I HAVE been called, in many of the public journals, a" professed tourist;" but I am sorry to say that I have no title to the appellation in its usual sense. On the one hand, I possess too little wit and humour to render my writings amusing; and, on the other, too little knowledge to judge rightly of what I have gone through. The only gift to which I can lay claim is that of narrating in a simple manner the different scenes in which I have played a part, and the different objects I have beheld; if I ever pronounce an opinion, I do so merely on my own personal experience.

Many will perhaps believe that I undertook so long a journey from vanity. I can only say in answer to this-whoever thinks so should make such a trip himself, in order to gain the conviction, that nothing but a natural wish for travel, à boundless desire of acquiring knowledge, could ever enable a person to overcome the hardships, privations, and dangers to which I have been exposed.