A General History of the Far Trade. 



test church on the island, which is dedicated to the tutelar 

 saint of voyages. 



The lake of the two mountains is about twenty miles long, 

 but not more than three wide, and surrounded by cultivated 

 fields, except the Seignory belonging to the clergy, though 

 nominally in possession of the two tribes of Iroquois and 

 Algonquins, whose village is situated on a delightful point 

 of land under the hills, which, by the title of mountains, 

 give a name to the lake. Near the extremity of the point 

 their church is built, which divides the village in two parts, 

 forming a regular angle along the water side. On the East 

 is the station of the Algonquins, and on the West, one of 

 the Iroquois, consisting in all of about five hundred war- 

 riors. Each party has its missionary, and divine worship is 

 performed according to the rites of the Roman Catholic 

 religion, in their respective languages, in the same church; 

 and so assiduous have their pastors been, that these people 

 have been instructed in reading and writing in their own 

 language, and are better instructed than the Canadian inha- 

 bitants of the country of the lower ranks : but notwith- 

 standing these advantages, and though the establishment is 

 nearly coeval with the colonization of the country, they do 

 not advance towards a state of civilization, but retain their 

 ancient habits, language, and customs, and are becoming 

 every day more depraved, indigent, and insignificant. The 

 country around them, though very capable of cultivation, 

 presents only a few miserable patches of ground, sown by 

 the women with maize and vegetables. During the winter 

 season, they leave their habitations, and pious pastors, to fol- 

 low the chase, according to the custom of their forefathers. 

 Such is, indeed, the state of all the villages near the culti- 

 vated parts of Canada. But we shall now leave them to pro- 

 ceed on our voyage. 



At the end of the lake the water contracts into the Uta- 

 was River, which after a course of fifteen miles, is interrupted 

 by a succession of rapids and cascades for upwards of ten 

 miles, at the foot of which the Canadian Seignoires termi- 

 nate ; and all above them were waste land, till the conclusion 

 of the American war, when they were surveyed by order 

 of government, and granted to the officers and men of the 

 eighty-fourth regiment, when reduced ; but principally to 

 the former, and consequently little inhabited, though very 

 capable of cultivation. 



