THE PUBLICATIONS OF
THE CHAMPLAIN
SOCIETY
VI

THE PUBLICATIONS OF
THE CHAMPLAIN
SOCIETY

HEARNE:
A JOURNEY FROM PRINCE OF
WALES'S FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY
TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN

TORONTO
THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY

Five Hundred and Twenty Copies of
this Volume have been printed. Twenty
are reserved for Editorial purposes.
The remaining Five Hundred are
supplied only to Members of the
Society and to Subscribing Libraries.

This copy is No. 229

A JOURNEY
FROM PRINCE OF WALES'S
FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY TO
THE NORTHERN OCEAN

In the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772

BY

SAMUEL HEARNE

NEW EDITION
WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, BY
J. B. TYRRELL, M.A.
TORONTO
THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY
1911

All rights reserved.

PREFACE

By SIR EDMUND WALKER
President of the Champlain Society

When the Champlain Society was first organised in 1905 one of the works on its list of proposed publications was the Journal of Samuel Hearne. This book, written with great literary charm, is the first account preserved to us of an attempt to explore the interior of far-northern Canada from a base on Hudson Bay. The natives had brought to Fort Prince of Wales glowing reports of a vast store of copper at the mouth of a river which flowed into the Arctic Ocean. An attempt to find it was inevitable. Twice Hearne failed, but his third effort succeeded and, after a laborious journey, he reached the mouth of the Coppermine River. Soon after he was promoted to command at Fort Prince of Wales, now Churchill, on Hudson Bay. France had joined Britain's revolted colonies in their war on the mother land, and one day, in 1782, a French squadron, under the well-known seaman, La Pérouse, dropped anchor before Fort Prince of Wales. Hearne, mightier with the pen than with the sword, surrendered meekly enough in spite of his massive walls from thirty to forty feet thick. Thus ingloriously he dies out of history.

Hearne's Journal, published after his early death, has become a rather rare book. Besides the narrative of what he did, it contains copious notes on the natural history of the region which he was the first white man to make known. A new edition has long been needed. Yet to secure competent editing was a difficult task, since few knew the remote country which Hearne explored. It may be regarded as fortunate that the new edition has been delayed, for only now are we able to present Hearne's story with the annotations necessary to give it the last possible elucidation. The needed knowledge is supplied by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell and Mr. E. A. Preble, two writers pre-eminently suited for their task by journeys in the regions described by Hearne, on parts of which so few white men have set eyes.

Mr. J. B. Tyrrell began his work of exploring in North Western Canada in 1883, and during the ensuing fifteen years he made many important additions to our knowledge of the geology and geography of what is still the least known part of Canada. In 1893, accompanied by his brother, Mr. J. W. Tyrrell, as his assistant, he traversed the so-called Barren Grounds from Lake Athabasca eastward to Chesterfield Inlet, and from there his party paddled in canoes down the west shore of Hudson Bay to Fort Churchill. Of the 3200 miles thus traversed, 1650 were previously unsurveyed and unmapped. From Fort Churchill Mr. Tyrrell walked eight or nine hundred miles on snowshoes to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg. In 1894 he again crossed the Barren Grounds, this time travelling from the north end of Reindeer Lake to a point on Hudson Bay, about 200 miles south-west of Chesterfield Inlet. Thence he went to Churchill as before in canoes along the open coast. From Churchill Mr. Tyrrell again, but by another route, walked on showshoes to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg. On this journey he travelled about 2900 miles, of which 1750 were by canoe and 750 on snowshoes. Almost the whole journey was through previously unexplored country. For the geographical work done in these two years he was awarded the Back Premium by the Royal Geographical Society of London.

In response to an enquiry whether any other white man has visited the regions described by Hearne, Mr. Tyrrell writes:—

"I happen to be the only one since Hearne who has conducted explorations in the country lying between Fort Churchill and the eastern end of Great Slave Lake and south of latitude 63° N. Except Hearne, I and those who accompanied and assisted me are the only white men who have crossed that great stretch of country, north of a line between the mouth of the Churchill River and Lake Athabasca and a line between the east end of Great Slave Lake and Chesterfield Inlet. Absolutely the only information that I had about the region when I visited it, other than what I had secured in conversation with Indians, was contained in Hearne's book. My last journey was made sixteen years ago, and no white man has since travelled across that country. With the building of the railroad to Fort Churchill, it will doubtless soon be visited. Since I made a survey of Chesterfield Inlet and its vicinity, my brother, Mr. J. W. Tyrrell, has crossed from the east end of Great Slave Lake by the Hanbury River to Chesterfield Inlet, making a survey as he went, and the Royal North West Mounted Police have sent parties from the Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay along this route, using my brother's maps as their guide. It is hardly necessary to say that a magnificent field for exploration is still left in that far northern country."

