It has a tragic interest as the scene in 1643 of that ruthless slaughter of the unfortunate natives of Weckquaesgeek, who had sought refuge from their oppressors, the Mohawk, near the white man's settlement.

From its junction with the trail to the Rechtauck village, the line of the Bowery lane indicates the most probable course of the pathway by which the native traffic proceeded toward the upper end of Manhattan. It passed "the land called Werpoes," that level tract which later became the Out Ward of the growing city, and was in all probability a planting-ground cleared by the inhabitants of Werpoes from the

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INDIAN PATHS

primeval forest growth with which we may assume the whole locality was covered. The direct line of the Bowery lane indicates the natural course of its predecessor through a tract offering no physical obstructions or changes in grade.

At the line of Astor place another pathway branched westward. This was an important connection between the main line of travel and the landing-place on the shore of the Hudson by which trade in peltries and food was conducted with the tribes on the west side of the estuary. This place was known as Sapohanikan (4), and was situated on the curving shore of the river at our present Gansevoort street. The tide-line in those days was well inland of Washington street, and the stretch of shelving shore between Bethune and Horatio streets formed a shallow cove suited to the landing of laden canoes at all heights of the tide.