where  the  liquor  question  and  the  practice  of  selling  French  brandy  to
the  Indians  was  discussed.      In  alluding  to  Detroit  he  wrote:

"It  is  pretended  that  this  is  the  finest  part  of  all  Canada,  and  really  if  we  can
judge  by  appearances,  nature  seems  to  have  denied  it  nothing  which  can  contribute
to  make  a  country  delightful;  hills,  meadows,  fields,  lofty  forests,  rivulets,  fountains,
rivers,  and  all  of  them  so  excellent  of  their  kind  and  so  happily  blended  as  to  equal
the  most  romantic  wishes.  The  lands,  however,  are  not  equally  proper  for  every
kind  of  grain,  but  most  are  of  a  wonderful  fertility,  and  I  have  known  some  to  pro-
duce good  wheat  for  eighteen  years  running  without  any  manure,  and  besides  all  of
them  are  proper  for  some  particular  use.  The  Islands  seem  placed  on  purpose  for
the  pleasure  of  the  prospect,  the  river  and  lake  abound  in  fish,  the  air  is  pure  and
the  climate  temperate  and  extremely  wholesome-"

The  following  is  his  description  of  the  council  of  the  chiefs  of  the
three  Indian  villages  near  Detroit:

"  On  the  7th  of  June,  which  was  the  day  of  my  arrival  at  the  fort  [Detroit],  Mons.
