SWW
I N T R O D U C T I O N .
I Have in the General Introduction to this work mentioned
the reafons why the Narratives of the feveral
Voyages are written in the perfon of the Commanders,
upon what ground liberty has been taken to introduce
fuch fentiments as the events fuggefted to me, and what
the materials were from which my work has been drawn
up. It has alfo been faid, that with refpect to the Voyage
of the Endeavour, I had ftill farther affiftance, and of this
I am now to give an account.
On board this veflTel embarked Jofeph Banks Efquir'e. a
Gentleman polTefled of confiderable landed property in
Lincolnlhire. He received the education of a fcholar rather
to qualify him for the enjoyments.than the labours
of li f e ; yet an ardent defire to know more of Nature
than could be learnt from books, determined him, at a
very early age, to forego what are generally thought to
be the principal advantages of a liberal fortune, and to
apply his revenue not in procuring the pleafures of lei—
hire and eafe, but in the purfuit of his favourite finely,
through a feries of fatigue and danger, which, in fuch
circumftances, have very feldom been voluntarily incurred,
except to gratify the reftlefs and infatiable defires of avarice
or ambition.
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