viii THE LATE GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON. 



Canada to organize the Indian tribes; while, for my own 

 part and inclination, I wish to go to all parts of the world at 

 once." 



As regards the volume to which this notice serves as Preface, 

 the editor does not hesitate to express a very high opinion of its 

 merits. Written by a man untrained to literature, and whose 

 life, from boyhood upward, was passed in the field and on the 

 road, in military adventure and travel, its style is yet often 

 as remarkable for graphic terseness and vigor, as its substance 

 every where is for great novelty and originality. The narrative 

 of " Life in the Far West" was first offered for insertion in 

 Blackwood's Magazine, in the spring of 1848, when the greater 

 portion of the manuscript was sent, and the remainder shortly 

 followed. During its publication in that periodical, the wildness 

 of the adventures related excited suspicions in certain quarters as 

 to their actual truth and fidehty. It may interest the reader to 

 know that the scenes described are pictures from life, the results 

 of the author's personal experience. The following are extracts 

 from letters addressed by him, in the course of last summer, to 

 the conductors of the Magazine above named : — . 



"I have brought out a few more softening traits in the char- 

 acters of the mountaineers — ^but not at the sacrifice of truth — 

 for some of them have their good points ; which, as they are 

 rarely allowed to rise to the surface, must be laid hold of at once 

 before they sink again. Killbuck — ^that * old hos,' par exemple, 

 was really pretty much of a gentleman, as was La Bonte. Bill 

 Williams, another ' hard case,' and Rube Herring, were ' some' 

 too. 