So much as to Mr. Tyrrell's work. For the notes explaining Hearne's many observations on natural history we are indebted to Mr. E. A. Preble of Washington. Mr. Preble spent a summer on the west shore of Hudson Bay north of Fort Churchill. He also spent the summers of 1901 and 1903, the winter of 1903-4, and the summers of 1904 and 1907 on the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers and on the Barren Grounds north of Great Slave Lake. This most important study of the fauna of Northern Canada was undertaken by Mr. Preble on behalf of the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture. The various reports and other publications arising from the journeys of Mr. Tyrrell and the investigations of Mr. Preble are mentioned in a bibliographical note at the end of this volume.

This is the first work relating to the West to be published by the Champlain Society. It has already begun an extensive list of the works of early writers on Eastern Canada. The year 1911 will, it is hoped, see the completion of the three volumes of Lescarbot's History of New France, now for the first time entirely translated into English. In this as in all other publications of the Society the original text is given with the translation. Nicolas Denys was the first writer to describe in detail the coasts of eastern Canada, and the Society has republished his great book, adequately translated and with copious notes. It has done the same with Le Clercq's account of Gaspé and its interesting natives. The writings of Champlain, entirely translated into English for the first time, will soon appear in six volumes. The regions lying west of Lake Superior have a history as interesting, but the material is scattered. Hearne's Journal makes a good beginning. In preparation are the Journals of La Vérendrye, the first white man to come in sight of the Rocky Mountains by an overland route. His writings will now for the first time be translated into English. The Society is sparing no pains to provide volumes bearing on the Hudson's Bay Company. Much further work on examining and classifying the papers of the Company will, however, be necessary before anything final can be done. Meanwhile members will enjoy the pleasant narrative of Hearne edited by the competent observers whose services the Society has had the good fortune to secure.

Toronto, January 1911.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Samuel Hearne, the author of the book here republished, is one of the most interesting characters to be met with in the annals of exploration in North America. When a young man, only twenty-four years old, he was sent on foot to explore the interior of a great continent. Though he knew nothing of mines or minerals, he, like many a man similarly equipped since his day, was to report on a great mining property. Naturally his report on the "mine" of copper is of little value, but his account of Northern Canada and of the life of the natives who inhabited it is the first published detailed description of any portion of the interior of Western Canada. Very few men of his age accomplished so much, and fewer still have published such admirable narratives of their enterprises.

All that we know of Hearne's early life is contained in an obituary notice which appeared in the European Magazine and London Review for June 1797, entitled "Some Account of the late Mr. Samuel Hearne, Author of 'A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort, in Hudson's Bay, to the Northern Ocean, undertaken by order of the Hudson's Bay Company for the discovery of Copper Mines, a North-West Passage, &c., in the years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772.'"

