It Would Have Been Easy After Our Return To Have Made Up From Libraries A Most Engaging Description Of The Provinces, Mixing It With Historical, Legendary, Botanical, Geographical, And Ethnological Information, And Seasoning It With Adventure From Your Glowing Imagination.

But it seemed to me that it would be a more honest contribution if our account contained only what

We saw, in our rapid travel; for I have a theory that any addition to the great body of print, however insignificant it may be, has a value in proportion to its originality and individuality, - however slight either is, - and very little value if it is a compilation of the observations of others. In this case I know how slight the value is; and I can only hope that as the trip was very entertaining to us, the record of it may not be wholly unentertaining to those of like tastes.

Of one thing, my dear friend, I am certain: if the readers of this little journey could have during its persual the companionship that the writer had when it was made, they would think it altogether delightful. There is no pleasure comparable to that of going about the world, in pleasant weather, with a good comrade, if the mind is distracted neither by care, nor ambition, nor the greed of gain. The delight there is in seeing things, without any hope of pecuniary profit from them! We certainly enjoyed that inward peace which the philosopher associates with the absence of desire for money.

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