But I am free to admit that after our expedition was started youspeedily relieved yourself of all responsibility for it, and turnedit over to your comrade with a profound geographical indifference;you would as readily have gone to Baddeck by Nova Zembla as by NovaScotia. The flight over the latter island was, you knew, however, nopart of our original plan, and you were not obliged to take anyinterest in it. You know that our design was to slip rapidly down,by the back way of Northumberland Sound, to the Bras d'0r, and spenda fortnight fishing there; and that the greater part of this journey hereimperfectly described is not really ours, but was put upon us by fateand by the peculiar arrangement of provincial travel.

It would have been easy after our return to have made up fromlibraries a most engaging description of the Provinces, mixing itwith historical, legendary, botanical, geographical, and ethnologicalinformation, and seasoning it with adventure from your glowingimagination. But it seemed to me that it would be a more honestcontribution if our account contained only what we saw, in our rapidtravel; for I have a theory that any addition to the great body ofprint, however insignificant it may be, has a value in proportion toits originality and individuality,--however slight either is,--andvery little value if it is a compilation of the observations ofothers. In this case I know how slight the value is; and I can onlyhope that as the trip was somewhat entertaining to us, the record of itmay not be whomlly unentertaining to those of like tastes.