The circumstances in which this work was composed, and the objects aimed at by the author, are explained in the Introduction. Although written as a journal, only a small portion of it is devoted to personal adventures, or to those topics which usually constitute the substance of a work bearing that form. I cannot, however, allow this opportunity to pass, without expressing my gratitude towards those kind and excellent friends whose society and attentions rendered our residence in the United States at once instructive and agreeable. My acknowledgments are due in a special manner to Dr John Bell of Philadelphia, and Dr Andrew Boardman of New York, for much kind and valuable assistance; while to Mr Charles Humberston of Liverpool and Mr George Hart of New York, I am indebted for benefits which those can best appreciate who have experienced the impediments to communication between foreign nations, unavoidably presented by Custom-House regulations. During our whole residence in America, the unwearied attention and punctuality of these two gentlemen conferred on us favours which we cannot return, but which it gives us pleasure thus publicly to acknowledge.

The Map is from the meritorious work of Mr David Stevenson of Edinburgh, published in 1838, under the title of “Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America;” and Mr Stevenson, to whom I am indebted for the use of the plate, has been good enough to revise it, and to add, from “Tanner's Railroads and Canals of the United States,” edition 1840, the principal lines of Railway which have been completed since the period of his American tour.