Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/9

 PREFACE,

��TH E following hi flory, and obfervationp, are the production, of one who hath been chiefly engaged in an Indian life ever fince the year 1735 : and. moft of the pages were written among.! our old friendly Chikkafah, with whom. I firft traded in the year. I 1744. The fubjects are interefting, as well as atnufing ;. but never was a literary work, begun and carried, on with more difadvantages.. The author was feparated by his fituation,, from the converfatioa of the learned, and from any libraries Frequently interrupted Jlfo by bufinefs, and obliged to conceal his papers, through* the natural jealoufy of the natives; the traders letters of correfpond^- ence always excited their fufpicions, and often gave offence. Ano ther difficulty I had, to encounter, was the fecrecy and clofenefs of the Indians as to their own affairs, and their prying difpofition into thofe of others fo that there is no pofiibility of. retirement among them..

A view of the difadvantages of my fituation, made me reluctant Jto comply with the earned and repeated felicitations of many wor^ thy friends, to give the public an account of the Indian, nations with whom I had long refided, was fb intimately connected, and of whom fcarcely any thing had yet been 'publiihed but romance, and a mafs of fiction. My friends at laft prevailed,, and on perii- fing the (heets, they were pleafed to approve the contents, as con veying Jrue/ information, and general entertainment. Having no ambition to appear Ln the world as an author,, and knowing that my hiftory differed efTentially from all former publications of the kind, I firft refolded to fiipprefs my name; but my friends advifed me to own the work, and- thus it- is tendered to the public, in the prefent form..

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