narrative to the American reading public, is my desire to place before
them, therein, a simple and connected account (which at this time ought
to be interesting), of the early settlement of the Oregon Territory by
one of our adopted citizens, the enterprising merchant JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
The importance of a vast territory, which at no distant day may add two
more bright stars to our national banner, is a guarantee that my humble
effort will be appreciated.

* * * * *

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

It has been the editor's wish to let Mr. Franchere speak for himself. To
preserve in the translation the Defoe-like simplicity of the original
narrative of the young French Canadian, has been his chief care. Having
read many narratives of travel and adventure in our northwestern
wilderness, he may be permitted to say that he has met with none that
gives a more vivid and picturesque description of it, or in which the
personal adventures of the narrator, and the varying fortunes of a great
enterprise, mingle more happily, and one may say, more dramatically,
with the itinerary. The clerkly minuteness of the details is not
without its charm either, and their fidelity speaks for itself. Take it
altogether, it must be regarded as a fragment of our colonial history
saved from oblivion; it fills up a vacuity which Mr. IRVING'S classic
work does not quite supply; it is, in fact, the only account by an
eye-witness and a participator in the enterprise, of the first attempt
to form a settlement on the Pacific under the stars and stripes.

The editor has thought it would be interesting to add Mr. Franchere's
Preface to the original French edition, which will be found on the next