of stone, and a system of exterior defences as yet only begun.  The rampart consisted of two parallel walls ten feet apart, built of the trunks of trees, and held together by transverse logs dovetailed at both ends, the space between being filled with earth and gravel well packed.[383] Such was the first Fort Ticonderoga, or Carillon,—­a structure quite distinct from the later fort of which the ruins still stand on the same spot.  The forest had been hewn away for some distance around, and the tents of the regulars and huts of the Canadians had taken its place; innumerable bark canoes lay along the strand, and gangs of men toiled at the unfinished works.

[Footnote 382:  Montcalm au Ministre, 26 Juin, 1756.  Detail de ce qui s’est passe, Oct. 1755 Juin, 1756.]

[Footnote 383:  Lotbiniere au Ministre, 31 Oct. 1756.  Montcalm au Ministre, 20 Juillet, 1756.]

Ticonderoga was now the most advanced position of the French, and Crown Point, which had before held that perilous honor, was in the second line.  Levis, to whom had been assigned the permanent command of this post of danger, set out on foot to explore the neighboring woods and mountains, and slept out several nights before he reappeared at the camp.  “I do not think,” says Montcalm, “that many high officers in Europe would have occasion to take such tramps as this.  I cannot speak too well of him.  Without being a man of brilliant parts, he has good experience, good sense, and a quick eye; and, though I had served with him before, I never should have thought that he had such promptness and efficiency.  He has turned his campaigns to good account."[384] Levis writes of his chief with equal warmth.  “I do not know if the Marquis de Montcalm is pleased with me, but I am sure that I am very much so with him, and shall always be charmed to serve under his orders.  It is not for me, Monseigneur, to speak to you of his merit and his talents.  You know him better than anybody else; but I may have the honor of assuring you that he has pleased everybody in this colony, and manages affairs with the Indians extremely well."[385]

[Footnote 384:  Montcalm au Ministre, 20 Juillet, 1756.]

[Footnote 385:  Levis au Ministre, 17 Juillet, 1756.]

The danger from the English proved to be still remote, and there was ample leisure in the camp.  Duchat, a young captain in the battalion of Languedoc, used it in writing to his father a long account of what he saw about him,—­the forests full of game; the ducks, geese, and partridges; the prodigious flocks of wild pigeons that darkened the air, the bears, the beavers; and above all the Indians, their canoes, dress, ball-play, and dances.  “We are making here,” says the military prophet, “a place that history will not forget.  The English colonies have ten times more people than ours; but these wretches have not the least knowledge of war, and if they go out to fight, they must abandon wives, children, and