"Mr. Samuel Hearne was born in the year 1745. He was the son of Mr. Hearne, Secretary to the Waterworks, London Bridge, a very sensible man, and of a respectable family in Somersetshire; he died of fever in his 40th year, and left Mrs. Hearne with this son, then but three years of age, and a daughter two years older. Mrs. Hearne, finding her income too small to admit her living in town as she had been accustomed to, retired to Bimmester, in Dorsetshire (her native place), where she lived as a gentlewoman, and was much respected. It was her wish to give her children as good an education as the place afforded, and accordingly [she] sent her son to school at a very early period, but his dislike to reading and writing was so great that he made very little progress in either. His masters, indeed, spared neither threats nor persuasion to induce him to learn, but their arguments were thrown away on one who seemed predetermined never to become a learned man; he had, however, a very quick apprehension, and, in his childish sports, showed unusual activity and ingenuity; he was particularly fond of drawing, and though he never had the least instruction in the art, copied with great delicacy and correctness even from nature. Mrs. Hearne's friends, finding her son had no taste for study, advised her fixing on some business, and proposed such as they judged most suitable for him; but he declared himself utterly averse to trade, and begged he might be sent to sea. His mother very reluctantly complied with his request, took him to Portsmouth, and remained with him till he sailed. His captain (now Lord Hood) promised to take care of him, and he kept his word; for he gave him every indulgence his youth required. He was then but eleven years of age. They had a warm engagement soon after he entered, and took several prizes. The captain told him he should have his share, but he begged, in a very affectionate manner, it should be given to his mother, and she should know best what to do with it. He was a midshipman several years under the same commander; but, either on the conclusion of the war, or having no hopes of preferment, he left the navy, and entered into the service of the Hudson's Bay Company as mate of one of their sloops. He was, however, soon distinguished from his associates by his ingenuity, industry, and a wish to undertake some hazardous enterprise by which mankind might be benefited. This was represented to the Company, and they immediately applied to him as a proper person to be sent on an expedition they had long had in view, viz. to find out the North-West Passage. He gladly accepted the proposal, and how far he succeeded is shown to the public in his Journal. On his return he was advanced to a more lucrative post at Prince of Wales Fort, on Hudson Bay, and in a few years was made Commander-in-Chief, in which position he remained till 1782, when the French unexpectedly landed at Prince of Wales Fort, took possession of it, and after having given the governor leave to secure his own property, seized the stock of furs, &c. &c., and blew up the fort. At the Company's request Mr. H. went out the year following, saw it rebuilt,[1] and the new Governor settled in his habitation (which they took care to fortify a little better than formerly), and returned to England in 1787. He had saved a few thousands, the fruits of many years' industry, and might, had he been blessed with prudence, have enjoyed many years of ease and plenty; but he had lived so long where money was of no use that he seemed insensible of its value here, and lent it with little or no security to those he was scarcely acquainted with by name. Sincere and undesigning himself, he was by no means a match for the duplicity of others. His disposition, as may be judged by his writing, was naturally humane; what he wanted in learning and polite accomplishments he made up in native simplicity and innate goodness; and he was so strictly scrupulous with regard to the property of others that he was heard to say a few days before his death, 'He could lay his hand on his heart and say he had never wronged any man of sixpence.'

"Such are the outlines of Mr. Hearne's character, who, if he had some failings, had many virtues to counterbalance them, of which charity was not the least. He died of the dropsy, November 1792, aged 47."

He seems to have entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company and to have been sent to Fort Prince of Wales, the great stone fortification on the low bare rocky point at the mouth of the Churchill River on Hudson Bay, when he was about twenty years old. For several years he was engaged in the fur trade with the Eskimos, up and down the coast of Hudson Bay, north of Churchill River. One little glimpse is caught of him, on July 1, 1767, for on that day he chiselled his name on the smooth hard rock of Sloops Cove, on the west side of Churchill harbour. When I visited the place, in 1894, the name was as fresh and plain as if his hammer and chisel had just been laid aside.

Being possessed of much more than the average amount of ability and enthusiasm, he was chosen by Moses Norton, the energetic Governor of Fort Prince of Wales, to go out with the Indians into the vast, and as far as that was then known, limitless, territory west of Hudson Bay, in order to find and prospect the place where the native copper had been found which the Indians often brought with them to the fort.

During the year preceding his departure on his first expedition, he had had an excellent opportunity to perfect himself in a knowledge of astronomical and geodetic work, for in the summer of 1768 the annual ship had brought William Wales, F.R.S., and Joseph Dymond from London, commissioned by the Royal Society to remain at Fort Prince of Wales throughout the ensuing year in order to observe the transit of Venus over the sun on the 3rd of June 1769.[2] They remained at the fort until the ship left again for London in August of the following year (1769). Mr. Wales was one of the foremost astronomers, mathematicians, and litterateurs of his age. Shortly after his return to England he was appointed to accompany Captain Cook on his voyage around the world in the Resolution in 1772-74, and again on his last voyage in 1776-79. His presence for more than a year among the little band of white men assembled at this remote fur-trading post on Hudson Bay must have had a helpful influence in preparing Hearne for his great explorations overland to the Arctic Ocean. This book is an account of three journeys which he undertook in rapid succession into the country west of Hudson Bay and north-west of Fort Prince of Wales in search of the fabled bed of copper ore, from which pure copper could be loaded directly into ships at trifling expense. In the first and second journeys he was obliged to turn back before reaching his destination, but in the third journey all difficulties were finally overcome, and he was taken to and shown the "mine" of copper.

