Original - North Central Michigan College Library

pgtoricalpaper, form the subject matter of the presentvolume." It is obvious, -therefore, that theauthor did not keep a day-by-day journal ofevents; and that his narrative as it comes to usis the fruit of his recollections set down atdifferent tunes during the period of his lifesubsequent to the conclusion of the travels andadventures which are so vividly described byhmi. A record thus produced may possessgreat value, but to all lawyers and all historiansit is a commonplace that this value,however great it may be, will be different inquality from that attaching to a day-by-dayrecord of events. The human memoryis atbest a fallible instrument. Men in later yearsfrequently recall events which never took place;as frequently they transform, in memory,the true character and circumstances attendantupon the occurrence of events; and it issometimes even possible for an observer totrace the progressive steps in the transformation.With these considerations in mind, we willnot expect to find in Henry's story that accuracyof detail which characterizes the journalof contemporary events. It will not bestrange to find that distances are sometimesmisstated, 1 that dates given are frequentlyincorrect, and that the story is subject to1 An additional reason for this is, of course, the factthat Henry is commonly giving estimates made by eye,xviii