134 TJie First Battle of Lake Champlain. 



from Lac de Champlain, five or six days' journey in length/' etc., leav- 

 ing it uncertain whether it is the lake or the river which he is describ- 

 ing. And once more, he says: " Having asked whence comes the river 

 Norumbegue, he told me that it passes the fall, and that one journeying 

 some distance on it enters a lake by way of which they come to the river 

 of St. Croix," etc. Here Champlain could not, as his translator points 

 out, have meant the river St. Croix, but rather the river in which was 

 the island of St. Croix. Many such instances might be cited from 

 Champlain's journals. Mr. Charles Pomeroy Otis, the translator of 

 the Prince Society's edition of Champlain's voyages, says: " The lan- 

 guage used by Champlain is essentially the classic French of Henry 

 IV. * * * But, though using in general the language of court and 

 literature, he offends, not unfrequently, against the rules of grammar 

 and logical arrangement. * * * Indeed, one rather wonders that 

 an unpretending explorer writes so well. It is the thought, not the 

 words, which occupies his attention." 



It is proper to note here that while, previously to the battle, Cham- 

 plain gives dates in his journal, none are given after the battle, until 

 the war party arrives at Quebec, the first date noted being the 8th of 

 September, thirty-nine days after the battle, and that it is possible, 

 though altogether improbable, that he might have returned and seen 

 the fall during this time, before leaving the lake. 



There is one more important consideration. The old Indian name 

 for Crown Point was " Ten'yadoughnigaugee,"* which signified "two 

 points opposite to each other." (See map accompanying Pownall's 

 Topographical Description, 1776.) When the French assumed own- 

 ership of Lake Champlain, they discarded nearly all the Indian names, 

 substituting their own. This point they called Point au Chevelure. 

 What did that name signify? An old plan or chart of Fort Freder- 

 ick, preserved in the library archives of a New England town, gives 



It represents Crown Point, with Fort Frederick, its tall tower armed 

 with cannon, and ground plans of the small church and other buildings, 

 within the earthwork enclosure, and it bears title, "Ft. Frederick, 

 a French Incroachment, built 1731 at Crown Point, or rather Scalp 

 Point. From a French draft." This plan bears neither date nor other 

 explanation, but the phrase "French Incroachment," marks it as of 

 English origin, and of course it must have been drawn before 1759, 

 when the fort was destroyed and the country was relinquished by the 

 French. On this copy of a " French Draft," Point au Chevelure, or 

 Crown Point, or Scalp Point, is marked as the southern limit of Lake 



