1G42.] FORT RICHELIEU. 243 



ber would have been scarcely sufficient ; but even 

 this slight succor was hailed with delight, and 

 Montmagny was enabled to carry into effect his 

 plan of the fort, for which hitherto he had had 

 neither builders nor garrison. He took with him, 

 besides the new-comers, a body of soldiers and armed 

 laborers from Quebec, and, with a force of about a 

 hundred men in all,^ sailed for the Eichelieu, in 

 a brigantine and two or three open boats. 



On the thirteenth of August he reached his des- 

 tination, and landed where the town of Sorel now 

 stands. It was but eleven days before that Jogues 

 and his companions had been captured, and Mont- 

 magny's followers found ghastly tokens of the disas- 

 ter. The heads of the slain were stuck on poles by 

 the side of the river ; and several trees, from which 

 portions of the bark had been peeled, were daubed 

 with the rude picture-writing in which the victors 

 recorded their exploit.^ Among the rest, a repre- 

 sentation of Jogues himself was clearly distinguish- 

 able. The heads were removed, the trees cut down^ 

 and a large cross planted on the spot. An altar was 

 raised, and all heard mass ; then a volley of musketry 

 was fired ; and then they fell to their work. They 

 hewed an opening into the forest, dug up the roots, 

 cleared the ground, and cut, shaped, and planted 



1 Marie de I'lncarnation, Lettre, Sept. 29, 1642. 



2 Y'lmont, Relation, 1642, 52. 



This practice was common to many tribes, and is not yet extinct. 

 The writer has seen similar records, made by recent war-parties of Crows 

 or Blackfeet, in the remote West. In this case, the bark was remoA^ed 

 from the trunks of large cotton-wood trees, and the pictures traced with 

 charcoal and vermilion. There were marks tor scalps, for prisoners, and 

 for the conquerors themselves. 



