However all this may really have been, there is no question of the genuineness of this unauthenticated narrative. Pike never penned it--he could not write so well as the anonymous author of this tract did. But whoever wrote it had Pike's original manuscript journal or note-book before him, and followed him closely, faithfully, and accurately. Pike's case is put in the third person by the writer, who gives in narrative form a better account of the Mississippi voyage than Pike's slender literary attainments enabled him to write for himself. This "text of 1807," as I shall call it, when I have occasion to cite it in my commentary, is an invaluable check upon Pike's own itinerary; he cannot have been unaware of its existence, and the friendly hand which thus first gave to the world the best account extant of the Mississippi voyage should not have been ignored when Pike came to write out his notes for publication in the princeps edition of his several expeditions, of date 1810.[M-10] * * * * * Immediately upon his escape from his Spanish captors and hosts, and his return to his native land, Pike set about writing his book. This was finished--or at any rate so far advanced that a contract for its publication had been made--early in 1808 (see letter of May 27th, 1808, beyond, p. lxi). The original edition of his Expeditions is as follows: _[1810.]--An Account of Expeditions | to the | Sources of the Mississippi, | and through the | Western Parts of Louisiana, | to the Sources of the | Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre | Jaun, Rivers; | performed by order of the | Government of the United States | during the years 1805, 1806, and 1807. | And a Tour through | the | Interior Parts of New Spain, | when conducted through these Provinces, | by order of | the Captain-General, | in the Year 1807. | ---- | By Major Z. M. Pike. | Illustrated by maps and charts. | ---- | Philadelphia: | Published by C. and A. Conrad, Co. No. 30, Chesnut Street. Somer- | vell & Conrad, Petersburgh. Bonsal, Conrad, & Co. Norfolk, | and Fielding Lucas, Jr. Baltimore. | ---- | John Binns, Printer......1810. | One Vol. 8vo._ CONTENTS. Portrait of Pike, frontispiece. Title, backed with copyright, pp. [1], [2]. To the Public, being Preface by Pike and publisher's Apology, pp. [3]-[5]; blank, p. [6]. Dedication, To the President and Members of the U. S. M. P. S., one leaf not paginated, verso blank (= pp. 7, 8). Part I., being the Mississippi Voyage: Pike's Itinerary, pp. 1-105; blank, p. 106; Meteorological Tables, 5 unnumbered leaves, raising pages to 116, last blank. Part II., being the Arkansaw Journey: Instructions to Pike, pp. 107-110; Pike's Itinerary, pp. 111-204.