That there were two paths in the Gowanus district is evidenced in a grant of April 5, 1642, by Kieft to Cornells Cool, of land "called Gouwanes reaching in width from the wagon road running through said land and Jan Petersen's land lying along the river," which further stipulated that the paths running over this piece of land shall remain open.29 It seems very likely that this district was occupied by the natives whose chieftain was Gouwanes, since his name has persisted as its title. The old Gowanus road wound crookedly around the margin of the marshes, and near Fourth avenue, at 35th street, it became the old Narrows lane, which extended on some undefined course to the vicinity of Fort Hamilton, which was the district known as Nayack. Near 86th street it probably ran into the King's highway, the westerly end of the ancient path known as Mechawanienck. It thus formed the connection by which we may

INDIAN NOTES

KINGS COUNTY

assume that the Manhattan natives resident at Nayack were wont to pass on their way to revisit their one-time home, and such of their relatives as still clung to the island. A little south of Gowanus lane the main pathway divided. To the east it diverged toward Bedford, and southward it ran to Flatlands. Of the two, the former was probably the more important, since it extended through the borough of Queens to the heart of Long Island. It ran nearly due east, along the base of the Green hills, and was known in early days as the Rockaway path, as it gave access to the country of that chieftaincy. Within the Borough of Brooklyn it followed first the line of Atlantic avenue, reaching Bedford Fourcorners at the present Bedford avenue. Here another path, the old Cripplebush road, set off northward, extending to. the Newtown turnpike road, which reached the districts of Bushwick, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint.