[ganong] origins of SETTLEMENTS IN NEW BRT^NSWICK 7 



from magnifying the merits of a particular people, it tends to subordinate 

 them to their proper place in the world of mankind. The ideal history 

 would be that in which a firm skeleton of the latter is clothed with, 

 graceful draperies of the former, but the power thus to combine the 

 two is so rare as to be nearly non-existent. In both of these phases 

 of history the study of the influences of factors controlling the migra- 

 tions and settlements of peop'e? are recognized as important, and from 

 the earliest times both phases have taken account of them, but with 

 this difference, that to the former they are only incidental, while to 

 the latter they are of fundamental importance. At the present time the 

 tendency is more and more towards a realization of the great importance 

 of environmental influences in particular in determining not only the 

 settlement, but also the various characteristics of a people, and most 

 modern historical works give this subject mneh attention, while there 

 is a large and increasing literature devoted especially to it. 



In the arrangement of the settlements of any country, we can 

 readily trace the influence of two great primary sets of determining 

 factors. First, there are those connected with greait historical events, 

 whether of discovery, conquest or peaceful expansion, which have sent 

 certain peoples into that country, and these we may call the Historical 

 Factors. Second, we can trace the effects of the physical nature of thg 

 country itself, its accessibility from abroad, the presence and direction 

 of natural lines of communication, the kinds and distribution of its 

 natural wealth, whether in climate, rich lands, forests, minerals, fish, 

 water-powers, or natural scenery, and these we may call the Envirori- 

 incntat Factors. Further study, however, shows a third group of factors 

 determining the exact way in which the given people adapt themselves 

 to the particular environment; this depends upon racial peculiarities, 

 especially the race character, ^^lether this be vigorous, adventurous, 

 progressive, honest, or the reverse, and also in lesser degree upon 

 occupations, social customs, religions, and these we may call the 

 Sociological Factors. The origin of settlement in a courutry is much 

 like the movement of waves breaking on a shore, though unlike th? 

 waves it does not recede; the historical factors provide the waves 

 of population great or small, the sociological factors determine their 

 power and the details of form and height, while the environmental 

 factors determine how they sihall ultimately expend themselves, 

 whether they shall spread abroad on a shelving beach, find themselves 

 checked by a resistless cliff, or run along easy channels to spread in 

 open basins beyond. If one is studying the history of a people in 

 general these three sets of factors are not far from equal in importance, 

 but from our present single point of view, simply tlie origins of settle- 



