CHAPTER IV.

PORTAGE DES CHATS--TACTICS OF OUR OPPONENTS--TREACHERY OF AN
IROQUOIS--FIERCE, YET LUDICROUS NATURE OF THE OPPOSITION.


MR. Fisher returned from town in the month of March; he had learnt
that our opponents intended to shift the scene of operations to the
Chats, (where the greater number of the Indians pass on their way
going to or returning from their hunting grounds,) and were making
preparations of a very extensive nature for the spring competition.
The Company were not tardy in adopting such measures as were deemed
the most efficient to meet them on their own terms. We understood that
they had hired two _bullies_ for the purpose of deciding the matter
_par voie de fait_. Mr. Fisher hired two of the same description, who
were supposed to be more than a match for the opposition party. On the
28th of April, 1822, our opponents set off in two large canoes, manned
by eight men in each; we followed in three canoes with twenty-four
men, under the command of three leaders--namely, Captain Ducharme, who
had volunteered on the occasion, Mr. Lyons, a retired trader, and
myself. Nothing occurred worthy of description on our passage to the
Chats.

The Ottawa is at this point interrupted by a ledge of rock, which
extends across its whole breadth. In forcing a passage for itself
through this barrier, it is divided into several channels, which form
as many beautiful cascades as they fall into the extensive basin that
receives them below. On one of the islands thus formed, the natives
make a portage. Here, then, we took our station close to a cascade: