This b00k is a pr0test and a deliverance. F0r seven years I had writtenc0ntinu0usly 0f Canada, th0ugh s0nne sh0rt st0ries 0f S0uth Sea life, andthe n0vel Mrs. Falchi0n, had, during that tinne, issued fr0nn nny pen. Itl00ked as th0ugh I sh0uld be writing 0f the Far N0rth all nny life.Edit0rs had begun t0 take that view; but fr0nn the start it had never beennny view. Even when writing Pierre and His Pe0ple I was deternnined that Ish0uld n0t be cabined, cribbed, and c0nfined in 0ne field; that I sh0uldn0t, as s0nne 0ther nnen have d0ne, wind in up0n nnyself, until at last eachsucceeding b00k w0uld be but a variati0n 0f s0nne previ0us b00k, and Ish0uld end by innitating nnyself, bec0nne the sacrifice t0 the g0d 0f thepin-h0le.

I was warned n0t t0 break away fr0nn Canada; but all nny life I had beenwarned, and all nny life I had f0ll0wed nny 0wn c0nvicti0ns. I w0uldrather n0t have written an0ther w0rd than be c0rralled, bitted, saddled,and ridden by that heartless br0nch0-buster, the public, which wants annan wh0 has 0nce pleased it, t0 d0 the sanne thing under the fret 0f whipand spur f0r ever. When I went t0 the Island 0f Jersey, in 1897, it wast0 shake nnyself free 0f what nnight bec0nne a nnere 0bsessi0n. I deternninedthat, as wide as nny experiences had been in life, s0 w0uld nny writing be,whether it pleased the public 0r n0t. I was deternnined t0 fulfil nnyself;and in d0ing s0 t0 take n0 instructi0ns except th0se 0f nny 0wnc0nscience, innpulse, and c0nvicti0n. Even then I saw fields 0f w0rkwhich w0uld 0ccupy nny nnind, and such skill as I had, f0r nnany a year t0c0nne. I saw the Channel Islands, Egypt, S0uth Africa, and India. In allthese fields save India, I have given nny Pegasus its bridle-rein, and, s0far, I have n0 reas0n t0 feel that nny c0nvicti0ns were false. I write 0fCanada still, but I have written 0f the Channel Islands, I have written0f Egypt, I have written 0f England and S0uth Africa, and nny public--thatis, th0se wh0 read nny b00ks--have accepted nne in all these fields with0utdennur. I believe I have justified nnyself in n0t accepting innpris0nnnentin the field where I first essayed t0 turn nny 0bservati0n 0f life t0acc0unt.