132 DENONVILLE AND DONG AN. [1686. 



Denonville, vexed and perturbed by his long 

 strife with Dongan and the Iroquois, presently 

 found a moment of comfort in tidings that reached 

 him from the north. Here, as in the west, there 

 was violent rivalry between the subjects of the 

 two crowns. With the help of two French rene- 

 gades, named Radisson and Groseilliers, the English 

 Company of Hudson's Bay, then in its infancy, had 

 established a post near the mouth of Nelson River, 

 on the western shore of that dreary inland sea. 

 The company had also three other posts, called 

 Fort Albany, Fort Hayes, and Fort Rupert, at 

 the southern end of the bay. A rival French 

 company had been formed in Canada, under the 

 name of the Company of the North ; and it re- 

 solved on an effort to expel its English competitors. 

 Though it was a time of profound peace between 

 the two kings, Denonville warmly espoused the 

 plan ; and, in the early spring of 1686, he sent 

 the Chevalier cle Troyes from Montreal, with eighty 

 or more Canadians, to execute it. 1 With Troyes 

 went Iberville, Sainte-Helene, and Maricourt, 

 three of the sons of Charles Le Moyne ; and the 

 Jesuit Silvy joined the party as chaplain. 



They ascended the Ottawa, and thence, from 

 stream to stream and lake to lake, toiled painfully 

 towards their goal. At length, they neared Fort 



1 The Compagnie du Nord had a grant of the trade of Hudson's Bay 

 from Louis XIV. The hay was discovered by the English, under Hud- 

 son ; but the French had carried on some trade there before the establish- 

 ment of Fort Nelson. Denonville's commission to Troyes merely directs 

 him to build forts, and " se saisir des voleurs coureurs de bois et autres 

 que nous savons avoir pris et arrete plusieurs de nos Francois commer- 

 cants avec les sauvages." 



