﻿PREFACE. 
  

  

  The 
  following 
  pages 
  contain 
  the 
  substance 
  of 
  a 
  Re- 
  

   port 
  made 
  to 
  the 
  Legislature 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  of 
  Mississippi, 
  

   with 
  such 
  alterations 
  and 
  modifications 
  as 
  the 
  w^riter 
  was 
  

   authorized 
  and 
  instructed 
  to 
  make, 
  and 
  which 
  became 
  

   necessary 
  to 
  bring 
  the 
  publication 
  within 
  the 
  means 
  ap- 
  

   propriated 
  for 
  that 
  purpose. 
  

  

  This 
  occasioned 
  a 
  partial 
  abridgment, 
  and 
  rendered 
  

   the 
  omission 
  of 
  the 
  larger 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  plates, 
  designed 
  

   to 
  illustrate 
  it, 
  unavoidable. 
  

  

  These 
  changes 
  in 
  the 
  scope 
  and 
  proportions 
  of 
  the 
  

   work, 
  obviously 
  detract, 
  in 
  some 
  degree, 
  from 
  its 
  perspi- 
  

   cuity 
  and 
  completeness, 
  and 
  must 
  found 
  some 
  claim 
  to 
  

   indulgence 
  for 
  its 
  defects. 
  

  

  The 
  circumstances 
  which 
  devolved 
  the 
  preparation 
  of 
  

   this 
  work 
  upon 
  the 
  author, 
  and 
  the 
  disadvantages 
  under 
  

   which 
  it 
  was 
  executed, 
  are 
  explained 
  in 
  the 
  Introduc- 
  

   tion; 
  and 
  these 
  also, 
  the 
  indulgent 
  reader 
  will 
  doubtless 
  

   admit, 
  should 
  screen 
  from 
  a 
  too 
  rigid 
  criticism 
  the 
  per- 
  

   formance 
  of 
  one 
  wholly 
  unpractised 
  in 
  the 
  art 
  and 
  

   mystery 
  of 
  book-making. 
  

  

  