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Show Ylll PREFACE. " ample support, which he gave me, undet· eyery " difficulty ; the manly firmness, which he erinced " on evet·y necessary occasion; and the fot'titucle " with which he bore the fatigues and painful suf" fcrings incident to that long voyage, intitles hi-m. " to my highest confidence and since1·e thanks, while " it eminently recommends him to the consideratio11 '' ancl respect of his fellow citizens." In determining the form in whi-ch the work should, appear, the publishet> had some difficulty. Two plans presented themselves. The one was to preset·ve the form of a daily joul'nal (in which the original hac! been kept) and give a plain description of the countt ·y and a sin1ple relation of occurrences equally intelligible to all readers ; leavi11;; to every person an opportunity of embellishing the scenes pt·esentecl to. him in his own way. The 0ther p.lan was to mor<! fully digest the subject, make the nanative more general, and assuming less of the journal form an<l style, descl'ibe and clothe the principal pF\rts of it as his fancy might suggest. However far the !attee might ha,·e been proper bad a foreign COtlnti'y been the subject, and tl1e principal object of the publication, me1·e amusement, many objection<; ocCUlTed to it in the present case ; and rendered the former the most eligible, especially as by it the climate and face of the country will be more satisfactorily described. And _l\..fr. Gass having declared that the beauties and deformities of its g-randest scenes were cqua!Iy beyond the power of description, no atlem pts have b.een made either by him or the publi.;ber to give adequate t·cprcsentations of them. The publishe1· hopes that the curiosity of the readet· will be in some degree gn\tificd ; that the information ful'nished will not be uninteresting; and that some aid will be furnished those who wish to acquit•e a GeogTaphicetl knowledge of their country. 26t/J l'.:Iarch, t807. OJ' THE OJ' A CORPS OF DISCOVERY. |