X PREFACE, 



than any others of those regions which have heen pub-i 

 lished. They hare been prepared, for the most part, 

 from personal observations. Those portions of the country 

 which I have not been able to observe myself, have chiefly 

 been laid down from manuscript maps kindly furnished 

 me by experienced and reliable traders and trappers, and 

 also from the maps prepared under the supervision of 

 United States surveyors. 



The arrangement I have adopted seems to require a word 

 of explanation. That the reader may the better understand 

 the frequent notices, in the course of my personal narrative, 

 of the Santa Fe Trade, the first chapter has been devoted 

 to the development of its early history. And, though the 

 results of my observations in Northern Mexico and upon 



sometimes 



spersed through the narrative, I have, to a great degree, 

 digested and arranged them into distinct chapters, occupy- 

 ing from the sixth to the fifteenth inclusive, of the first 



volum 



This 



plan was resorted to with a view of giving greater com- 

 pactness to the work, and relieving the journal, as far as 



4 V -v ^ 



cumbrous 



Neio Yorkj June 12, 1844. 



J. a 



