Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 9).djvu/38

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34
WATERWAYS OF WESTWARD EXPANSION

"speak to them on the part of their Father Onontio." They arrived there a little after the travelers.

At this "considerable village" of Loups, after having progressed eight or nine leagues in the hot August sun, the tired company rested during the night. The second of August was spent at the village, and Céloron spoke, conciliating the assembled savages.

Under date of August 3, Father Bonnécamps writes: "We continued our route, and we marched, as on the first day, buried in the somber and dismal valley, which serves as the bed of the Ohio." During this day's journey, two Indian villages were passed. The first village was abandoned by its inhabitants in favor of the woods, at the approach of the expedition. The second village, Venango,[1] consisted of but nine or ten cabins. Céloron disembarked here and spoke to the inhabitants "nearly as I had spoken to the Loups, and reëmbarked immediately. This evening I buried a lead plate and the arms of the king by a tree, and drew up the Procès Ver-

  1. Franklin, Pennsylvania.