I determined to enter the
country myself, by the Mauvais or Maskigo River, notwithstanding the
numerous rafts of trees that embarrass the navigation--the water
being abundant.
OLD FORT, SITE OF A TRAGEDY.--The military barge, Lieut. Clary, started
for the Maskigo, with a fair wind, on the 18th. A soldier had previously
deserted. I sent to the chief, Pezhike, to dispatch his young men to
catch him, and they immediately went. After setting out, the wind was
found too strong to resist with paddies, and I turned into the sheltered
bay of the old French fort. The site and ground lines are only left.
It was a square with bastions. The site is overgrown with red haw and
sumac. The site of a blacksmith shop was also pointed out. This is an
evidence of early French and Missionary enterprise, and dates about
1660. There is a tale of a tragedy connected with a female, at its
abandonment. The guns, it is said, were thrown in the bay. The wind
having abated, we again put out at eight o'clock in the evening, and
went safely into the Maskigo and encamped.
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