308 LAHONTAN. 



His nintli letter is dated there. In it lie speaks of the arrival of 

 M. de Denonville to take the place of M. de la Barre as Governor- 

 General. The new Governor has brought over with him from France 

 some additional companies of marines : and he is now at Montreal, 

 whither he has proceeded with some 600 regulars, after a rest of a 

 few weeks at Quebec. The army is put in winter quarters round 

 Montreal. " My quarters," Lahontan says, " are at Boucherville 

 which is at a distance of three leagues from Montreal." Letters ten 

 and eleven were also written at Boucherville, and dated July 8, 

 1686, and May 2, 1687, respectively. The principal incidents narra- 

 ted of the two intervening winters are moose-hunts, deer-hunts, 

 otter-hunts and grouse-hunts. " Besides the pleasure of so many 

 diversions," however, he says in the letter of May 2, " I was like- 

 wise entertained in the woods with the company of some of the 

 worthies of former ages. Honest old Homer," he explains, " the 

 amiable Anacreon, and my dear Lucian, were my inseparable com- 

 panions. Aristotle too," he continues, " desired passionately to go 

 along with me, but my canoe was too little to hold his bulky equip- 

 age of peripatetic syllogisms. So that he was even fain to trudge 

 back to the Jesuits, with whom he is quite at home. I had a great 

 deal of reason to rid myself of that great philosopher's company," he 

 affects to say, " for his ridiciilous jargon and his senseless terms 

 would have friojhtened the savages out of their wits." 



The twelfth letter is dated at " St. Helen's, over against Montreal," 

 June 8, 1687. Lahontan has just heard that his relations in France 

 have procured for him, with considerable difficujty, leave to return 

 home to attend to his family affairs, and that the sooner he is in 

 Paris the better. But M. de Denonville informs him that he cannot 

 be spared just now. Great preparations were being made for a 

 second expedition against the Iroquois, this time on a larger scale 

 than before. The chevalier de Yaudreuil had come out to take com- 

 mand of the forces. A considerable army consisting of regTilars and 

 militia and 500 converted Indians (sauvages Cretiens) was assem- 

 bled in and about Montreal. He was about instantly to set off for 

 Fort Frontenac on the way to the Iroquois country. After the 

 campaign, Lahontan would be permitted to go. 



The thirteenth letter opens with some obvious moralizing on the 

 disappointments men are subject to. "It has been a maxim in all 

 ages, that the events of things are not always answerable to men's 



