a year of happiness, these pages are dedicated by the ever grateful
Author

[Illustration: Portrait of the Author]




PREFACE.


This volume needs no elaborate preface. A general sketch of the voyage
which it describes was published in the 'Times' immediately after our
return to England. That letter is reprinted here as a convenient
summary of the 'Sunbeam's' performances. But these prefatory lines
would indeed be incomplete if they did not contain a well-deserved
tribute to the industry and accuracy of the author. The voyage would
not have been undertaken, and assuredly it would never have been
completed, without the impulse derived from her perseverance and
determination. Still less would any sufficient record of the scenes
and experiences of the long voyage have been preserved had it not been
for her painstaking desire not only to see everything thoroughly, but
to record her impressions faithfully and accurately. The practised
skill of a professional writer cannot reasonably be expected in these
simple pages, but their object will have been attained if they are the
means of enabling more home-keeping friends to share in the keen
enjoyment of the scenes and adventures they describe.

THOMAS BRASSEY