 Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures in the Years 1760 to 1776 Written by Alexander Henry in 1809 Narrated by Nick Adams Preface A premature attempt to share in the fur trade of Canada, directly on the conquest of the country, led the author of the following pages into situations of some danger and singularity and the pursuit under better auspices of the same branch of commerce occasioned him to visit various parts of the Indian territories. These transactions occupied a period of 16 years, commencing nearly with the authors setting out in life. The details from time to time committed to paper form the subject matter of the present volume. The heads under which for the most part they will be found to range themselves are three. First, the incidents or adventures in which the author was engaged. Secondly, the observations on the geography and natural history of the countries visited, which he was able to make and to preserve. And thirdly, the views of society and manners among a part of the Indians of North America, which it has belonged to the cause of his narrative to develop. Upon the last, the author may be permitted to remark that he has by no means undertaken to write the general history of the American Indians, nor any theory of their morals or their merits. But with few exceptions, it has been the entire scope of his design simply to relate those particular facts, which are either identified with his own fortunes or with the truth of which he is otherwise personally conversant. All comment therefore, in almost all instances, is studiously avoided. Montreal, October 20th, 1809. Part 1, Adventures in Michigan, 1760-1764 Chapter 1, embarking upon the fur trade. In the year of 1760 when the British arms under General Amherst were employed in the reduction of Canada, I accompanied the expedition, which subsequently to the surrender of Quebec, descended from Oswego and Lake Ontario against Fort de la Vie, one of the upper posts situated on an island, which lies on the south side of the Great River St. Lawrence, at a short distance below the mouth of the Oswegache. Fort de la Vie surrendered on the 21st day of August, seven days after the commencement of the siege, General Amherst continued his voyage down the stream, carrying his forces against Montreal. It happened that in this voyage one of the few fatal accidents which are remembered to have occurred in that dangerous part of the river below Lake St. Francis, called the Rapides de Cedres, befell the British army. Several boats loaded with provisions and military stores were lost, together with upward of a hundred men. I had three boats loaded with merchandise, all of which were lost, and I saved my life only by gaining the bottom of one of the boats which lay among the rocky shelves, and on which I continued for some hours until I was kindly taken off by one of the General's aides to camp. The surrender of Montreal, and with it the surrender of all Canada, followed that of Fort de la Vie, at only the short interval of three days, and proposing to avail myself of the new market which was thus thrown open to British adventure, I hastened to Albany where my commercial connections were, and where I procured a quantity of furs with which I set out, intending to carry them to Montreal. For this, however, the winter was too near approached, and I was able only to return to Fort de la Vie, to which the conquerors had now given the name Fort William Augustus, and where I remained until the month of January in the following year. At this time, having disposed of my goods to the garrison, and the season for travelling on the snow and ice being set in, I prepared to go down to Montreal. The journey was to be performed through a country inhabited only by Indians and by beasts of the forest, and which presented to the eye no other change than from thick woods to the broad surface of a frozen river. It was necessary that I should be accompanied as sample complete. Ready to continue?