The following Preface was taken from Edward Sullivan's Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America. A most delightful book published in 1852.
"There is no compulsion in book-reading: if a person is amused, he reads it on to the end; if bored, he lays it down. Such being the case, an apology in a Preface is unnecessary; it does not make a dry book less so, or a readable book more amusing. I shall therefore content myself with quoting the words of a writer of the olden time; "If I have done ill to write, let not others be so idle as to read."
Although "travels and notes", by giants of facetiae and learning, have recorded almost everything amusing or instructive in America, over and over again,; yet the "dwarf on the giant's shoulder" sees sometimes even further than the giant himself; and having taken my stand on the shoulders of their observation, I may have been enabled to see some small objects that had escaped their notice. Moreover, giants do not in general go to the Prairies, as they require a good deal of creature comfort and nourishment, and the "hard doings" of those parts would hardly suit them. ..."
Sullivan did indeed in his passage see from the shoulders of giants and in many cases put their observations right and corrected their interpertive judgement. His was a trip through the upper United States and lower Canada and he view the disappearing province of the Indian, not with compassion as did Catlin or the unmitigated gall of Audubon, but as an observer of human nature. Most appropriate is his observations regarding the Indian's regard for property. They saw no reason for not possessing that which belonged to another. It was There for The Taking. In some ways this is not unlike the current-day attitude of inner-city dwellers who consider anything of value fair game, the belief that if "they" don't take it someone else will. Or, if they miss the bus, they take the most available car; they are not really stealing(?) only using the car to get to their destination.
Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America. Edward Sullivan, Esq. Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, 1852. Hope you enjoy the book as much as I have.
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