It would be vain therefore and unreasonable in me to expect to
escape the censure of all, or to hope for better treatment than far
worthier persons have met with before me. But this satisfaction I am sure
of having, that the things themselves in the discovery of which I have
been employed are most worthy of our diligentest search and inquiry;
being the various and wonderful works of God in different parts of the
world: and however unfit a person I may be in other respects to have
undertaken this task, yet at least I have given a faithful account, and
have found some things undiscovered by any before, and which may at least
be some assistance and direction to better qualified persons who shall
come after me.
It has been objected against me by some that my accounts and descriptions
of things are dry and jejune, not filled with variety of pleasant matter
to divert and gratify the curious reader. How far this is true I must
leave to the world to judge. But if I have been exactly and strictly
careful to give only true relations and descriptions of things (as I am
sure I have) and if my descriptions be such as may be of use not only to
myself (which I have already in good measure experienced) but also to
others in future voyages; and likewise to such readers at home as are
more desirous of a plain and just account of the true nature and state of
the things described than of a polite and rhetorical narrative: I hope
all the defects in my style will meet with an easy and ready pardon.
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