INTRODUCTION. 33 



have the worst fruit to use yourself : and 

 the whole of the best is taken from you by 

 similar interlopers. 



If I had gone into America and travelled 

 through the country by way of a tour only, 

 I should not have had an opportunity of 

 publishing in so descriptive a manner ; for 

 in my own travels (I can say without 

 vanity) I met with every thing pleasant the 

 country could afford: but, in the occupa- 

 tion of a farm, my life was chequered, by 

 meeting with such circumstances as the 

 above ; and I hope it may be of great utility 

 to my young family, and that, from a recol- 

 lection of the insults their mother and 

 themselves received, they will ever know 

 the value of this country. 



I will own, that, at the time when I left 

 England, I had a very high opinion of the 

 fertility of its soil, and was always a sup- 



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