s was not
true. Birkbeck issued a somewhat scathing reply, showing Cobbett's
ignorance.

---- _Letters from Illinois. Philadelphia: M. Carey & Son_, 1818. 12mo. vii.
+ 154 pp.

Twenty-two letters written from November, 1817, to March, 1818, by Morris
Birkbeck, from the English settlement in Edwards county, Ill., of which
settlement he was the founder. Very valuable for notes concerning
transportation and the manner of life of the early settlers of Illinois.

---- _Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Virginia to the
Territory of Illinois. Philadelphia: Richardson_, 1817.

Passed through several editions in England.

A graphic account of the journey of Birkbeck from 500 miles east of Cape
Henry, Va. (April 26, 1817), to Shawneetown, Ill., where on August 2,
1817, he bought 1440 acres of land as a site for his English settlement.
Very valuable for information concerning transportation and western
conditions.

BLANEY, Capt. _An Excursion through the United States and __ Canada during
the years 1822-23. By an English Gentleman. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and
Joy_, 1824. 16mo. 511 pp.

Pages 156-92 tell of the author's trip across Illinois. He visited Albion
and then went to St. Louis overland. The descriptions of Birkbeck's
settlement, the difficulties of prairie travel, and of the frontier life
encountered are much above the average of travelers' reports.

BONNER, T. D. _Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer,
Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. Written from
his own Dictation. New York: Harper & Bros._, 1858. 16mo. 535 pp.

The book deals almost entirely with the region west of the Mississippi,
but in 1820 Beckwourth visited Galena. He went from St. Louis with a party
led by Col. R. M. Johnson, the object of the party being to gain a mining
concession from the Sauk Indians.

BRANNAN, JOHN (_Editor_). _Official Letters of the military and naval
Officers of the United States, during the War with Great Britain in the
Years 1812, 13, 14, & 15. Washington: Way & Gideon, 1823._ 510 pp.

A valuable collection. Printed without comment. Pages 84-5 give Capt.
Heald's official report of the massacre at Fort Dearborn, August 15, 1812.
The report is in a letter to Thos. H. Cushing, Adjutant General, written
from Pittsburg, October 23, 1812.

BRODHEAD, Col. DANIEL. _A Letter from Brodhead to Gen. Washington
referring to La Balme's Expedition._

In _The olden Time_, II.,