History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean : performed during the years 1804-5-6 by order of the government of the United States; Volume 1

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iv ' Priface. kept by two of the smjeants, one of wltlcll, the least minute and va.luahle, has all·eady been 1ml>Iishe<l. That nothing might l>e wanf ing to the accm·acy of these details, a vcl'y intelligent and active mcml>e1· of the parfy, l,lt-. Geor;;~ Shannon, was sent to eontt·ihute whatever his mcmOJ'Y tnight ad<l to this accumulate<l fund of iufot·mation. Ft·om these copious materials the nal'l·ative was sl<etehed nearly in its p1•esent form~ when other puJ•suits <livct·tecl ().a (} attention of the wt·itet·, and compelled !Jim to tt·ansft>r his ntanuset·ipt, in its unfinished stn.te, with all the documents conne('ted with it. to th(' tWesent <'tlito••, to pt·epaa·e them for the press and superintend th<' puhlieatiou. That he may not seem lo an·ogate any thing ft·om the exe1·tions or others, he slJOuhl thert·f'or·e state that, although the whole work was thus suhmiUed to his <'nlire disct•etiou. he. found but little to change, ami that his labou1· has been Jll'incipally confined to r<'vising the manus<·ript. compar·ing it with the 01·iginal pa­pers. anti insCJ·ting suoh addifional matt('r· as app('ai'S to have bet~n intentionally tlef'c,Tcd by the writet· till the pe1·iotl of a more matua·e J't'visal. 'I'ht>se cia·cumstances. whicb .. would otherwise be indifferent to the public, a.l'e mentioned meJ•e1y to account fot~ imperfections, which at·e in some drg•·ec inseparable fl·om any book of tt·avcls not written by the ta·avell<'l'. In a woa·k or (Hil'e dcsct·iption in­deed, like the pr·eseut, where the incidents themselves ar·c the sole ohjf'cts of aU1·aetion, th(' 1mr·t of au editor· is neees­sal'ily suuol'<linatc, nor can Ia is hu mblc (JI't>tensions aspire beyond the merit of rigid adherence to facts as they ~H'e stated to him. This has been very diligently attempted, and fot· this, in its full extent, tbc editor deems himself re ­sponsible. The present volumes, it will be per·ceived, comprise only the narrative of tlJe jout•ncy. ,..fhose pat•ts of the WOI'k Whiclt relate to the various oluects of natut•al history, ouservccl or collected dul'iog the journey, as well as the alplta.bets of Lhc }ll'tjacc. Indian languages, at•e in tl e laam1s of profcsso1• lla1·ton, and will, it is unllcr·stootl, shortly appcm·. To give still ful'ther intcl'c ~ t to tllC work, the editor ad­clJ• essell a letter to 1\'fr. J e tlet·soa, t•cqucsling some authentic memoit'S of captain Lewis. For the ve1·y cul'ious and valu .. aiJ}c infOl'lllUtion contained in bis UUSWe&·, the t-ul>li(•, as well as the editor himself, owe gt·~ at obligations to the 1wliteness ami knOW ledge Of th~Lt di sting uished gentleman. l)AUJ4 ALJ4RN·: Puu .. \Dln.·PH u ., .Tanu~•ry J , 18 f!J, .•