OCR
Missionaries. The Indians at St. Regis possess a vague tradition concerning them, which they relate as follows: "A long time ago the Caughnawaga Indians were going west on a warlike expedition and made these paintings on their way up. They were all killed. The number of marks denote the number of the party.” Opposite the village of Oak Point, in the Township of Elizabethtown, is a painting on a rock, representing thirty-five men in a canoe, and a cross, evidently intended to commemorate some event. The cross, the emblem of the Christian faith, and especially held in reverence by the Roman Catholics, indicates with sufficient clearness the modern origin of the sketches. Perhaps they form a connecting link in the chain of events that occurred under the French dynasty. But whatever their origin, they are interesting as examples of the symbolical records used by savages, to preserve the memory of events and the tastes of a race which is fast passing away. The sketch opposite Oak Point was apparently done in vermillion, while those at Brockville were executed in ochre. When first observed by the British settlers, they were very distinct, and for many years it was customary for the Indians, when passing up the river in the spring, to stop for a few days and repaint the sketches. All traces of the drawings will be obliterated in a few years, by the destroying hand of time. The telics of French occupation are scattered along the frontier, and yet mark the untiring energy with which they labored to preserve New France from the encroachments of the English. The flag was first planted on the St. Lawrence by these hardy explorers, when Fort Frontenac, (Kingston), was built in 1662. La Presentation, (Ogdensburg), with its mission house and stockade, sprang into existence, under the guidance and direction of the indefatigable missionary, Father Picquet. At Point au Barril (Maitland), they constructed a ship-yard of considerable capacity. Isle Royal (Chimney Island, below Ogdensburg) was strongly fortified; and offered a stubborn resistance to the force under Lord Amherst. On the upper extremity of Carleton Island, is an abrupt bluff, upon which was perched an old French Fort. The following description of the ruins is from the pen of an American writer :— “Perched aloft, perceptible to all passers-by along the river, and distinctly visible for miles around, stand a number of toppling and half-ruined chimneys. Like so many sentinels, standing, solemn faced, waiting for the blessed time of rest that will relieve them from duty, they watch over the ruins of the fort. The early history of the place is almost é lost, insomuch that it is supposed by some to be the ruin of old Fort Frontenac. In the year 1760, it fell into the hands of the English, by whom it was garrisoned. During the war of 1812, it was captured by one Hubbard, an American, who found the fortress garrisoned by two women and three invalids. The fort was burned, and the prisoners removed to Cape Vincent. An antiquated well, dug through the Trenton limestone, has been converted by the vivid imaginations of natives into a receptacle of the doubloons which the French, upon evacuating The fortress was built in the most elaborate manner, after the system of Vauban, and exhibits skill of the very highest order in constructing defences. The fortifications in the rear are semi-circular in form; the trench, four feet deep and twenty feet broad, is cut through the solid limestone, the glacis, which is approached by a gradual elevation, being constructed the fort are said to have thrown therein. of the same material to the height of four feet. nable, and the precipitous side was, probably, merely defended by a stockade.” ‘Numbers of graves lie in a flat field immediately back of the fort, many of which have been excavated by relic-seekers. Back in the island, in a copse, are the remains of an Indian burying ground, where numbers of stone arrowheads, tomahawks, etc., have been dug up. Immediately upon the bluff overlooking the Canadian channel are still older graves, where, it is said, as the bluff slowly wears away, an occasional grinning skull or grisly bone is exposed to the long excluded light of heaven.” During the war of 1812, block houses were built at several points along the frontier, one occupying the small island directly in front of Brockville, (now occupied by the round-house of the Brockville & Ottawa Railway); one situated on Chimney Island, near Mallorytown landing; and one at Gananoque. Rifle pits were also constructed on the bank of the river, in the vicinity of La Rue’s Mills. The historical points connected with the Rebellion of 1837, are the windmill at Prescott, and fortifications on Hickory Island, situated about four miles from Gananoque. The Thousand Islands have during the last few years become a place of resort during the heated term, no other locality on the Canadian frontier equalling it in picturesque and beautiful scenery, or in facilities for boating and gunning. The number of islands is about ¢wo thousand; they vary in size from a few square yards to eight thousand acres, the latter being the extent of Wells Island.