2-995-551 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Grand canoe reception given to the Prince of Wales on the St. Lawrence, 1860. 'Ten canoes...prettily painted and decorated, and each manned by twelve Indians of the Iriquois tribe, in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, met the Prince [the future King Edward VII] as he crossed over to Isle Dorval from the village of Lachine...his Royal Highness was met by ten large canoes, each one filled with twelve stalwart Indians...[who] commenced a boat-song, which, as it floated over the water to the shore, sounded exceedingly musical...[After lunch], the Prince, accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle and General Williams, took their seats in a large bark canoe, and made a tour of the island...The paddles of the Indians glistened at each of the quick strokes which they gave, as, aided by the rapid currents, they strained every nerve to propel their canoes swiftly along the stream...On they came, chanting their boat-song, and occasionally sending up a shriek which resounded far and wide...They stretched in complete order across the river to Caughnawagha, and were paddled along the whole extent of that village, so that his Royal Highness might gain a just idea of the colossal proportions of the residences of the two thousand Indians who dwell there'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.