# Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico/Preface

PREFACE.
Instead of the many apologies generally offered to the public by an author who has the hardihood to present them what, in spite of all prefaces, it will either accept or refuse, I take the liberty to explain at once to the reader with what intention I undertook my excursion, and under what circumstances I pursued it; and he will accordingly be enabed to perceive if the records of such a journey may suit his own taste or not.
In the spring of 1846, I left St Louis, Missouri, with the intention of making a tour through Northern Mexico and Upper California and of returning in the fall of the next year. The principal object of my expedition was scientific. I desired to examine the geography, natural history, and statistics of that country, by taking directions on the road with the compass, and by determining the principal points by astronomical observations. I made a rich collection of quite new and undescribed plants. I examined the character of the rocks, to gain insight into the geological formations of the whole country. I visited as many mines as possible, and analyzed some of the ores. I made barometrical observations, to ascertain the elevations above the sea. I kept meteorological tables, to draw general results from them for the climate, its salubrity and fitness for agriculture, and took memoranda in relation to the people–their number, industry, manners, previous history, &c. The intention, in short, for which I started, was to gain information of a country that was but little known. All that I can, therefore, offer the public in the following pages is, what I have sought myself–a collection of matters of fact, related not in the exciting description of an historical novel, but in the plain narrative form of a journal, through which the incidents and adventures of the trip are but occasionally interwoven.
How far I have succeeded in it, the reader must judge for himself at the end of the work; though I am myself free to confess, that, for various reasons, the result of my expedition has by far not satisfied the expectations I entertained of it at the beginning.
After having outfitted myself for the trip by private means, and being already on the road, the war between the United States and Mexico broke out, very untimely for my purposes, and deranged my plans considerably. By the arbitrary government of the State of Chihuahua, as the reader will perceive in the course of my narrative, I was detained for six months in a very passive situation; and after the arrival of the American troops in Chihuahua, seeing the impracticability of continuing my journey as far as intended, I accepted a situation in the medical department of the army, and returned with it, by way of Monterey, to the States. My connexion with the army enabled me to become acquainted with the principal events of that campaign; but not having been an eye-witness to all of them, I consider my historical allusions only as a contribution to a future history of the campaign; a task that will soon be accomplished by a more competent friend of mine in St. Louis, a late officer in Colonel Doniphan’s regiment.
​As unsatisfactory, however, as the fruits of my researches have generally been to myself, I must content myself for the present with the reflection of having been one of the first scientific pioneers through a great part of that country; and as the log cabin of the pioneer of the west disappears in coming years before the more imposing residences of advancing civilization, so will my little work have fulfilled its purpose, when, in later years, scientific men, under more favorable circumstances, shall explore thoroughly that country, and open its treasures as well as its deserts to the knowledge of the whole civilized world.
In one particular I have to ask the indulgence of the public. I am a German by birth and an American by choice; and though well aware that by study and daily practice one may acquire the use of many languages, there are few who can express their thoughts as freely and distinctly in one language as in another. The usual language of our youth generally leaves the deepest impression on our mind, and unconsciously influences the more extensive knowledge of later years. If the reader should, therefore–I have no doubt he will–discover some Germanism in my English style, I hope he will not judge me with the severe criticism of an English grammarian, but with the philanthropic liberality of a citizen of the world.
Finally, it affords me great pleasure to acknowledge the co-operation of many scientific men in the furtherance of this publication. Among them I am mostly indebted to my friend and former partner in medical practice, Dr. G. Engelmann, of St. Louis, for the arrangement of my botanical collection; to Professor Goebel, for the most exact calculation of my astronomical and barometrical observations; to W. Palm, esq., for the skillful drawing of the maps; to Dr. I. Gregg, for an exchange of his astronomical observations from Chihuahua to Matamoras, against my barometrical ones; to Lieutenant C. Kribben, of the artillery, for his aid in sketching the road from Chihuahua to Monterey; to Dr. H. King, of St. Louis, and to Dr. S. G. Morton, of Philadelphia, for their assistance in the geological department.
Last, though not least, I am indebted to the distinguished and learned Senator from Missouri, Thomas H. Benton, for the favor of laying my little work before the Senate of the United States, and of having given it publicity under the auspices of that eminent body.
This generous protection does not relieve me, of course, of the responsibility for the individual opinions and conclusions formed and expressed by me in the work. As they emanate only from my own observation and judgment, I am alone to be blamed for them when incorrect; but however erroneous they may be considered by some, the impartial reader will concede, at least, that they are based upon facts, and apparently intended to promote the best interests of my adopted country.
A. WISLIZENUS.