THE

PATHFINDER;

OR, THE

INLAND SEA.

By J. FENIMORE COOPER
THE PATHFINDER

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by.

J. FENIMORE COOPER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the

Northern District of New York.

ОРЬ

PREFACE.

The plan of this tale is old, having suggested itself to the writer many years since; though the details are altogether of recent invention. The idea of associating seamen and savages, in incidents that might be supposed characteristic of the Great Lakes, having been mentioned to a publisher, the latter obtained something like a pledge from the Author, to carry out the design at some future day; which pledge is now tardily and imperfectly redeemed.

The reader may recognize an old friend, under view circumstances, in the principal character of this legend. R If it should be found that the exhibition made of this

old acquaintance, in the novel circumstances in which
he appears, shall not lessen his favour with the public,
it will be a source of extreme gratification to the.
writer, since he has an interest in the individual in
question, that falls, little short of reality. It is not an
easy task, however, to introduce the same character
in four separate works, and to maintain the peculiari.
ties that are indispensable to identity, without ineur-
ring a risk of fatiguing the reader with sameness; and
the present experiment has been so long delayed, quite
as much from doubts of its success as from

any

other In this, as in every other undertaking, it must be the "end" that will “ crown the work.”

The Indian character has so little variety, that it has been an object to avoid dwelling on it too much, on the present occasion. Its association with the sailor,

cause.

NPR 19 40

(3)