It has been my good fortune to travel over parts of the same country through which Hearne had journeyed one hundred and twenty-three years before me, and into which no white man had ventured during the intervening time. The conditions which I found were just such as he describes, except that the inhabitants had changed. The Chipewyan Indians, whom he found occupying advantageous positions everywhere as far as the north end of Dubawnt Lake, had disappeared, and in their places the country had been occupied by scattered bands and families of Eskimos, who had almost forgotten the ocean shores of the north, from which they had come. They were depending entirely, for food and clothing, on the caribou, which they killed on the banks of the inland streams and lakes. Traces of old Indian encampments were seen in a few of the scattered groves that are growing along the banks of Dubawnt and Kazan Rivers, but these camps had evidently not been occupied for many years.[3]

Whether Hearne remained at Fort Prince of Wales after his return is not certain, but it is possible that he may have gone to some of the other factories near the southern shore of Hudson Bay, and the plans of Albany, Moos, and Slude (East Main) Rivers, at the end of this book, the first two of which are dated 1774, may have been made by him at this time. In the latter year, however, he was at York Factory, and from there, in May or June, he was sent inland to the Saskatchewan River, where he established Cumberland House on Pine Island Lake, close to a trading-post which had been previously built by Joseph Frobisher, an enterprising merchant from Montreal. The following year he was recalled to Hudson Bay to take charge of his old home, Fort Prince of Wales, in the place of Governor Norton, who had died, and there he remained quietly trading with the Indians till August 1782, when the fort was taken and burnt by the French under Admiral La Pérouse.

As soon as the French with three vessels of war appeared before the fort and demanded its capitulation, Hearne surrendered at discretion, without firing a shot. He was at once taken on board the French ships, and allowed to retain all his private papers and effects, while the furs and other property of the Hudson's Bay Company were either confiscated or burnt. After pillaging and destroying the fort, La Pérouse sailed southward to York Factory, which also surrendered to him as soon as he appeared before it, and then, with all his prisoners on board, including the Governors of Fort Prince of Wales, York, and Severn, he sailed for France.

Hearne does not appear to have been treated by La Pérouse as an enemy who had been taken prisoner at the capture of a hostile fort, but rather as a literary man whom he was anxious to encourage and patronise. While a prisoner on board the French ships he was treated with every consideration, and his generous captor, who was one of the foremost geographers of his time, read his manuscript journal with evident interest, and returned it to him on the express condition that he would print and publish it immediately on his arrival in England.

On the signing of peace with the French in the following year, Hearne was sent back by the Hudson's Bay Company to Churchill. He made no attempt to live again in the fort, which was very unfavourably situated for obtaining both wood and water, but took up his residence on the site of the original trading-post of the Hudson's Bay Company, five miles south of Fort Prince of Wales, where the buildings of the Company stand at the present day.

In 1784, while Hearne was at Churchill, there arrived from England a boy, fourteen years old, named David Thompson, who afterwards became the great geographer of North-Western America. Thompson remained at Churchill for only one year, during which time he copied some of Hearne's Journal, and though he did not carry away any very friendly feelings towards his superior officer, the knowledge which he gained of the interior country, and of the possibilities of travel through it, must have had a stimulating effect on him in after life. His note-books, which are now in possession of the Government of the Province of Ontario, are filled with detailed information about North-Western America, so much of which he subsequently explored. In 1787 Hearne left Churchill and returned to England, and from that date until his death, in 1792, he probably spent most of his time in revising and preparing his Journal for publication.

Before discussing Hearne's character and the extent and value of his work, it will be interesting to recount briefly the circumstances which led up to the expedition to the Coppermine River. In the seventeenth century the search for gold and silver monopolised the thoughts of many of the adventurers in the Southern Seas, but those adventurers who turned their attention to the more northern countries recognised that there were other sources of wealth beside the precious metals. They saw that the furs of many of the wild animals which roamed through the forests might easily be obtained from the natives in exchange for articles of European manufacture of but trifling value, and that these furs might be sold in the markets of Europe and Asia at an enormous profit. In this way what is known as the fur trade had its beginning on the American continent.

