. . . The trade in furs was brisk, the Indians from the north, west, and south coming there to barter. The chain of friendship with the Senecas was kept bright by friendly intercourse with their warriors, who constantly came there; French trading vessels came often to its rude wharf bringing merchandise to Frontenac and returning laden with furs. Thus the English for the first time failed to overcome the French, while the English in New York did not delay their expostulations regarding what they called French incroachment at Niagara; but so far were they from being successful that the French were able within four years to begin a more important fortification on the site of the "Magazine Royal." [Illustration: Stones on the Site of Joncaire's Cabin under Lewiston Heights, where the Magazine Royal was Erected in 1719.] American history furnishes many illustrations of the genius of the French _coureurs-de-bois_ for winning to themselves the friendship of the Indians, but perhaps there is no specific illustration of this more clear than this reabsorption of the Niagara region after having once abandoned it. Said Sir Guy Carleton: France did not depend upon the number of her troops, but upon the discretion of her officers who, learned the language of her natives, distributed the king's presents, excited no jealousy, entirely gained the affections of an ignorant, credulous, but brave people, whose ruling passions are independence, gratitude, and revenge. Governor Duquesne once said to a deputation of Indians: Are you ignorant of the defence between the king of France and the English? Look at the forts which the king has built; you will find that under their very walls the beasts of the forests are hunted and slain; that they are, in fact, fixed in places most frequented by you merely to gratify more conveniently your necessities. M. Garneau, the historian, frankly acknowledges that the Marquis accurately stated the route of Indian admiration for the Frenchmen they saw; but it should not be overlooked that the French also were "the most romantic and poetic characters ever known in American frontier life. Their every moment attracts the rosiest colour of imagination"; all this helps to fascinate the savage. In 1725, the Marquis De Vaudreuil proposed the erection of a storehouse at Niagara, and soon the agent met the council of the Five Nations and got their permission to build what was really a fort at Niagara, which was to cost $5592; one hundred men were instantly sent to begin the work.[25] Thus the historic pile known as the "Mess House" or "Castle" was begun in 1725 and completed in 1726; at a council fire at Niagara the Senecas gave their final ratification to this project, July 14, 1726.