Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/18

12 for South American independence, and actually left for Greece in order to join her armies, but arrived after the battle of Navarino and saw no bloodshed. In 1829 he removed to Washington, and throughout the remainder of his life practiced law, and served in the government offices, frequently contributing to the National Intelligencer. He died in New York, November 20, 1866.

Despite the eccentricity of Evans's purpose, and the grotesque dress of buffalo skins in which he attired himself for his Western journey; despite, also, his constant tendency to moralize and involve himself and the reader in a maze of speculation, his comments upon the men and conditions which he saw in the course of his long tour are shrewd, eminently sane, and practical. The Western New York of 1818 is vividly portrayed; the solitude of Northern Ohio, and the difficulties of the Sandusky swamps are made known; glimpses of the Indians of the vicinity are afforded. However, the chief value of the narrative commences when the author reaches Detroit. From that place through the remainder of the journey, to Presqu' Isle, and down the Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi to New Orleans, Evans was keenly alert for all manner of information that bore upon the war, the state of agriculture, the topography and settlement of the country, and the general industrial conditions. Much of his material was obtained from first-hand participants and explorers, and bears the stamp of accuracy. He gives us one of the best pictures we possess of early Michigan Territory, the French habitants contrasted with American settlers, the influence of the fur-trade, and the scattered posts in this far-away region. His description, also, of early Indiana and Illinois presents interesting phases. At New Orleans