Note 35 — Front matter

It is an interesting fact that throughout the route the fording of a stream was in every case at or slightly below the mouth of a tributary. At such a place there is usually a riffle caused by the formation of a bar of sand, gravel, and mud, the crest of which offers a very practical opportunity for fording. Some of the apparent deviations of the road from what would seem to have been the natural course may have been made for the sake of avoiding a depth of water which might have rendered the streams impassable except by bridging. In other instances a circuitous route may have been the most practicable way of passing a swamp or a bog.