TO THE

QUEEN,

Decorative initial 'A' featuring a bird perched among foliage and flowers.As these Volumes contain an Essay towards the Natural History The study of organisms and the physical world through observation rather than experimentation. of that Part of Your MAJESTY'S Dominions, which are particularly honoured by bearing Your AUGUST NAME, CAROLINA The province was named in honor of King Charles I (Carolus), but the author here pays tribute to Queen Caroline, the wife of George II., this and Your great Goodness in encouraging all Sorts of Learning, hath emboldned me to implore Your Royal Protection and Favour to my slender Performance. I hope Your MAJESTY will not think a few Minutes disagreeably spent, in casting an Eye on these Leaves; which exhibit no contemptible Scene of the Glorious Works of the Creator, displayed in the New World; and hitherto lain concealed from the View of Your MAJESTY, as well as of Your Royal Predecessors, tho' so long possessed of a Country, inferior to none of Your MAJESTY'S American Dominions.