Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis
The trade which thus passed through or across Manhattan was probably fostered, INDIAN PATHS as it has been in modern times, by the control of money. The native medium for the exchange of values, the coveted and laboriously produced shell bead or wampum, was largely a Long Island product. The shallow waters around the island teemed with the quahaug or hard-shell clam, from the dark portions of which the more valuable purple beads were derived, and also with the periwinkle or conch, from which the white beads were made.
The accumulations of discarded shells around its shores testify to the activity of the coinage industry, and the wealth thus created flowed naturally to Manhattan, and found its way into the pouches of traders up the Hudson, to the distant homes of the Wappinger and the Mohawk, or along the Sound shore to the villages of the Siwanoy and the Pequot.