perchance, leading to the establishment
of cities, where all was heretofore barbarism
and desolation ; his suggestions
and experience teaching the untutored
savage to rear the aliments of life, and
gradually introducing those arts which
civilise and elevate him in the scale of
humanity.
These reflections have been called forth
by a careful perusal of the New Zealand
Journal, and they here terminate — the
purpose of this Introduction being to
supply the reader with a brief and succinct
narrative of the events which led
our traveller to Tristan d’Acunha and
New Zealand.
I t appears (from documents furnished
by himself), that, although educated as
an artist, “ a love o f roving and adventu
r e ” tempted him, at an early age, to
sea. Accordingly, in 1815, through some
interest he possessed at the Admiralty,
he procured a passage on board a storeship
bound to Sicily and Malta, where
he had a brother stationed who was a
captain in the navy. In one of the small
craft attached to the British flotilla, he
visited many parts of the Mediterranean,
accompanying Lord Exmouth’s fleet in
his brother’s gun-boat, on his Lordship’s
first expedition against the Barbary
states. A peace being concluded with
the Bey, he visited the ruins of Carthage,
and likewise the remains of the ancient
city of Ptolomea or Lepida, situated in
ancient L ib y a ; the Bey providing our
traveller and his companions with a tent,
camels, and a strong guard of Janissaries
to protect them against the Arabs. After
this he returned to Malta, passed through
Sicily, and ascended Mount rEtna. He
next proceeded to Gibraltar, taking a
minute survey of that mighty rock, its
batteries, caves, and Moorish ruins.
In the summer of 1817 he returned to
England, which he quitted in the March
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