July the 2d. Early this morning we set out on our journey again, it being moonshine and calm, and we feared lest the wind should change and become unfavourable to us if we stopped any longer. We all rowed as hard as possible, and happily arrived about eight in the morning at Fort [[4]]St. Frederic, which the English call Crown Point. Monsieur Lusignan, the governor, received us very politely. He was about fifty years old, well acquainted with polite literature, and had made several journies into this country, by which he had acquired an exact knowledge of several things relative to its state.
I was informed that during the whole of this summer, a continual drought had been here, and that they had not had any rain since last spring. The excessive heat had retarded the growth of plants; and on all dry hills the grass, and a vast number of plants, were quite dried up; the small trees, which grew near rocks, heated by the sun, had withered leaves, and the corn in the fields bore a very wretched aspect. The wheat had not yet eared, nor were the pease in blossoms. The ground was full of wide and deep cracks, in which the little snakes retired and hid themselves when pursued, as into an impregnable asylum.
The country hereabout, it is said, contains vast forests of firs of the white, black, and red kind, which had been formerly still more extensive. One of the chief reasons of their decrease are, the numerous fires which happen every year in the woods, through the carelessness of the Indians, who frequently [[5]]make great fires when they are hunting, which spread over the fir woods when every thing is dry.
Great efforts are made here for the advancement of Natural History, and there are few places in the world where such good regulations are made for this useful purpose, all which is chiefly owing to the care and zeal of a single person. From hence it appears, how well a useful science is received and set off, when the leading men of a country are its patrons. The governor of the fort, was pleased to shew me a long paper, which the then governor-general of Canada, the Marquis la Galissonniere had sent him. It was the same marquis, who some years after, as a French admiral, engaged the English fleet under admiral Byng, the consequence of which was the conquest of Minorca. In this writing, a number of trees and plants are mentioned, which grow in North-America, and deserve to be collected and cultivated on account of their useful qualities. Some of them are described, among which, is the Polygala Senega, or Rattle Snake-root; and with several of them the places where they grow are mentioned. It is further requested that all kinds of seeds and roots be gathered here; and, to assist such an undertaking, a method of preserving [[6]]the gathered seeds and roots, is prescribed, so that they may grow, and be sent to Paris. Specimens of all kinds of minerals are required; and all the places in the French settlements are mentioned, where any useful or remarkable stone, earth, or ore has been found. There is likewise a manner of making observations and collections of curiosities in the animal kingdom. To these requests it is added, to enquire and get information, in every possible manner, to what purpose and in what manner the Indians employ certain plants and other productions of nature, as medicines, or in any other case. This useful paper was drawn up by order of the marquis la Galissonniere, by Mr. Gaulthier, the royal physician at Quebec, and afterwards corrected and improved by the marquis’s own hand. He had several copies made of it, which he sent to all the officers in the forts, and likewise to other learned men who travelled in the country. At the end of the writing is an injunction to the officers, to let the governor-general know, which of the common soldiers had used the greatest diligence in the discovery and collection of plants and other natural curiosities, that he might be able to promote them, when an opportunity occurred, to places adapted [[7]]to their respective capacities, or to reward them in any other manner. I found that the people of distinction, in general here, had a much greater taste for natural history and other parts of literature, than in the English colonies, where it was every body’s sole care and employment to scrape a fortune together, and where the sciences were held in universal contempt.[2] It was still [[8]]complained of here, that those who studied natural history, did not sufficiently enquire into the medicinal use of the plants of Canada.
The French, who are born in France, are said to enjoy a better health in Canada than in their native country, and to attain to a greater age, than the French born in Canada. I was likewise assured that the European Frenchmen can do more work, and perform more journies in winter, without prejudice to their health, than those born in this country. The intermitting fever which attacks the Europeans on their arrival in Pensylvania, and which as it were makes the climate familiar to them,[3] is not known here, and the people are as well after their arrival as before. The English have frequently observed, that those who are born in America of European parents, can never bear sea-voyages, and go to the different parts of South America, as well as those born in Europe. The French born in Canada have the same constitutions; and when any of them go to the West-India islands, such as Martinique, Domingo, &c. and make some stay there, they commonly fall sick and die soon after: those [[9]]who fall ill there seldom recover, unless they are brought back to Canada. On the contrary, those who go from France to those islands can more easily bear the climate, and attain a great age there, which I heard confirmed in many parts of Canada.
