1684.] THE MARCH. 103 



thing between them, and, in a word, do whatever 

 will help their trade. The whole country is in 

 despair to see how matters are managed." * 



After a long stay at Montreal, La Barre em- 

 barked his little army at La Chine, crossed Lake 

 St. Louis, and began the ascent of the upper St. 

 Lawrence. In one of the three companies of 

 regulars which formed a part of the force was a 

 young subaltern, the Baron la Hontan, who has 

 left a lively account of the expedition. Some of 

 the men were in flat boats, and some were in birch 

 canoes. Of the latter was La Hontan, whose craft 

 was paddled by three Canadians. Several times 

 they shouldered it through the forest to escape the 

 turmoil of the rapids. The flat boats could not 

 be so handled, and were dragged or pushed up 

 in the shallow water close to the bank, by gangs 

 of militia men, toiling and struggling among the 

 rocks and foam. The regulars, unskilled in such 

 matters, were spared these fatigues, though tor- 

 mented night and clay by swarms of gnats and 

 mosquitoes, objects of La Hontan's bitterest invec- 

 tive. At length the last rapid was passed, and they 

 moved serenely on their way, threaded the mazes 

 of the Thousand Islands, entered what is now the 

 harbor of Kingston, and landed under the palisades 

 of Fort Frontenac. 



Here the whole force was soon assembled, the 

 regulars in their tents, the Canadian militia and 

 the Indians in huts and under sheds of bark. Of 

 these reel allies there were several hundred : Abe- 



1 Meuhs au Ministre, 8-11 Juillet, 1681. 



