University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION.

The succeeding pages grew out of a private
correspondence, which the author, at the solicitation
of his friends, has been led to throw into the
present form, modifying in a great measure the
epistolary vein, and excluding, so far as possible,
such portions of the original papers as were of
too personal a nature to be intruded upon the
majesty of the public;—while he has embodied,
so far as was compatible with the new arrangement,
every thing likely to interest the general
reader.

The author has not written exclusively as a
traveller or journalist. His aim has been to present
the result of his experience and observations
during a residence of several years in the South-West.
This extensive and important section of
the United States is but little known. Perhaps
there is no region between the Mississippi river

and the Atlantic shores, of which so little accurate
information is before the public; a flying tourist
only, having occasionally added a note to his diary,
as he skirted its forest-lined borders.