Early Western Travels 1748-1846 Volume IV Early Western Travels 1748-1846 A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive of the Aborigines and Social and Economic Conditions in the Middle and Far West, during the Period of Early American Settlement Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D. Editor of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” “Wisconsin Historical Collections,” “Chronicles of Border Warfare,” “Hennepin’s New Discovery,” etc. Volume IV Cuming’s Tour to the Western Country (1807-1809) [Illustration] Cleveland, Ohio The Arthur H. Clark Company 1904 COPYRIGHT 1904, BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV Preface. _The Editor_ 7 SKETCHES OF A TOUR TO THE WESTERN COUNTRY, through the States of Ohio and Kentucky; a Voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and a Trip through the Mississippi Territory, and part of West Florida. Commenced at Philadelphia in the Winter of 1807, and concluded in 1809. _Fortescue Cuming_. Copyright notice 18 Author’s Table of Contents 19 Author’s Preface 23 Text 25 ILLUSTRATION TO VOLUME IV FACSIMILE OF ORIGINAL TITLE-PAGE 17 PREFACE TO VOLUME IV We devote the fourth volume of our series of Western Travels to the reprint of Fortescue Cuming’s _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country_--the tour having been made in 1807-1809, the publication itself issuing from a Pittsburg press in 1810. Of Cuming himself, we have no information save such as is gleaned from his book. He appears to have been an Englishman of culture and refinement, who had travelled extensively in other lands--notably the West Indies, France, Switzerland, and Italy. It is certain that he journeyed to good purpose, with an intelligent, open mind, free from local prejudices, and with trained habits of observation. Cuming was what one may call a good traveller--he endured the inconveniences, annoyances, and vicissitudes of the road, especially in a new and rough country, with equanimity and philosophic patience, deliberately making the best of each day’s happenings, thus proving himself an experienced and agreeable man of the world.