PREFACE. THE great interest excited at the present time, for the intrepid adventurers to the Northern Hemisphere, has induced me to collect a few interesting and entertaining facts from the narrations of the earlier voyagers in those regions, in order to · gratify the spirit of inquiry so desirable in youth. And, while thus informing them of discoveries then made, and transporting them with the bold travellers to regions before unknown, I trust that my endeavours to combine the useful with the entertaining will not be thrown away, and that my young readers will be impressed with this conviction, that courage, resolution, and perseverance, will support men through toils and dangers, and enable them to act an honourable and useful part in the service of their country. I have given my narrations in as simple a style as possible, conceiving it better for young people to read the facts and form their own conclusions, than to have an overdrawn picture presented to them, calculated merely for their amusement, and exciting an unhealthy taste for the marvellous and the fictitious. |