Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis
Its importance is evident on examination of its course around the waters of the metropolitan area, as it afforded the desired access to the ocean without the necessity of passing over the mountains of the Ramapo, avoiding also the extensive swamps of the Passaic and the Hackensack. It formed so direct a means of contact with the natives of the Delaware tribe that it can hardly INDIAN PATHS have existed without a number of branch trails, connecting through the hills with the homes of natives resident in the East Jersey district, and probably extending, by some such routes as those previously described, to the trading-place on the Hudson, thus establishing contact between the Delawares and their blood relatives on the Island of Manhattan, and the adjoining territories on the mainland and Long Island.
NOTES 1. Valentine 's Manual for 1865, pp. 572 and 652. 2. On the other hand, Mr M. R.