Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/18

viii Another narrative of this circumnavigation, is said to have been written by captain of His Majesty's Royal Navy, under whose command it was performed. That account will be ornamented with a great variety of plates, representing views of the countries which we visited, portraits of the natives, figures of their boats, arms, and utensils, together with a number of particular charts of the new discoveries; and all these plates, engraved at the expence of the Board of Admiralty, are the joint property of captain Cook and my father.

At first sight it may seem superfluous to offer two relations of this voyage to the world; but when we consider them as narratives of interesting facts, it must be allowed that the latter will be placed in a stronger light, by being related by different persons. Our occupations when in harbour were widely different; whilst captain Cook was employed in victualling or refitting the ship, I went in quest of the manifold objects which Nature had scattered throughout the land. Nothing is therefore more obvious, than that each of us may have caught many distinct incidents, and that our observations will frequently be foreign to each other. But above all, it is to be observed, that the same objects may have been seen in different points of view, and that the same fact may often have given rise to different ideas. Many circumstances familiar to the navigator, who has been bred on the rough element, strike the