vi 



PREFACE. 



he had visited ; and the repeated questions, relat- 

 ing to this subject, which he was called upon to 

 answer, together with the suggestions of some 

 persons, in whose judgment he placed much confi- 

 dence, that such a publication might be useful, 

 first determined him to commit the following work 

 to the press. 



Had he carried into the wilderness a greater 

 stock of general information, and expected, on his 

 return, to appear in this manner before the publick, 

 his inquiries would undoubtedly have been more 

 extensive, and the result of them would be more 

 satisfactory, to men of science. Had literary 

 men been in the habit of traversing the regions 

 which he has visited, he would have left it to 

 them, to give an account of them to the publick. 

 Having remained nineteen years in the interiourof 

 North America, without visiting, during that time, 

 the civilized part of the world, and having, many 

 times, changed the place of his residence, while 

 there, he has had an opportunity for taking a 

 wide survey of the country, and of its inhabitants ; 

 and if the information which he has collected, be 



