128 DENONVILLE AND DONG AN. [1686. 



" Certainly/' retorts Dongan, " our Rum doth as 

 little hurt as jour Brandy, and, in the opinion of 

 Christians, is much more wholesome." * 



Each tried incessantly to out-general the other. 

 Denonville, steadfast in his plan of controlling the 

 passes of the western country, had projected forts, 

 not only at Niagara, but also at Toronto, on Lake 

 Erie, and on the Strait of Detroit. He thought 

 that a time had come when he could, without rash- 

 ness, secure this last important passage ; and he 

 sent an order to Du Lhut, who was then at Michil- 

 limackinac, to occupy it with fifty coureurs de 

 bois. 2 That enterprising chief accordingly re- 

 paired to Detroit, and built a stockade at the outlet 

 of Lake Huron on the western side of the strait. 

 It was not a moment too soon. The year before, 

 Dongan had sent a party of armed traders in eleven 

 canoes, commanded by Johannes Rooseboom, a 

 Dutchman of Albany, to carry English goods to 

 the upper lakes. They traded successfully, win- 

 ning golden opinions from the Indians, who begged 

 them to come every year ; and, though Denonville 

 sent an officer to stop them at Niagara, they re- 

 turned in triumph, after an absence of three months. 3 

 A larger expedition was organized in the autumn of 

 1686. Rooseboom again set out for the lakes with 

 twenty or more canoes. He w T as to winter among 

 the Senecas, and wait the arrival of Major Mc- 

 Gregory, a Scotch officer, who was to leave Albany 



1 Dongan to Denonville, 1 Dec, 1686, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 462. 



2 Denonville a Du Lhut, 6 Juin, 1686. 



3 Brodhead, Hist, of New York, II. 429; Denonville au Ministre, 8 Mat, 

 1686. 



