where the preceding chronicler left them off. The subsequent
adventures of these four young men, by flood and field, are faithfully
detailed. With these particulars are mingled the experiences of
another interesting family that afterwards became dwellers in the same
territory; as are also the sayings and doings of a weather-beaten
sailor--Willis the Pilot.

The scene is laid chiefly in the South Seas, and the narrative
illustrates the geography and ethnology of that section of the
Far-West. The difficulties, dangers, and hardships to be encountered
in founding a new colony are truthfully set forth, whilst it is shown
how readily these are overcome by perseverance and intelligent labor.
It will be seen that a liberal education has its uses, even under
circumstances the least likely to foster the social amenities, and
that, too, not only as regards the mental well-being of its
possessors, but also as regards augmenting their material comforts.

In the _Swiss Family Robinson_ the resources of Natural History have
been largely, and perhaps somewhat freely, drawn upon. This branch of
knowledge has, therefore, been left throughout the present volume
comparatively untouched. Nevertheless, as it is the aim of the
narrator to combine instruction with amusement, the more elementary
phenomena of the Physical Sciences have been blended with the current
of the story--thus garnishing, as it were, the dry, hard facts of
Owen, Liebig, and Arago, with the more attractive, groupings of life
and action.

The reader has, consequently, in hand a _mélange_ of the useful and
agreeable--a little for the grave and a little for the gay--so that,
should our endeavors to impart instruction prove unavailing, _en