70 REVIEWS — THE GREAT DESERTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



such a system new American and other travels should be made with- 

 out the trouble of crossing the Atlantic. 



Messrs. Murray, Longman, and other magnates of "the Row," 

 would be justly indignant at any insinuation of complicity with 

 those light-fingered gentry of the quill, who are ready to figure 

 in Mudie's newest list, as travellers, voyagers, missionaries or scientific 

 Abbes, according to the paramount taste of the day. But will the 

 character of the most reputable of British publishers long shield them 

 from suspicion of at least avoiding any troublesome inquisitiveness about 

 the genuineness of a saleable book ? If the gentlemen of Lom- 

 bard Street innocently give currency to a forged bill, it is returned on 

 their hands when detected, and they refund the misgotten gains ; 

 but when the gentlemen of the Row have a literary forgery traced 

 back to them, the chances are that it is with a view to an extra 

 edition and double profits ! When virtue is so clearly left to be 

 its own reward, it is not difficult to surmise its fate. Perhaps 

 even in our own small way, we may contribute to the reputation of 

 unappreciated genius, and the public may read in a second edition 

 the same fine moral poem of the Parisian Abbe's "Seven Years* 

 Residence in the Great Deserts of North America," which so modestly 

 contrasts his own veracious labours and accurate science with " the 

 stumbling-blocks of fiction" set forth by other authors. "It ia 

 with sentiments of the most lively satisfaction," says he, "that 

 we perceive of late years that authors of talent, scorning low novel 

 writing, the reading of which is so pernicious to sensitive minds, have 

 resuscitated a style of literature full of charm, interest, and novelty, 

 by going to glean their scenes and subjects in the solitudes of the 

 New World. We join with all our heart in this literary movement, 

 which is capable of drawing the attention of the civilized world on 

 those poor savages, to whose well-being we had devoted our youth. 

 This work contains the result of our personal observations, and of 

 our ethnographical studies on the Indians of the Great Deserts of 

 North America ; and we cherish the fond hope that it may be the 

 means of guarding those who may consult it against the stumbling- 

 blocks of fiction, that would make them fall into historical or topo- 

 graphical errors, so very excusable after all, when relating to such 

 important questions, and to regions almost unexplored." 



Well done. Monsieur I'Abbe ! who can wonder that the wise men 

 of the Row were captivated with a book which opens with such 



