Oregon and Eldorado

or, Romance of the Rivers

(1866)

PREFACE:

When one observes attentively the maps of

South and North America, no feature appears

more striking than the provision which Nature

seems to have made, in both continents, for water-communication

across the breadth of each.

In the Northern continent, this channel of communication

is formed by the Missouri and Columbia

Rivers, which stretch over an extent of

three thousand miles, interrupted only by the

ridge of the Rocky Mountains. In the Southern

continent, the River sss, in its path from

the Andes to the sea, traverses a course of thirty-three

hundred miles. In both cases, a few

hundred miles of land-carriage will complete the

transit from ocean to ocean. The analogy presented

in the length and direction of these magnificent

water-pathways is preserved in their

history. A series of romantic adventures attaches

to each. I indulge the hope, that young readers

who have so favorably received my former attempts

to amuse and instruct them, in my several

works reviving the fabulous legends of remote

ages, will find equally attractive these true narratives

of bold adventure, whose date is comparatively

recent. Moreover, their scenes are laid, in

the one instance, in our own country; and, in the

other, in that great and rising empire of Brazil

to which our distinguished naturalist, Prof. Agassiz,

has gone on a pilgrimage of science. It will

enable us better to appreciate the discoveries and

observations which the professor will lay before

us on his return, to know something beforehand

of the history and peculiarities of the region which

is the scene of his labors; and, on the other hand,

the route across the North-American continent,

to which the first part of the volume relates, deprives

increased interest, at this time, from the

fact that it nearly corresponds to the route of

the contemplated Northern Pacific Railroad.

Boston, June 1866.T. B.