PREFACE. 



The author of this work presents it to the public, 

 not as the production of a traveller, or with any 

 pretension to the detail, interesting or amusing, 

 which usually makes up works descriptive of 

 foreign countries. 



He presents himself as a plain thinker on 

 subjects of material interest connected with the 

 country in which he has resided or been in 

 relation with for, more or less, twenty-four years, 

 and in which there are settled a very large 

 number of British subjects and their families, 

 towards which there is a continuous stream of 

 emigi-ants from Europe, a large portion of whom 

 — especially those possessing small or moderate 

 capitals — entertain most erroneous ideas of the 

 country, its industries, and the work that is before 



