But M. de Courcelles impelled by his characteristic impatience for the fight, started some days ahead with 400 men, and Sieurs De Chambly and Berthier, commandants of the Forts St. Louis and Assumption were left to follow M. de Tracy, four days afterwards, with the rear guard. As it was necessary to march one hundred and twenty leagues into the interior to find the enemy's villages, and as several large lakes and many considerable rivers were to be crossed before arriving there, it was necessary to be provided with conveniences for land and water. Vessels requisite for this expedition had been prepared. Three hundred were ready; consisting partly of very fight batteaux, and partly of bark canoes, each of which carried at most five or six hundred persons. On crossing a river or lake, each was obliged to take charge of his own canoe and to carry the batteaux by main strength. This caused less labor than two small pieces of artillery which were conveyed even to the farthest Iroquois villages, to force more easily all the fortifications. Notwithstanding the care taken to accomplish this march with little noise, we could not prevent some Iroquois, despatched from 30 to 40 leagues to discover our troops, seeing from the mountain tops this little naval expedition, and running to warn the first village of it; so that ;

,

the alarm spreading afterwards from village to village, these barbarians

our troops found them abandoned, and were only seen on the mountains at a distance uttering great cries and firing