The Dutch, French, and English strove for shares in this lucrative trade, and many of the wars and massacres of that time had their origin in the strenuous endeavours of one or other of these nations to outwit its rivals. The Dutch had headquarters on the Hudson River, in what is now the State of New York, the French on the St. Lawrence River, in the present Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, while the English established themselves on the shores of Hudson Bay, founding a fur-trading company, which was destined to survive till the present time, and to be one of the greatest commercial corporations that the world has ever known.

This Company was called "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay," or in brief, "The Hudson's Bay Company." At first it occupied a few small buildings, called factories or forts, situated at advantageous places near the mouths of rivers on the shore of Hudson Bay, where the Indians, who were accustomed to roam through the great unknown inland country, could come down in canoes to trade their furs for guns, knives, and other commodities brought from England by the white people.

About the beginning of the eighteenth century, some of the Indians who came to the more northern factories or trading-posts, and especially to those situated at the mouths of the Churchill and Nelson Rivers, brought with them rough pieces of native copper, and ornaments and weapons fashioned from this metal. On being asked where the copper came from, they said that they found it on the banks of a river, far away to the north, and that it could be collected from the surface in great abundance, but that the distance through which it was necessary for them to carry it prevented them from bringing much of it to the factories. These stories, along with the specimens which the Indians had in their possession, gradually aroused more and more interest in the minds of the fur-traders. At last they determined that there were far greater riches within their reach than could be obtained by trading with the Indians for furs, and decided to go in search of the copper mines whatever the cost of such a search might be. Among the first to take up this quest was Captain James Knight, a man of about eighty years of age, who had spent most of his life in trading for furs with the Indians, and who for several years had been in charge of York Factory for the Hudson's Bay Company. With him were Captain Barlow, another fur-trader from Fort Albany, and Captain Vaughan.

When the Committee, appointed in 1748 by the British House of Commons to inquire into the state and conditions of the countries adjoining Hudson Bay, was taking evidence, one of the chief witnesses was a Captain Carruthers, who in his evidence stated "that he had heard a good deal of a Copper Mine to the northward of the Churchill River—that the Governor (Knight) was mighty fond of the Discovery, and made great inquiries about it,—that the witness had seen copper which was said to be brought from thence,—that the Governor (Knight) was very earnest in this Discovery, which was always his topic."

Joseph Robson states that "Governor Knight and Captain Barlow being well assured that there were rich mines to the northward, from the accounts of the Indians of those parts who had brought some of the ore to the factory, they were bent upon making the discovery; and the Governor said he knew the way to the place as well as to his bedside."[4] In the year 1719, Captain Knight and his associates sailed from England in two ships, the Albany and the Discovery, well provided with stores and provisions, and even with strong iron-bound boxes in which to bring back the copper and other precious metals. Unfortunately the expedition was wrecked on Marble Island, and all the officers and crew were lost, although their fate was not definitely known until nearly half a century later.

Three years later, when the two ships had not returned, and no word had been received from them, Captain Scroggs was sent by the Hudson's Bay Company from Churchill to look for them, and at the same time to continue the search for copper. The story of his journey, as given by Dobbs in his "Account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay" (London, 1744), says nothing about the explorers who had been lost, but comments on the copper deposits as follows:—

"He [Scroggs] had two Northern [Chipewyan] Indians with him, who had wintered at Churchill, and told him of a copper mine somewhere in that country upon the shore near the surface of the earth, and they could direct the sloop so near it, as to lay her side to it, and be soon laden with it; and they brought some pieces of copper from it to Churchill that made it evident there was a mine thereabouts. They had sketched out the country with charcoal upon a skin of parchment before they left Churchill, and so far as they went it agreed very well. One of the Indians desired to leave him, saying he was within three or four days' journey of his own country, but he would not let him go. Captain Norton, late Governor of Churchill, was then with him."

