The French Period 



the perpetual Mists that hang over the Gulph, and rise above the 1678 

 tallest Pines that are in the little Isle so often mention'd. After 

 a Channel is again made at the bottom of this dreadful Fall by 

 the Chain of Rocks, anc! fill'd by that prodigious quantity of 

 Waters which are continually falling, the River of St. Lawrence 

 resumes its Course: But with that violence, and his Waters 

 beat against the [221] Rocks with so prodigious a force, that 

 'tis impossible to pass even in a Canow of Bark. . . . 



These Rocks, as also the prodigious Torrent, last for two 

 Leagues; that is, from the great Fall, to the three Mountains 

 and great Rock : But then it begins insensibly to abate, and the 

 Land to be again almost on a level with the Water; and so it 

 continues as far as the Lake Ontario, or Frontenac. 



When one stands near the Fall, and looks down into this 

 most dreadful Gulph, one is seized with Horror, and the Head 

 turns round, so that one cannot look long or steadfastly upon it. 

 But this vast Deluge beginning insensibly to abate, and even to 

 fall to nothing about the three Mountains, the Waters of the 

 River St. Lawrence begin to glide more gently along, and to 

 be almost upon a level with the Lands; so that it becomes 

 navigable again, as far as the Lake Frontenac. . . . 



The most elaborate and least trustworthy of Hennepin's accounts of 

 the Falls. It is interesting to compare it with his original version. 



Archaelogia Americana. Worcester, Mass. 1 820. Vol. 1 , pp. 

 67-68. 



1679 



Relation des descouvertes et des voyages du sieur de la Salle, seigneur 1679 

 et gouverneur du fort de Frontenac, au dela grands lacs de la Nouvelle- 

 France, faits par 1'ordre de Monseigneur Colbert. — 1679-1680-1681. 

 (Margry, Decouvertes et etablissements des Francais dans 

 l'Amerique Septentrionale. Tome I, p. 441.) 



The author of this account is unknown. It may possibly have been 

 written by Father Hennepin. If he did not write it, he evidently 

 borrowed from it very freely in his later works. 



29 



