his Loyalist friends near Kingston, he received a grant of land for his services, but debt drove him from that; and after securing some assistance from the authorities, he returned to England in the fall of 1788,[1] there to write and publish the volume of his adventures.
He appears to have secured some patronage for this
work, as is evidenced by the list of subscribers, and the
dedication to Sir Joseph Banks. He also consulted the
best available authorities on Indian traditions and Canadian
history, and seems to have taken pains to verify his
own experiences and observations, without slavishly
following his authorities.[2] In his defense of the Hudson's
Bay Company, there is to be noted either a desire to
secure its favor for future services, or pique in relation
to the new North West Company, under some one of
whose partners he had undoubtedly served. The book,
which was published in 1791, attained considerable
popularity. It was favorably reviewed in the Monthly Review (June, 1792), and translated into both French and
German. The French translation, made by J. B. L. J.
Billecocq, with notes by the translator (but without the
vocabularies, a fact deplored by French philologists),[3] appeared in 1794, and again in 1810. Two German translations were made, the first by B. Gottlob Hoffmann,
————
- ↑ The chronology of Long's later years in Canada is confusing. On page 175 of his book, he gives the date of 1786, and after describing ten months' occupations says on the next page, "the spring of 1786." That this should be 1787, is proved by the fact that when he applied to General Hope for assistance the next year, the latter had gone to England. As Hope's departure occurred in June, 1788, Long's mistake of a year in his dates is thus manifest.
- ↑ The following are those to whom he definitely refers: Lahontan, Hennepin, La Salle, Colden, Adair, Carver, Jonathan Edwards, Kalm, Beatty, Rev. John Sargent, Robson, Umfreville, Kames, Robert Rogers, Pope's poems, a novel by Lady Emily Montague, and Justamond's Life of Louis XV.
- ↑ Field, Essay toward an Indian Bibliography (New York, 1873).
