Equally marked is the influence of these humble trails on the after-development of the great borough, as the progenitors of those arteries of traffic by reason of which old Brooklyn and its neighbors grew up together and ultimately became united in one great community.

From far eastern regions the Long Island natives made their way along the Rockaway path to Brooklyn, and were joined by the Canarsee and the Nayack, converging by several byways along ancient paths, and uniting at the present Fulton ferry, where a short crossing of the East river brought them to Manhattan.

The strategic importance of the south end of that island is well illustrated by the

AND MONOGRAPHS

INDIAN PATHS

evident trend of these Long Island paths toward the same place as that upon which the mainland trails converged from the north and east.

The area of Kings county was occupied at the time of the white men's invasion chiefly by the Canarsee. A sub-chieftaincy called the Marechkawick or Mareyckawick, occupied old Brooklyn. Stations are known to have existed at Flatlands, at Canarsie, at Bergen island, and at Gerritsen basin. Careful exploration of these village sites has been lacking, notwithstanding all the street grading and extensive building operations which have metamorphosed much of the surface of the present borough. Their neighbors on the Fort Hamilton tract, known as Nayack, were some of those Manhattan Indians who had sold their home-lands to the Dutch in 1626. Their territory extended on the east to the boundary of the old township of Newtown, wherein their neighbors and probably near relatives, the Rockaway, were resident.