The line of travel farther north, however, was barred in the direction taken by Broadway by the broad swamp-land through which the outlet of the Kolch pond made its way to the Hudson. From the path along Broadway, therefore, another trail set off to the east. If, as is probable, this followed a course which was later developed into the earliest roadway, the turn was made at Ann street, with a sharp bend at Nassau street by which Park Row was reached.

This abrupt turn may be accounted for,

AND MONOGRAPHS

INDIAN PATHS

as in other situations, as a means of avoiding an occupied site or a piece of cultivated ground. The latter seems a probable development of the level area of City Hall park, which may even be assumed to have been the most natural and desirable space for a purpose so necessary to village life. The path, turning out of Nassau street, passed along Park Row, which is in a direct line toward the easiest point of crossing over the outlet by which the waters of the Kolch ponds flowed to East river. This point of crossing was at the head of Roosevelt street, where the swampy ground was no wider than fifty or sixty feet, and the rivulet turned in its course between rising ground north and south only fifty paces apart.

At the south this high ground developed into the Catiemut hill, a little eminence occupying the area in the angle of Pearl street and Park Row, covering City Hall place. Another elevation, known much later as Potters hill, the site of the present Hall of Records, stood a little to the west. Between the two was the natural grade for