R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY
CHICAGO
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII
| Preface. The Editor | [9] | |
| I | ||
| Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries. Tilly Buttrick, Jr. | ||
| Author’s Prefatory Remarks | [19] | |
| Text | [21] | |
| II | ||
| A Pedestrious Tour, of Four Thousand Miles, through the Western States and Territories, during the Winter and Spring of 1818. Interspersed with Brief Reflections upon a great variety of Topics: Religious, Moral, Political, Sentimental, &c., &c. Estwick Evans | ||
| Copyright Notice, 1818 | [96] | |
| Copyright Notice, 1819 | [98] | |
| Author’s Preface | [99] | |
| Text | [101] | |
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VIII
| Facsimile of title-page to Buttrick’s Voyages | [17] |
| Portrait of Estwick Evans (frontispiece to his book) | [94] |
| Facsimile of title-page to Evans’s Tour | [95] |
PREFACE TO VOLUME VIII
The journals of the two American travellers whose works have been selected for volume viii of our series, form an interesting contrast and complement to one another. Tilly Buttrick, Jr., was by nature a wanderer. The early pages of his quaint little book give the principal facts of his biography, particularly his adventures at sea. It is the narrative of one to whom strange lands and distant vistas irresistibly appeal. He tells his story with a straightforward simplicity that transports the reader through the scenes that the author has beheld. The wandering disposition that had first carried him far abroad, induced Buttrick to spend several years roaming through the Great West, and the same quality of picturesque clarity of narration makes his journal useful to students of that section.
Reverting from the Far West of the trans-Mississippi and Oregon country—whither the journals of the Astorians have led us in the three preceding volumes of our series—we find the Middle West of the Michauxs, Harris, and Cuming passing into a new stage of progress. The tide of emigration flowing from the older states down the Ohio River, and spreading out into Ohio and Kentucky on either hand, was checked by the second war with England, and the ruthless inroads of the savages whom the British encouraged. In this war the new West bore its full share; having successfully defended its long frontier, it emerged triumphant in spirit, but financially and industrially exhausted. Not until the second great wave of immigration began (1815–18), at the close of this struggle, was the region again blessed with prosperity, and able to renew its checked development.
Into this changing West the wanderer Buttrick came. Arrived at Buffalo before the declaration of war, he was upon the Canadian side of the Niagara frontier when the fateful news arrived, and for a brief time was detained as a hostage by the British General Brock. When released, he returned to Massachusetts; but two years later started for Kentucky—passing west through New-York State, and floating down the Allegheny and Ohio to Cincinnati. On this journey he gives us an interesting picture of river life, and its exigencies; while with graphic pen he portrays the bad roads, fever and ague, and deserted condition of the country through which he returned to his Eastern home.