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Show EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION HAVING in the first volume of this series discussed the events, the national developments, and the institutions which preceded the colonization of America, the next step is to describe the land and the people of America as they were found by the Europeans. \ This volume, therefore, is intended once for all to set forth the physical conditions of colonization ;^ pr within twenty- five years after the discovery the Spaniard began to penetrate into the interior of North America, and to encounter the obstacles of rivers and mountains and the sterner opposition of native tribes. The general physiography of North America is familiar enough to readers. Professor Farrand, however, has mNjiis first chapter set forth the conditions which affected the movement of Europeans kvestward and northwestward from the coast; and En his second chapter on waterways, portages, trails, and mountain- passes he brings out the network of intercommunication used by the Indian tribes and inevitably followed by the advancing white man. The avenues of trade were also the highways of settlement and the theatres* of Indian xiii 1 z° |
