Few copies of the original 1834 edition of this volume are known to exist today. It is more than just a rare book, though; it is also a unique item of Southwestern Americana that defies classification as reminiscence, fiction, or poetry, for it is all of these.
In these literary forms Albert Pike became New Mexico's first Anglo-American short story writer and poet, and the narrative portion of his book is one of the earliest American travel accounts from the Mexican borderland.
Pike's restless nature led him to follow the Santa Fe trail at a historic period only ten years after its...