Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

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 it ; 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 all ; and that its publication arises solely from a sense of duty. ROBERT FITZ-ROY. London, March 1839.