LOYE OF ADVENTURE. 6 



have made him what he is ; and would willingly 

 give a cheque for a very large amount could he, by 

 so doing, assure himself of one-tenth part of his 

 robust hardihood. 



Wherever commerce has established itself, the 

 children of almost every nation under the sun 

 may be seen jostling and pushing each other in the 

 pursuit of golden treasures; but where nothing but 

 perilous adventures may be expected, it is rare to 

 meet any but Englishmen, or at all events men of 

 Anglo-Saxon parentage. And of that race many 

 names could be mentioned of men who, for the mere 

 sake of enjoying Nature in all her loveliness, have 

 willingly abandoned home to rove at will far away 

 from the comforts and restraints of civilization. 



And where does Nature assume a more beautiful 

 aspect than on the mighty American continent, where 

 dense forests stretch away for leagues, bounded only 

 by some broad river whose impetuous flood could 

 engulf all the tiny streams of England ; while 

 beyond, far as the eye can reach, and miles further, 

 stretches a vast meadow of green, waving grass? 

 Where can the hunter find game more worthy of his 

 gun than in the wild woods and almost boundless 

 prairies of the West; where the huge buffalo stalks 

 in all his shaggy majesty ; where the deer and ante- 

 lope bound, where the boar and bear roam about the 



B 2 



