"SHOT IN THE EYE," "OLD HICKS THE GUIDE," "CHARLES WINTERFIELD PAPERS," PHILADELPHIA: LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. INTRODUCTION. OUR name, "WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS," must tell for itself, in a great measure, for surely it has abundant significance of its own. "Wild Scenes and Wild Hunters of the World" certainly seems a rather comprehensive title for such space as we have here. It is to be remembered, however, that all things are comparative; and that as I had to begin somewhere, it had as well have been with taking the Flood for granted, in our "Wild Scenes,”—and accepting Nebuchadnezzar as having gone to grass," among our "Wild Hunters!" This being acknowledged, I may be permitted to say, that, I have chosen rather to look upon the Wild Scenes and Wild Hunters of the World from the starting-point of my own life, and within the sphere of my own and cotemporary experience. Beginning with the dawn of sensation in the infant, I have endeavored to trace the passions of the Hunter-Naturalist, through their gradual development, up to the stern and strong individualities of such men as AUDUBON, WILSON, BOONE, etc. The portraits I have given of these men on wood, may be relied upon as accurate; while in my verbal sketches— especially in that of the illustrious Audubon,-I have endeavored to present the Hunter-Naturalist in plain, unvarnished guise, amidst Wild Scenes of the Primitive Nature he lived in and so loved. extremes to which the all-daring, all-enduring hero of natural science in the New World was exposed, through the long and glorious triumphs of a life but just closed, furnish me with nearly my ideal characteristics of the Hunter-Naturalist. Then, commingled as is my whole narrative with personal reminiscence-after traversing, with the lingering affection of a native, nearly the entire ground of magnificent novelty in the Wild Scenes of our own young world-I have yet, accompanied always by the hirsute, though unseen shadow of the Hunter-Naturalist, as monitor and guide, passed over the great waters to seek sombre and stately contrasts in the Wild Scenes of the oldest continent of the Old World. That I should find these contrasts so generally in favor of the rough manliness and vast enterprises of our own country, will not at all astonish those whose experiences have been, like my own, in the real! In a word, I have endeavored to produce a book which, in its desultory rather than careless manner, will yet be felt not to be without its aim to instruct and amuse in the legitimate themes of Natural History, outside the straight-laced mannerism of technical treatment. In conclusion, I would express my obligations to Messrs. Woodside and Kramer, artists, and Mr. Rosenthal, lithographer, for their faithful assistance in the illustration of my work. To Mr. Brightly, wood engraver, I am especially indebted for the zeal with which, outside his legitimate department, he has brought his spontaneous and unexpected talent for "landscape design" to my aid, in kindly working out for me the greater number, and among them many of the finest of my designs. |