The kindness and courtesy of that fine officer and estimable gentleman, Commander Sydney Smith Lee, in conferring upon the writer a position on the ship under his command, gave him the opportunity of seeing the “wonders of the world abroad,” in the Japan Expedition.

The following pages do not profess to be a history of Japan, of which there are already a number extant, but only embody observations of what came under notice, in a cruise of nearly two and a half years. They do not pretend to invariable accuracy, the writer having kept no journal, and having had to depend on scattered memoranda, jottings down to friends, and to memory. He has endeavored to tell the tale of his travels, as his eyes told it to him.

He has indulged in no adjectives about the ocean, because he believes that there has been more deliberate nonsense written upon it, than upon any other thing in all Nature.

Richmond, Va., 1855.