OREGON AND ELDORADO.

OREGON AND ELDORADO;

OR,

ROMANCE OF THE RIVERS.

BY

THOMAS BULFINCH,

AUTHOR OF "THE AGE OF FABLE," "THE AGE OF CHIVALRY," ETC.

BOSTON:
J. E. TILTON AND COMPANY.
1866.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
THOMAS BULFINCH,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED BY C. J. PETERS AND SON.

PRINTED BY GEORGE C. RAND AND AVERY.

[Pg ix]

PREFACE.

When one observes attentively the maps ofSouth and North America, no feature appearsmore striking than the provision which Natureseems to have made, in both continents, for water-communicationacross the breadth of each.In the Northern continent, this channel of communicationis formed by the Missouri and ColumbiaRivers, which stretch over an extent ofthree thousand miles, interrupted only by theridge of the Rocky Mountains. In the Southerncontinent, the River Amazon, in its path fromthe Andes to the sea, traverses a course of thirty-threehundred miles. In both cases, a fewhundred miles of land-carriage will complete thetransit from ocean to ocean. The analogy presentedin the length and direction of these magnificentwater-pathways is preserved in theirhistory. A series of romantic adventures attaches[Pg x]to each. I indulge the hope, that young readerswho have so favorably received my former attemptsto amuse and instruct them, in my severalworks reviving the fabulous legends of remoteages, will find equally attractive these true narrativesof bold adventure, whose date is comparativelyrecent. Moreover, their scenes are laid, inthe one instance, in our own country; and, in theother, in that great and rising empire of Brazilto which our distinguished naturalist, Prof. Agassiz,has gone on a pilgrimage of science. It willenable us better to appreciate the discoveries andobservations which the professor will lay beforeus on his return, to know something beforehandof the history and peculiarities of the region whichis the scene of his labors; and, on the other hand,the route across the North-American continent,to which the first part of the volume relates, deprivesincreased interest, at this time, from thefact that it nearly corresponds to the route ofthe contemplated Northern Pacific Railroad.

Boston, June 1866.T. B.

[Pg xi]

CONTENTS.

OREGON