The Captain Norton here mentioned was the father of Governor Moses Norton who afterwards despatched Hearne to look for the Coppermine River. Captain Carruthers, who is mentioned above, and who, according to his own statement, had "quitted" the service of the Hudson's Bay Company thirty-five years before 1748, said that he "himself carried Mr. Norton, who was afterwards Governor, and two Northern Indians to Churchill where he put them in a canoe, and the purpose of their voyage was to make discoveries and encourage the Indians to come down to trade and bring copper ore."[5]

The journey of Mr. Norton referred to by Captain Carruthers was probably undertaken about 1714, in which year York Factory was restored to the English, after having been occupied by the French for seventeen years. Probably it was on account of this and similar journeys that, in 1719, a gratuity of £15 was voted to Mr. Norton by the Hudson's Bay Company, on account of having endured "great hardships in travelling among the Indians." In 1733 the same Mr. Norton wrote to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company in London that he had "served your Honors many years and gone through many difficulties and hardships in taking long journeys with the natives to promote your trade with them, even many times to the hazard of my own life."[6]

In the same Parliamentary Report Alexander Browne, a surgeon who had been for six years in the Company's service, testified "that the Indians brought down the ore at the request of Governor Norton," and also "that he had heard the late Mr. Norton say that he had been at this mine and that a considerable quantity of copper might be brought down."[7] It is not probable that Browne's statement with reference to Norton having visited the Coppermine River is correct, but it would be rash to deny that such a journey had been accomplished until the letters and records of the Hudson's Bay Company are finally made public.

After the unsuccessful voyages of Captains Knight and Scroggs, several other expeditions were sent from Churchill northward along the shore of Hudson Bay. Most of these doubtless more than paid their way by trading for furs with the Eskimos, but to the outside public they were ostensibly to find the North-West Passage to China and the "mine" of copper ore. The most important of these expeditions were those of the Furnace and Discovery under Captains Middleton and Moor, in 1741-2, and of the Dobbs and California under Captains Moor and Smith in 1746-7. After these expeditions, interest in the copper may have languished for a while, but the numerous references to it in the Hudson's Bay Report of 1749 show that it was not by any means forgotten.

Meanwhile, Richard Norton of Churchill had died, and his half-breed son Moses Norton had been appointed Governor in his stead. In the year 1767 the remains of Knight's ill-fated expedition were found on Marble Island, and the thoughts of the people on Hudson Bay were undoubtedly again turned to the object for which his voyage had been undertaken. To add to the interest in the copper, the Northern Indians, who came to Churchill in the year 1768, brought with them some fine specimens of ore which they said came from Coppermine River. By this time Governor Moses Norton's interest was thoroughly aroused in the possible value of the copper "mines," and as they were said to be only four hundred miles from Churchill, he determined that, if possible, something definite should be learned about them. Accordingly, that very summer, when the ship came from England, he took passage back in it to London, and laid a plan for the discovery of this supposed great body of copper ore before the directors of the Company and received their approval for its execution. The plan was not to entail any very great expense to the Company. A man was to be sent out with the Indians, who should be supported by them and live as they lived.

Before that time other men had been sent into the wilderness, in the same way, from factories, especially from York, where, in 1690, Henry Kelsey had travelled southward until he met the so-called "Naywatamee poets" or Mandan Indians, somewhere near the banks of the Assiniboine or South Saskatchewan Rivers,[8] and in 1754 Anthony Hendry had made a notable journey up the North Saskatchewan River to the great plains, where he had endeavoured to establish friendly relations with the Blackfeet Indians and their allies, and to prevent them from selling their furs to Luc la Corne and the French merchants from Montreal, who had penetrated into the same country several years before. Both these men had been treated with the greatest kindness by the natives and had brought back intelligent accounts of the countries visited by them, though neither of them had the ability of Samuel Hearne to enable them to prepare a report such as the one here published.

