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40 ing; the meeting of the river tides, the difference in the color of the waters—everything would attract the attention of the voyageur. The second supposition is inexplicable; the only possible shred of evidence that the French ever intended that the English should have even a chance to claim any land in the Monongahela Valley is in the Sixth Article of the capitulation signed by Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754.

The company spent the night of the seventh about three leagues below "Written Rock," and as Chiningué was but two leagues below the camp they easily reached this town, which was one of the "most considerable on the Belle Rivière," the following day. Céloron informs us that this village consisted of fifty cabins of Loups, Iroquois, and Shawanese, and Father Bonnécamps records that they called it Chiningué from its close proximity to a river of that name. This place (a few