travels in North America. 145 



t]i« fame from whom T learnt what I have juft now mentioned, 

 aifured me that he had feen a Fountain, the Water of which is 

 like Oil, and has the Tafte of Iron. He faid alfo, that a little 

 further there is another Fountain exactly like it, and that the 

 Savages make Ufe of its Water to appeafe all Manner of Pains. 

 The Bay of the Tfomionthouans is a charming Place : A pretty 

 J jy^P . . ^ River winds here between two fine Meadows, 

 the Ba^of ^th bordered with little Hills, between which we 

 Tfonnmi^ouans ^^^^^ver Vallies which extend a great Way, 

 n ouans. g^^^^j ^-j^e whole forms the fin ell Profped ia 

 the World, bounded by a great Foreft of high Trees ; but the 

 Soil appears to me to be fomething light and ^ndy. 



We continued our Courfe at half an Hour pall One, and we 

 failed till Ten o'Clock at Night. We intended to go into a , 

 little River which they called La Riviere aux Bœufs ^ (Ox River )\ 

 but we found the Entrance fhut up by Sands, which often happens 

 to the little Rivers which run into the Lakes, becaufe they 

 bring down with them much Sand ; and when the Wind comes 

 from the Lakes, thefe Sands are flopped by the Waves, and form 

 by Degrees a Bank fo high and fo flrong, that thefe Rivers can- 

 not break through it, unlefs it be when their Waters are fvveiled 

 by the melting of the Snow. 



I was therefore obliged to pafs the reH of the Night in my 

 Of the Rinjer Q^^^^> where I was forced to endure a pretty 

 Nia ara fharp Frofl. Indeed one could fcarcely here 



^ * perceive the Shrubs begin to bud : All the 



Trees were as bare as in the Midfi: of Winter. We departed from 

 thence at half an Hour pall Three in the Morning, the 22d, be- 

 ing Afcenjion-Day, and I went to fay Mafs at Nine o'Clock in 

 what they call le Grand Marais, (the gnat MarJJo). This is a 

 Bay much like that of the Tfonnonthouans y but the Land here ap- 

 peared to me not to be fo good. About Two in the Afternoon we 

 entered into the River Niagara, formed by the great Fall ^which 

 I lhall mention prefently ; or rather, it is the River ^t. Ldure^ice^ 

 which comes out of the Lake Erie, and pafi'es through the Lake 

 Ontario, after a Streight of fourteen Leagues. They call it the 

 River of Niagara from the Fall, and this Space is about fix 

 Leagues. We go South at the Entrance. When we have made three 

 Leagues, we find upon the Left Hand fome Cabins of Iroquois 

 Tfonnonthouans, and fome MiJJi/ague-z, as at Catarocoui, The Sieur 

 Joncaire, a Lieutenant in our Troops, has alfo a Cabin here, to 

 which they give before-hand the Name of Fort (a) -, for they 

 fay that in Time it will be changed into a real Fortrefs. 



(a) The Fort has been built fince at the Entrance of the River Niagara, 

 on the fame Side, and exadlly in the Piace where M. de Devon^vllk had built 

 one, which did not fubfift â long Time. There is alfo here the Beginning j 

 of a French Village. 



U • I found 



