When an author lays his book before the public, unless it be a work ofgenius, some account of his motives for so doing is generally expected.As this is a work that pretends to nothing but authenticity, and to be aplain relation of facts, I shall only premise, that, placed in asituation which gave me an opportunity of being witness to most of theprincipal transactions of the expedition under Sir Charles Greyand Sir John Jervis in the West Indies, and having leisure andinclination to minute down the occurrences as they presented themselves,I venture to appear before the public with such humble pretensionsalone, as the result of that opportunity and leisure can give me.
[Pg ii]My original intention reached no further than to publish a fewviews of some interesting subjects, which abound in the CaraibeanIslands; but I selected those only which were rendered most so byparticular events. Though I pretend not to the powers of an artist(being self-taught), yet I beg leave to urge in excuse for that want ofspirit and picturesque effect which, I fear, is but too apparent inmy drawings, that they are scrupulously exact, and accurately delineatethe subjects they profess to represent.
When I at first communicated my design of publishing a few drawings,taken during the West India Expedition, many of my friends, a