If Montreal was the outpost of the colony, Lachine was the outpost of Montreal.  Between these two points lay the great rapid, the Sault St Louis, which from the days of Jacques Cartier had blocked the ascent of the St Lawrence to seafaring boats.  At Lachine La Salle had formed his seigneury in 1667, the year after his arrival in Canada; and it had been the starting-point for the expedition which resulted in the discovery of the Ohio in 1671.  La Salle, however, was not with Frontenac’s party, for the governor had sent him to the Iroquois early in May, to tell them that Onontio would meet his children and to make arrangements for the great assembly at Cataraqui.

The Five Nations, remembering the chastisement they had received from Tracy in 1666, [Footnote:  See The Great Intendant, chap. iii.] accepted the invitation, but in dread and distrust.  Their envoys accordingly proceeded to the mouth of the Cataraqui; and on the 12th of July the vessels of the French were seen approaching on the smooth surface of Lake Ontario.  Frontenac had omitted from his equipage nothing which could awe or interest the savage.  He had furnished his troops with the best possible equipment and had with him all who could be spared safely from the colony.  He had even managed to drag up the rapids and launch on Lake Ontario two large barges armed with small cannon and brilliantly painted.  The whole flotilla, including a multitude of canoes arranged by squadron, was now put in battle array.  First came four squadrons of canoes; then the two barges; next Frontenac himself, surrounded by his personal attendants and the regulars; after that the Canadian militia, with a squadron from Three Rivers on the left flank, and on the right a great gathering of Hurons and Algonquins.  The rearguard was composed of two more squadrons.  Never before had such a display been seen on the Great Lakes.

Having disclosed his strength to the Iroquois chiefs, Frontenac proceeded to hold solemn and stately conference with them.  But he did not do this on the day of the great naval procession.  He wished to let this spectacle take effect before he approached the business which had brought him there.  It was not until next day that the meeting opened.  At seven o’clock the French troops, accoutred at their best, were all on parade, drawn up in files before the governor’s tent, where the conference was to take place.  Outside the tent itself large canopies of canvas had been erected to shelter the Iroquois from the sun, while Frontenac, in his most brilliant military costume, assumed all the state he could.  In treating with Indians haste was impossible, nor did Frontenac desire that the speech-making should begin at once.  His fort was hardly more than begun, and he wished the Iroquois to see how swiftly and how well the French could build defences.