PREFACE то THE SECOND EDITION. THE reception which has been given to the first edition of this book may be taken as showing that it supplied a real want, and that, notwithstanding some manifest defects, it has been found to be useful. The speedy demand for a second edition has led to a revision, as thorough as the very short time which circumstances allowed for it has made possible. And I trust that I have made considerable improvements, especially in the early part. I believe that I have done something to lessen the faults which followed almost necessarily from the circumstances under which it was first written. But I fear that they may still be too clearly seen, even in the present form of the work. I could see also that many improvements might have been made in the maps, especially the earlier ones. But a thorough revision of them would have needed a far longer time than could just now |