military and social movements which made these little roads historic.
The difficulty of treating such a broad subject in a single monograph must be apparent. Portages are found wherever lakes or rivers lie, and our subject is therefore as broad as the continent. It is obvious that in a limited space it is possible to treat only of portages most used and best known—which most influenced our history. These are practically included in the territory lying south of the Great Lakes between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. Historically, too, we are taken back to the early days of our history when America was coextensive with the continent, for the important portages were those binding the St. Lawrence with the rivers of New England, and the tributaries of the Great Lakes with those of the Mississippi.
It has seemed most profitable to divide the subject into two parts: in the first, under the specific title of "Portage Paths" is given a description of these routes, their nature, use, and evolution. The second part is devoted to a "Catalogue of American Portages," and in it are included
