The routes along which
people, materials, and messages move bind a society
together. They make the reticule on which are strung the sites of work and rest;
they are the paths along which flow the myriad streams of raw and half-made
goods in process of production; they form the links between each local group of
humans and the thoughts and presence of its fellows.
There is no human group
without well-accustomed routes of movement; none is
altogether stationary, and none wanders aimlessly. Numerous places, widely
separated, are known and visited even by the simplest folk, and they follow
familiar pathways on their rounds. A family of Bushmen knows every track,
waterhole and sheltered hollow in the desert. The arid territories of the Seri are
crisscrossed by established trails between important sites, which the
inhabitants regularly follow. In every neighborhood of every great city, people
habitually travel, almost unthinkingly, over private routes selected from the maze
of streets.
