But when the mouth of the Great Lake is reached, the navigation is easy, when the waters are tranquil, becoming insensibly wider at first then about two-thirds, next one half and finally out of sight (of land) especially after one has passed an infinity of little islands which are at the entrance of the Lake, in such great number and in such a variety that the most experienced Iroquois Pilots sometimes lose themselves there, and experience considerable difficulty in distinguishing the course to be steered, in the confusion and as it were in the labyrinth formed by the islands, which otherwise have nothing agreeable beyond their multitude. For these are only huge rocks rising out the water, covered merely by moss, or a few spruce or other stunted wood whose roots spring from the clefts of the rocks which can supply no other aliment or moisture to these barren trees than what the rains the hand

;

;

;

furnish them.

After leaving this melancholy abode, the Lake

is

discovered appearing like unto a sea without

islands or bounds, where barks and ships can sail in all safety ; so that the communication would be

easy between

all

the French colonies that could be established on the borders of this Great Lake

which is more than a hundred leagues long by thirty to forty wide. It is from this point that all the Iroquois Nations can be readied, by various directions, except the

Mohawks, the route to whom is by the River Richelieu, of which we can safely say two words since they regard it, that our troops have already constructed the three forts of which we have spoken. It is called the Richelieu River because of the fort of the same name which was erected there at its mouth at the commencement of the wars and which has been rebuilt anew to secure the entrance of that river.