[Illustration CAPTAIN W.E. PARRY R.N.]




PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT

The two volumes herewith presented to the public contain an
uninterrupted narrative, in Captain Parry's own words, of the five
voyages made by that distinguished navigator, under the sanction
of the British government, in search of a passage from the eastern
to the western side of the American Continent, through the Arctic
Ocean. Although abbreviated, the curtailment has been effected,
not by any change in the language of the original writer, but
merely by omitting all such details as were not inviting to the
general reader; and, in a word, changing the character of the work
from that of an official report to that of a narrative. The effort
has been to preserve all interesting and amusing particulars; to
record all facts and transactions of importance; to present an
accurate though brief notice of all valuable accessions to
geographic as well as general knowledge, effected in the progress
of the voyages; and, at the same time, to keep the reader's
attention ever on the alert by the rapid and uninterrupted
succession of striking incidents.

It is hoped that the aim here designated has been accomplished;
and that, in the abridged narrative of Parry's Voyages, there will