Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 4).djvu/32

24 In the second place—It was the author's wish to condense as much into one cheap volume as he could make it contain, and had he entered into minute descriptions of places the best known, he would [have] had so much the less room for the original matter, with which he intended to constitute the bulk of the work.

It was intended to have put the work to the press in the winter of 1807, the year in which the tour commenced, but a series of disappointments essayed by the author, has unavoidably postponed it, and has given him an opportunity of adding to the original plan, some account of the lower parts of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the countries washed by them, particularly the Mississippi territory, which has become of great importance to the United States, and is not without its value to Europe, from its immense supply of cotton to the European manufacturers.

[viii] As the intention of the author was the increase of information, he makes no apology for the plainness of his style, and he expects, on that account, to be spared any criticism. Should however any one think proper to bestow a leisure hour in the remarking of his inaccuracies, or the incorrectness of his language, he can have no possible objection, as criticism of that kind always tends to general improvement.

THE AUTHOR

Mississippi territory, 20th Oct. 1809.