The French Period 



1755-1760 ,755-60 



POUCHOT, M. . Memoir upon the late war in North America, Pouchot 



between the French and English, 1 755-60; followed by observations upon 

 the theatre of actual war, and by new details concerning the manners and 

 customs of the Indians; with topographical maps. Translated and edited 

 by Franklin B. Hough. Roxbury, Mass.: W. Elliot Woodward. 

 1866. Vol. II, pp. 153-156, 173-179. 



Half a league above the falls, the river which is about half a 

 league wide, has only a strong current. It from thence descends 

 in boiling waves to the falls, where it plunges vertically a hun- 

 dred and forty feet, upon a bank of very hard rocks. Its breadth 

 is about nine hundred toises. The rest of this waterfall makes a 

 very open arc, at two thirds of which we see a little wooded 

 island which looks as if it was even ready to be engulphed. 



At the bottom of the falls, the river forms a great basin 

 between the rocks, where the water is so still that they can cross 

 it in bateaux. From the foot of the fall, the waters rebound 

 nearly forty feet high, which makes them appear like ice. 



We often find on the shores of this basin, fish, bears, deer, 

 geese, ducks and various kinds of birds which have been killed 

 in passing over, having been drawn in by the water, or the 

 current of air formed by the falls. The Indians collect these. . . . 



The most northerly parts of America being very elevated, the 

 rivers which flow from thence must necessarily before discharging 

 themselves into the lakes or rivers, and according to the slope of 

 land, have falls of greater or less size. The most celebrated of 

 all, is without doubt that of Niagara. The Indians near Quebec 

 regarded this as at the western extremity of the continent. When 

 the French came to establish themselves there, they assured them, 

 *' that at the end of Lake Ontario, there is a fall which may be 

 a league wide, where an immense body of water falls into the 

 lake, and that beyond this fall there could be seen no more land, 

 neither on one side or the other, but only a sea, so immense that 

 they could see no end, nor say positively that any one had seen 

 it, — that the sun went down on the right hand of this lake, &c." 



43 



