PREFACE. This voyage is calculated to be eminently useful at this time, by settling for ever the question in regard to the eligibility of making the passage of this Strait in a voyage to the Great Pacific:—a question which it de cides in the negative on the clearest evidence of facts. But, in arriving at this important conclusion, it has added to our stock of geographical knowledge, and brought us acquainted with large tracts, hitherto but imperfectly explored and studied.
