120 Down the St. Lawrence. 



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village is very prettily situated at the head of a bay, formed 

 by a point of land stretching out on the west, on which is a well 

 wooded and pretty spot called " The Grove," a favorite resort 

 for pic-nics from Montreal. From here a fine view can be 

 had of Montreal Mountain in the distance. Leaving Beau- 

 harnois, we find ourselves on the south side of Lake St. Louis, 

 another expansion of the River St. Lawrence, whose north 

 shore we sailed up on the upward journey to Ottawa city. 

 About five miles from Beauharnois is Nun's Island, a high 

 mound of peculiar shape, which has doubtless been an Indian 

 post and burial-ground : it is beautifully cultivated, and belongs 

 to the Grey Nunnery, Montreal. Near this, at the mouth of 

 the Chateauguay River (an excellent fishing-ground), is the 

 village of Chateauguay, one mile from which is the celebrated 

 battle-field of Chateauguay, memorable for the victory gained 

 there by Colonel De Salaberry, in 1 8 1 3, over the American 

 troops under General Hampton, who were repulsed with con- 

 siderable loss, and obliged to fall back upon Plattsburg. 

 Proceeding onwards we pass opposite to Lachine, ten miles 

 from Montreal, the Indian village of Caughnawaga (pro- 

 nounced Cok-na-wau-ga.) This consists of nothing but a 

 number of Indian huts or cabins, occupied by a portion of 

 the once powerful and ferocious tribe of. the Six Nations, 

 who subsist by navigating steamers, boats, and rafts over the 

 rapids in summer, and in the winter by the profits arising 

 from the sale of snow-shoes, moccasins, &c. There are about 

 1 100 of them in number, and they are remarkable for their 

 orderly and quiet behaviour. In early times they were 

 distinguished for their predatory incursions upon their 

 neighbours in the New England provinces, and the bell that 

 now hangs in their church was the proceeds of one of these 

 excursions. They behaved nobly during the rebellion of 

 '37-8. While attending worship on the morning of the 4th 

 November, '38, a party of insurgents surrounded the church ; 

 the Indians immediately turned out, and the Chief, setting 



