The natural affection I have for my nation, which grew stronger immediately upon my acquisition of a clearer consciousness of my own self and my fellow-countrymen, augmented in good time by the lecture of the poetry of our priceless Kollár, swelled year by year, greater and greater in my breast, attracting me to everything that could help me to a better knowledge of our nation, as expressed in all of its tribes. Moreover, this moved me to undertake all that was in my power, as weak as it may be, to offer even the most humble service to aid in the establishment of our slowly awakening sense of nationality.
I had long desired to visit that portion of Slavdom which yet remains in the northwest lands, inhabited and cultivated by our great nation, in particular, Lusatia, which all the more str
