4. The Governor of Canada at that time was a man of bold spirit and clear insight. He saw that the British traders were crossing the Alleghanies into the valley of the Ohio, poaching on the domains which the French claimed as their own, ruining the French fur trade, and making friends of the natives by underselling the French traders. He felt that, cost what it might, France must link Canada to Louisiana by a chain of forts strong enough to keep back the British colonists and coop them up in their old domains. The king's ministers in France were of the same mind, and ordered the governor to "send force enough to drive off the English from the Ohio, and cure them of all wish to return." The governor accordingly set to work to build forts at commanding points along the Ohio. The most important was Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio, where now stands Pittsburg, with its clanging forges and flaming furnaces. 5. A young officer, who later in life became famous, George Washington, was sent with a small colonial force to expel the French, if possible, from this fort before they had time to gain a firm footing. He found however, his small force unequal to the task. Washington's failure had the effect of throwing the Indians of the Ohio into the arms of the French, for of course their one desire was to be on the winning side. And when, next year, the smouldering war burst into flame, nearly all the western tribes drew their scalping-knives for France. 6. It must be remembered that in all the fighting in America between the British and the French, the native Indians took an active share. Armed with their favourite weapon, the tomahawk, they were at close quarters dangerous foes. Their fierce aspect in full war-paint--for the warriors daubed their naked bodies with glaring colours--and their wild war-whoops were well calculated to inspire soldiers straight from England or France with considerable dread. From first to last the various tribes were always ready to join one side or the other, taking a fiendish delight in shedding blood and in crowing over their fallen foes. And both English and French were equally ready to bid for their support, and to fight side by side with them, whilst abhorring their barbarities. Some tribes were always ready to throw in their lot with the side that seemed the stronger, whilst others were permanently attached either to the English or the French.