In the following pages I have endeavoured to give, in a series of
picturesque sketches, a general view of the natural history as well as
of the physical appearance of North and South America.
I have first described the features of the country; then its vegetation;
and next the wild men and the brute creatures which inhabit it.
However, I have not been bound by any strict rule in that respect, as my
object has been to produce a work calculated to interest the family
circle rather than one of scientific pretensions. I have endeavoured to
impart, in an attractive manner, information about its physical
geography, mineral riches, vegetable productions, and the appearance and
customs of the human beings inhabiting it. But the chief portion of the
work is devoted to accounts of the brute creation, from the huge stag
and buffalo to the minute humming-bird and persevering termites,--
introduced not in a formal way, but as they appear to the
naturalist-explorer, to the traveller in search of adventures, or to the
sportsman; with descriptions of their mode of life, and of how they are
found, hunted, or trapped. I have described in the same way some of the
most remarkable trees and plants; and from the accounts I have given I
trust that a knowledge may be obtained of the way they are cultivated,
and how their produce is prepared and employed. Thus I hope that, with
the aid of the numerous illustrations in the work, a correct idea will
be gained of the wilder and more romantic portions of the great Western
World.
William H.G. Kingston.