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MEMOIR CONCERNING THE PRESENT STATE OF CANADA
AND THE MEASURES THAT MAY BE ADOPTED FOR THE SECURITY OF THE COUNTRY. 12 NOVEMBER 1685.
{Extract.)
[Paris Doc. III.]
The most to be feared is the Iroquois who are the most powerful in consequence of the facilitywith which they obtain arms from the English and the number of slaves they make daily amongtheir neighbours by carrying away at an early age their children, whom they adopt; this is the onlymeans of their increase, for thro’ their debaucheries of Brandy which lead them into frightful dis-orders, the few children their women raise could not of themselves assuredly sustain them, if theydid not make prisoners.
The great trade in arms and ammunition at a low rate, among the English has given them hithertothat advantage which they have over other nations who in order to be disarmed have been destroyedby the former who are all of them insolent. Even the English in Virginia have suffered and stillsuffer from them every day; but the interest of the trader at Orange and Manatte supersedes thepublic interest, for if they would not sell them powder, that nation could be more easily conqueredthan any other. It consists of five principal villages, each of which have other smaller ones depen-dant on them; the first is called Annie (Mohawk ) which can furnish two hundred men fit for serviceand are ten leagues from Orange (Albany); the second is Oneyoust (Oneida) which can furnish onehundred and fifty men at from 15 to 20 leagues from Annie; the third is Onnontague which couldbring out three hundred men, (’tis one hundred leagues from Montreal ) ; the fourth is Goyoguoain(Cayuga) which could put two hundred men a-foot, at twelve leagues from Lake Ontario , and theSonoutouans (Senecas) the fifth, who comprize, as it is reported, twelve hundred men bearing arms,at five leagues South of the Lake .
The Senecas being the strongest, are the most insolent. The idea must not be entertained that thisNation can ever be reduced except by being in a position to pounce on them; which cannot be donewithout approaching them, occupying some posts where provisions can be placed for the troops whowill be sent after them. To accomplish this sufficiently apropos without being perceived by theenemy, in consequence of the navigation of the river, which is full of Rapids and Cascades, impass-able except by portages, independent of the distance—herein consists all the care and difficulty.
The post of Catarokuy appears to me the most advantageous, by placing it in a better state of de-fence than it is. It is at the entrance of Lake Ontario from the extremity of which the Senecas aredistant only five or six leagues, in a beautiful country towards the South.
The position of this fort is sufficiently favorable to secure the barks against the storms and the at-tacks of the Indians at a trifling expense which will require to be made on it. The passage to bemade through this lake is forty or fifty leagues before disembarking near the Senecas. The threebarks at Catarokuy will be particularly useful in this enterprize by putting them in repair, for theyhave been much neglected.
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It appears to me extremely important that the King render himself absolute master of this Lake ,which is more than three hundred leagues in circumference. I am persuaded that the English wouldlike particularly to have a post there, which would be immensely prejudicial to the Colony and theKing’s power on this Continent; his Majesty could easily make himself master of it, without anyopposition, by the permanent establishment of a post, with vessels on this lake, and by another fort