LAHONTAN. 251 



must endeavour to facilitate to them the means of putting it in execu- 

 tion ; for you may easily believe that these people, savage as they are, 

 are not so void of sense as to travel two or three hundred leagues from 

 their own country, to fight against their enemies, without being sure of 

 a place of retreat, where they may repose themselves and find provi- 

 sions. There is no question, therefore, but we should build forts upon 

 the lands of the Iroquois, an"H maintain them in spite of their teeth. 

 This, sir, is what I proposed above a year ago to M. de Frontenac, and 

 it is what he would have me still to undertake. I project, therefore, 

 to build and maintain three forts upon the course of the lakes, with 

 some vessels that shall go with oars, which I will build according to my 

 fancy; but they being light and of great burden, may be managed 

 either with oars or a sail, and will also be able to bear the shocks of the 

 waves. I demand fifty seamen of Biscay, for they are known to be the 

 most dexterous and able mariners that are in the world. I must also 

 have two hundred soldiers, chosen out of the troops of Canada. I will 

 build these small fortresses in several places; one at the mouth of the 

 Lake Erie, which you see in my map of Canada, under the name of 

 Fort Suppose, besides two others. The second I will build in the same 

 place where it was when I maintained it in 1687 and 1688, whereof I 

 have written to you in my fourteenth and fifteenth letters; and the 

 third at the north of the Bay of Toronto, upon the same lake. Ninety 

 men will be sufficient to garrison these three redoubts, and perhaps 

 a smaller number; for the Iroquois, who never saw a cannon but in 

 a picture, and to whom an ounce of powder is more precious than a 

 louisd'or, can never be persuaded to attack any kind of fortification." 

 Again, in a brief general description of Canada, which he sends his- 

 relative, after giving some account of Hudson's Bay and the country 

 round Lake Superior, he proceeds : " From the Superior or Upper Lake, 

 I steer to that of the Hurons, to which I allot four hundred leagues of 

 circumference. Now, to make this lake, you must sail down by the 

 Fall called Sault Ste. Marie, which I described in my fifteenth letter. 

 This lake is situated in a fine climate, as you will perceive from the 

 map. The north side of it is best for the navigation of canoes, by 

 reason of the frequency of the islands, which afford shelter in bad 

 weather. The north side is pleasanter, and more convenient for the 

 hunting of deer, which are there very plentiful. The figure of this 

 lake comes near to an equilateral triangle. Of all its islands, that called 

 Manitoualin is the most considerable, being above twenty leagueg long. 



