X PREFACE.
It may be a subject of regret, that no paper on the Botany
of Tierra del Fuego is appended to the first volume. Captain
King took great pains in forming and preserving a botanical
collection, aided by a person embarked solely for that purpose.
He placed this collection in the British Museum, and was led
to expect that a first-rate botanist would have examined and
described i t ; but he has been disappointed.
In conclusion, I beg to remind the reader, that the work is
unavoidably of a rambling and very mixed character; that
some parts may be wholly uninteresting to most readers,
though, perhaps, not devoid of interest to aU; and that its
publication arises solely from a sense of duty.
ROBERT FITZ-ROY.
London, March 1839.
IN T R O D U C T IO N .
I n 1825, the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty directed two ships to be prepared for a
Survey of the Southern Coasts of South America :
and in May, of the following year, the A d v e n t u r e
and the B e a g l e were lying in Plymouth Sound,
ready to carry the orders of their Lordships into
execution.
, These vessels were well provided with every
necessary, and every comfort, which the liberality
and kindness of the Admiralty, Navy Board, and
officers of the Dock-yards, could cause to be
furnished.
On board the Adventure, a roomy ship, of 330
tons burthen, without guns,* lightly though strongly
rigged, and very strongly built, were—
P h i l l i p P a r k e r K in g , Commander and Surveyor, Senior
Officer of the Expedition.
J . C oo k e ..................... Lieutenant.
B. A in sw o r t h ............ Master.
J . T a r n ......................... Surgeon.
Excepting one fo r signals.