X PREFACE. 



as yet, unwritten, buried in the archives of govern- 

 ments, or among the obscurer records of private 

 adventure. To rescue it from obhvion is the object 

 of the following work. It aims to portray the 

 American forest and the American Indian at the 

 period when both received their final doom. 



It is evident that other study than that of the 

 closet is indispensable to success in such an attempt. 

 Habits of early reading had greatly aided to pre- 

 pare me for the task ; but necessary knowledge of 

 a more practical kind has been supplied by the 

 indulgence of a strong natural taste, which, at 

 various intervals, led me to the wild regions of the 

 north and west. Here, by the camp-fire, or in the 

 canoe, I gained familiar acquaintance with the men 

 and scenery of the wilderness. In 1846, I visited 

 various primitive tribes of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and was, for a time, domesticated in a village of 

 the western Dahcotah, on the high plains between 

 Mount Laramie and the range of the Medicine 

 Bow. 



The most troublesome part of the task was the 

 collection of the necessary documents. These con- 

 sisted of letters, journals, reports, and despatches, 

 scattered among numerous public ofiices, and pri- 

 vate families, in Europe and America. When 

 brought together, they amounted to about three 

 thousand four hundred manuscript pages. Con- 

 temporary newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets 



