
struck, though we are told that the land was "on the larboard beam,
bearing N.W.," and that they landed "in the latitude of between 47 and
48 deg. South." But without charts and maps how can one possibly follow the
journey of the four poor sufferers along the coast on that terrible march
from Mount Misery (as they named the inhospitable promontory where they
landed) to civilisation on the island of Chiloe? With my maps I can
follow their every footstep, with my chart I may visit each inlet that
their frail canoe entered. Nor need I refer to these aids whenever I may
turn to the volume again, for here (he unfolded a beautifully drawn map
bound at the end of the volume) I have copied a chart which shows with a
red line the whole of their terrible journey. I have done this with
several of the older works on travel which I possess, books that were
published without maps.'

To me at least it was a new aspect of book-collecting, and an interesting
one. But I confess to having been impressed more by its originality and
the patient perseverance of its devotee than by the knowledge which it
had enabled him to accumulate. His was a vast knowledge, yet limited; for
it was confined almost entirely to the topography and early exploration
of the countries which he studied, together with such sociology as he
would glean midst travellers' accounts of adventures and sport.
Development, resources, industry, had little place in it. He was
thoroughly conversant with the early history of Australia, could recite
the names of all the early pioneers, and could plot Burke's expedition or
Phillip's voyage to Botany Bay. But of Melbourne or Sydney to-day, their
size, commerce, exports, the principal industries or railways, o