Thus the waterways are found to have been paralleled by paths of great length and common usage; such as the Shore path extending along the north shore of the Sound, and the northern trail along the east side of the Hudson, and in great part the same trend can be observed in the Minisink trail, which extended from INDIAN PATHS Shrewsbury river through east New Jersey to the upper waters of the Delaware.

These main paths rati through one tribal territory after another. They are evidence of the friendly interrelation of nearby and also of distant peoples, since their use for hostile purposes would have involved the consent of the owners of the territory which they traversed. The wily Indian, also, was addicted to the method of secrecy and surprise as prime tactics in his warfare, and the "war-path," which has passed into colloquial reference, was more likely the trail of the wild animal of the forest, or some little-used passage by mountain and water-course, than the trodden path through villages, where the camp dogs at least might be depended on to make known the advent of a war-party.