timber ; among the rest entire forests of chestnut and hickory (noyer,) intersected by numerous lakes

and rivers abounding in fish. bearing

all

The air is temperate

the fruits of Touraine and Provence.

;

the seasons regular as in France, capable of

The snows are not deep nor of long duration.

The three winters which we passed there among the Onnontagues, were mild, compared with the winters at Quebec where the ground is covered five months with snow, three, four and five feet deep.

As we inhabit the Northern part of New France and the Iroquois the South, it is not surprising that their lands are more agreeable and more capable of cultivation and of bearing better fruit.

There are two principal rivers leading to the Iroquois land and this

is

;

one to those which are near New Netherthe Richelieu river of which we shall speak hereafter ; the second conducts to the

more distant from us, always ascending our great river St. Lawrence which divides, above Montreal, as if into two branches, whereof one goes to the antient country of the Hurons, the

other Nations

other to that of the Iroquois. Tliis is one of the most important rivers that can be seen, whether we regard its beauty or its convenience

;

for

we meet there almost throughout, a vast number of beautiful Islands, some large

others small, but all covered with fine timber and full of deer, bears, wild cows which supply abundance of provisions necessary for the travellers who find it every where, and some times entire herds of fallow deer.