This old road connected with the Mill road which ran from Flatlands village at the point where the King's highway turned off from the present Flatbush avenue. We may reasonably assume that these old lanes were successors of the native trails. Scattered objects found upon the island indicate native residence there, and masses of discarded shells decide the position of a considerable Indian industry within its area. It was in fact one of the places where

INDIAN NOTES

<

BOLTON - INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS

THE INDIAN VILLAGE-SITE AT GERRITSEN BASIN, FROM A SURVEY AND OBSERVATIONS BY D. B. AUSTIN.

THE CANARSEE

the important manufacture of wampum was carried on. The position of native residence might be expected to have been on the northern part of the island, near Avenue U and the Grand esplanade, because that part was near a fresh-water supply, and had a good beach for use as a canoe landing, while the southern part was bordered bymarsh and had no stream nearby.

From these observations it will be evident that the native station at Flatlands occupied an advantageous and commanding position. It grew up at the junction of four important paths. It might well have been a wayside stopping-place where all the native gossips exchanged information. It could hardly have escaped being a center of barter for goods in exchange for fish and mollusks. We have warrant for assuming it to have been occupied for a long period, as the path that led westward from it was known to the Indians as Mechawanienck, "the ancient pathway." That name is recorded in a deed of 1652 in which the path was described as the southern boundary of a great tract extending from Gowanus.