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. It likewise bears the name of the River of the Iroquois, because it is the route which leads thither, and it is by it these Barbarians used most ordinarily come to attack us. The bed of this river is one hundred to one hundred and fifty paces wide almost throughout, though at its mouth ;

it is

somewhat narrower

:

decorated with beautiful pines through which we can walk men have done a foot by land nearly twenty leagues of the way

its borders are

with ease ; as in fact fifty of our

from the mouth of the river to the Sault, which is so called, though it is not properly a waterfall but only an impetuous rapid full of rocks, that arrest its course and render the navigation almost impossible for three quarters of a league.

In time however

its

passage

may be facilitated.

The

remainder of the river has from the beginning a very fine bottom ; as many as eight islands are be met with before arriving at the basin, which is at the foot of the Sault.