Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 2).djvu/88

82 silent course the swiftest runners of the Iroquois bore their messages of peace or war with a speed and physical endurance incredible

"Their wandering, hunter life and habit of intent observation rendered the Iroquois familiar with every foot of land in their territory, enabling them to select the choicest locations for abode. Towns were frequently moved from place to place, new trails worn and old ones abandoned to stray hunters and wild animals. Trails leading to or along the edge of water were usually permanent. Hardly a stream but bore its border line of trail upon either bank. From the shore of Lake Ontario to the headwaters of the Genesee, trails followed every curve of the river as closely as natural obstacles would permit, and branches led up the sides of tributary creeks.

"Trails converged on the Genesee in the vicinity of Rochester at two places, the ridge north of lower falls, and the rapids some eighty rods below the mouth of Red creek. The passage of the river north of the lower falls was effected in canoes or on rafts; in the absence of either or both, the