Cruise of the 'Alert' / Four Years in Patagonian, Polynesian, and Mascarene Waters (1878-82)

Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been corrected without note, whilst significant amendments have been listed at the end of the text. Archaic and variant spellings have been retained.

FOUR YEARS IN
PATAGONIAN, POLYNESIAN, AND MASCARENE WATERS
(1878-82)
With Sixteen full-page Woodcut Illustrations from Photographs by F. North, R.N., and from Sketches by the Author
FOURTH EDITION
LONDON SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM. PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1899
First Edition, May 1884 ; Second Edition, January 1885 ; Third Edition, May 1885 .

In preparing the following pages for the press, I have endeavoured to give a brief account, divested as much as possible of technicalities, of the principal points of interest in Natural History which came under observation during the wanderings of a surveying ship; while at the same time I have done my utmost, at the risk of rendering the narrative disconnected, to avoid trenching on ground which has been rendered familiar by the writings of travellers who have visited the same or similar places. And if in a few instances I have given some rather dry details regarding the appearance and surroundings of certain zoological specimens, it has been my intention, by an occasional reference to the more striking forms of life met with in each locality, to afford some assistance to those amateurs who, like myself, may desire to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the surveying ships of the British Navy for performing, although with rude appliances and very few books of reference, some useful and interesting work.
Large collections of zoological specimens were made, and as these accumulated on board, they were from time to time sent home to the Admiralty, whence they were transmitted to the British Museum, the authorities of that institution then submitting them to specialists for systematic description. For much kindly aid in making these arrangements, as well as for advice and encouragement received during the progress of the cruise, I am indebted to Dr. Albert Günther, F.R.S., Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum.