Published together in 1846 for a British readership, these reports of two westward expeditions shed light on the challenges of exploration in nineteenth-century North America. Led by the army officer and future presidential candidate John Charles Fremont (1813 90), who became known as 'the Pathfinder', the first expedition ranged west of the Missouri River, while the second pushed beyond the Rocky Mountains, north to Fort Vancouver and then south into Mexican-held California. Fremont's detailed accounts are accessible to the non-specialist: this edition omits 'only the portions which are...