423 



an undeserved copyright. The run niug-h ends of the pages, throughout 

 the volume, are the words " Journal of Lewis & Chirke." The addition 

 of " a complete dictionary of the Indian tongue," as per tlie title, is a 

 false claim (as it was in Fisher's case), as this '• dictionary " is simply 

 the glossary of Kiiisteneaux words and phrases which was contained in 

 the editions of 1803. The " notes" added would probably be called 

 "extensive and interesting" only by the publisher. The volume closes 

 with an "appendix," containing some irrelevant " anecdotes," not en- 

 tirely the same as those of the 1809-1812-1813 editions ; Master Neddy 

 being replaced by a story about a "Great African Serpent, killed by 

 Regulus the Roman General." The illustrations are most of them addi- 

 tional to any I have seen elsewhere; Captain Clarke still smiles on us, 

 but his less fortunate companion looks as if he were really meditating 

 suicide. 



II. — THE GASS JOURNALS. 



This publication is perfectly authentic, in the sense that it is exactly 

 what it purports to be — a narrative of the expedition, b}" a known 

 person who accompanied Lewis and Clarke, though it is not, nor does 

 it pretend to be, the journal of his leaders. Patrick Gass was a 

 sergeant of the command, and appears to have been an ignorant, intel- 

 ligent, and observant person, who kept a diary of his own, in which 

 events of the journey and their impressions upon the writer Avere 

 recorded from day to day during the whole period. His general good 

 character and the faithful and efficient service he rendered are formally 

 certified by Captain Lewis. The Gass narrative is a plain, straightfor- 

 ward, and connected account. Paul Allen alludes to it, without men- 

 tion of tlie writer's name, and with unnecessary depreciation, as the 

 "least minute and valuable" of two journals, the other being kept by 

 a brother sergeant, and, I think, never published. Thomas Rees speaks 

 of it in a way more to my liking, as being "in general, sensible and 

 judicious." It serves as a valuable check upon the narrative of Lewis 

 and Clarke itself in the minutise of dates, names, places, &o., and on 

 this account may not inaptly be termed a concordance. 



Gass's work seems to have been entirely superseded by the publica- 

 tion of the regular narrative ; at least, I know of no edition later than 

 1812. I learn altogether of five (and there was probably another) 

 editions of this "concordance," namely: Pittsburgh, 12mo, 1807, and 

 8vo, 1808; Loudon, 8vo, 1808 ; Philadelphia, 12mo, 1810 and 1812 (and 

 French version, 1810?). Excepting the French, they only differ from 

 each other in details of typography, and are virtually nothing more than 

 reprints, though some of them are illustrated, the others not. The 

 original edition is as follows: — 



1807.] A Journal \ of the \ Voyages aid Travels \ of a Corps of Discov- 

 ery^ I under the command of Gcipt. Lewis and Capt. \ Clarke of the 

 Army of the United States, \from \ the mouth of the Biver Missouri 

 through the \ interior parts of North America \ to the Pacific Ocean, \ 

 during the years ISOij 1805, & 1S08. | Containing \ An authentic relation 

 of the most interesting transactions \ during the expedition, — Adescrip. 

 tion of the country, — | And an account of its inhabitants, soil, climate, 

 curiosities | and vegetahh and animal productions. | — \ By Patriclc 

 Gass, I one of the persons employed on the expedition. \ — | With geo- 

 graphical and explanatory notes \ by the jjublisher. \ — | [Copy-right 