July the 5th. Whilst we were at dinner, we several times heard a repeated disagreeable outcry, at some distance from the fort, in the river Woodcreek: Mr. Lusignan, the governor, told us this cry was no good omen, because he could conclude from it that the Indians, whom we escaped near fort Anne, had completed their design of revenging the death of one of their brethren upon the English, and that their shouts shewed that they had killed an Englishman. As soon as I came to the window, I saw their boat, with a long pole at one end, on the extremity of which they had put a bloody skull. As soon as they were landed, we heard that they, being six in number, had continued their journey (from the place where we had marks of their passing the night), till they had got within the English boundaries, where they found a man and his son employed in mowing the corn. They crept on towards this man, and shot him dead upon the spot. This happened near the very village, where the English, two years [[10]]before, killed the brother of one of these Indians, who were then gone out to attack them. According to their custom they cut off the skull of the dead man, and took it with them, together with his clothes and his son, who was about nine years old. As soon as they came within a mile of fort St. Frederic, they put the skull on a pole, in the fore part of the boat, and shouted, as a sign of their success. They were dressed in shirts, as usual, but some of them had put on the dead man’s clothes; one his coat, the other his breeches, another his hat, &c. Their faces were painted with vermillion, with which their shirts were marked across the shoulders. Most of them had great rings in their ears, which seemed to be a great inconvenience to them, as they were obliged to hold them when they leaped, or did any thing which required a violent motion. Some of them had girdles of the skins of Rattle-snakes, with the rattles on them; the son of the murdered man had nothing but his shirt, breeches and cap, and the Indians had marked his shoulders with red. When they got on shore, they took hold of the pole on which the skull was put, and danced and sung at the same time. Their view in taking the boy, was to carry him to [[11]]their habitations, to educate him instead of their dead brother, and afterwards to marry him to one of their relations. Notwithstanding they had perpetrated this act of violence in time of peace, contrary to the command of the governor in Montreal, and to the advice of the governor of St. Frederic, yet the latter could not at present deny them provisions, and whatever they wanted for their journey, because he did not think it adviseable to exasperate them; but when they came to Montreal, the governor called them to account for this action, and took the boy from them, whom he afterwards sent to his relations: Mr. Lusignan asked them, what they would have done to me and my companions, if they had met us in the desert? They replied, that as it was their chief intention to take their revenge on the Englishmen in the village where their brother was killed, they would have let us alone; but it much depended on the humour they were in, just at the time when we first came to their sight. However, the commander and all the Frenchmen said, that what had happened to me was infinitely safer and better.
Some years ago a skeleton of an amazing great animal had been found in that part of [[12]]Canada, where the Illinois live. One of the lieutenants in the fort assured me, that he had seen it. The Indians, who were there, had found it in a swamp. They were surprised at the sight of it, and when they were asked, what they thought it was? They answered that it must be the skeleton of the chief or father of all the beavers. It was of a prodigious bulk, and had thick white teeth, about ten inches long. It was looked upon as the skeleton of an elephant. The lieutenant assured me that the figure of the whole snout was yet to be seen, though it was half mouldered. He added, that he had not observed, that any of the bones were taken away, but thought the skeleton lay quite perfect there. I have heard people talk of this monstrous skeleton in several other parts of Canada[4].
Bears are plentiful hereabouts, and they kept a young one, about three months old, at the fort. He had perfectly the same shape, and qualities, as our common bears in Europe, except the ears, which seemed to be longer in proportion, and the hairs which were stiffer; his colour was deep [[13]]brown, almost black. He played and wrestled every day with one of the dogs. A vast number of bear-skins are annually exported to France from Canada. The Indians prepare an oil from bear’s grease, with which in summer they daub their face, hands, and all naked parts of their body, to secure them from the bite of the gnats. With this oil they likewise frequently smear the body, when they are excessively cold, tired with labour, hurt, and in other cases. They believe it softens the skin, and makes the body pliant, and is very serviceable to old age.
The common Dandelion (Leontodon Taraxacum, Linn.) grows in abundance on the pastures and roads between the fields, and was now in flower. In spring when the young leaves begin to come up, the French dig up the plants, take their roots[5], wash them, cut them, and prepare them as a common sallad; but they have a bitter taste. It is not usual here to make use of the leaves for eating.
July the 6th. The soldiers, which had been paid off after the war, had built houses round the fort, on the grounds allotted [[14]]to them; but most of these habitations were no more than wretched cottages, no better than those in the most wreched places of Sweden; with that difference, however, that their inhabitants here were rarely oppressed by hunger, and could eat good and pure wheat bread. The huts which they had erected consisted of boards, standing perpendicularly close to each other. The roofs were of wood too. The crevices were stopped up with clay, to keep the room warm. The floor was commonly clay, or a black limestone, which is common here. The hearth was built of the same stone, except the place were the fire was to ly, which was made of grey sandstones, which for the greatest part consist of particles of quartz. In some hearths, the stones quite close to the fire-place were limestones; however, I was assured that there was no danger of fire, especially if the stones, which were most exposed to the heat, were of a large size. They had no glass in their windows.