tance for a century, did not follow the river to the Ohio but struck across from "Big Rock," near Roxbury, to the Ohio at the mouth of the Little Kanawha.
Our classification overlaps, necessarily. Every river trail was, between the rivers, the portage path already described, and many a river trail was a famous war trail. However, a distinction is easily remarked. The river trails followed, to a considerable extent, the windings of each river. But this was not done blindly, and the study of any river trail affords one of the most interesting illustrations of the genius of brute and savage instinct. The highlands were the routes of the river trails, and, as in the nature of a river valley the configuration of the topography is usually exceedingly broken, the courses of these valley trails portray a single choice where there was on every hand, almost, an alternative to be studied and ignored. Now, the trail mounts a long ridge which holds its even course, maybe, for several miles. Suddenly, the river swings off at right angles. Here, on the elbow, the explorer finds that a rivulet or creek breaks into the range.