Governor Norton was a man of much more than the ordinary intelligence and strength of character, and he saw that if the expedition was to be a success it must be conducted by some one who would be able to make full and accurate surveys of the route followed, and who could intelligently describe the character and value of the "mine" and determine its latitude and longitude by astronomical observations. For this purpose he chose Samuel Hearne, now a young man twenty-four years of age, who, after his service as a midshipman in the British Navy, was at the time employed as a mate on the Charlotte, one of the Company's sloops trading from Churchill with the Eskimos. The story of his journey, the hardships which he endured, and the success which he achieved, form the subject of this book and need not be discussed here.[9]

Hearne's character, which had been moulded to a large extent by his surroundings, can be fairly well understood from a careful reading of his book. He was diligent and reasonably accurate but not strong or forceful. In this latter particular he differed from his great successor, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who descended the Mackenzie River eighteen years after Hearne had reached its waters at Great Slave Lake. Alexander Mackenzie was a man of masterful temperament, and those who accompanied him, whether white men or natives, were merely so many instruments to be used in the accomplishment of any purpose which he had in hand. Their likes and dislikes, and their habits of life, were merely interesting to him in so far as they affected the results that he wished to attain. His book is a detailed description of the directions and distances which he travelled each day, and of the incidents of travel as they occurred. To Samuel Hearne the natives with whom he travelled were beings whose thoughts and habits of life he found supremely interesting. Their intentions and desires largely controlled the expeditions on which he had embarked. With the exception of the accomplishment of the main object in view, of reaching the Coppermine River, their wishes were everything, his nothing.

His first expedition was a complete failure, as the Indians simply took him off with them for a couple of hundred miles into the wilderness until they became tired of his company and then robbed him of everything he had and left him to find his own way back to Churchill as best he could. His second expedition was more successful, as the Indians tolerated his company for eight months and supported him as long as food was plentiful, but their enthusiasm, or duty to the Master at Churchill, did not last long enough to carry them to the Coppermine River.

Of his third and successful expedition Hearne was the historian and surveyor, while Matonabbee, a bold and forceful Chipewyan Indian about ten years his senior, was its leader. If at any time Hearne tried to interfere with the arrangements made by the leader he was promptly told to follow instructions if he wished to reach the copper mine. While Matonabbee probably reciprocated, to some extent at least, Hearne's affection for him, he was evidently thinking of and working for Moses Norton, the rough but powerful governor of Fort Prince of Wales, rather than for the quiet and observant young man who was accompanying him. Hearne's sketch of the life of Matonabbee is one of the most appreciative and sympathetic accounts of a North American Indian that has come to my notice.

Hearne was evidently gifted with a very retentive memory, and had the artist's faculty of seeing the interesting features of his surroundings in their true perspective. Though, like Robert Louis Stevenson and many others, he had not been a brilliant student at school, he possessed the literary ability to present what he saw or knew in an interesting and attractive form. In the ordinary quietude of his tent or office, when thinking of nothing but the subject which he was describing, he undoubtedly recorded his observations with accuracy. But in the warmth of dispute, when endeavouring to overcome the criticisms or objections of others, he was liable to be carried beyond the points of strict accuracy and, in order to strengthen his argument, to fill in blanks in his record from his imagination. He says, for example, that the sun was above the horizon at midnight at the mouth of the Coppermine River. But it is certain either that, on the night which he spent there, the weather was too cloudy to permit of seeing the sun, if it had been above the horizon, or that, even if the weather was clear, the sun must necessarily have been below the horizon at the time. His sketch of Moses Norton also has the appearance of being highly coloured by his evident personal dislike of the man. No one can justly accuse Hearne of lack of personal courage, for the annoyances, hardships, and sufferings, which he endured without complaining, put the thought of personal cowardice entirely out of the question. He had acquired the stoicism of the Indian and he suffered quietly, just as an Indian is prepared to suffer. During the years which Hearne spent among the Indians, living on what they were able to obtain from day to day, as well as in his general intercourse with them as a trader bartering for the furs which they were able to collect and bring to him, he had learned to endure privations, to compromise rather than to fight, and to accomplish his purpose by politic and peaceful, rather than by warlike, methods. Naturally of a complaisant disposition, he had learned to give whatever was demanded of him, no matter who made the demand. Nothing could be more typical of the habits which he had thus acquired than the little experiences in trading, recounted on page [285], where, after an Indian had received full payment for the furs which he had brought in, he was given in addition the long list of articles there enumerated. Apparently, the Indian was not refused anything if he persisted in asking.

This habit of acceding to requests to avoid dispute and difficulty, rather than any real fear of personal danger, accounts for Hearne's surrender of Fort Prince of Wales to the French without a struggle. In this case it is quite possible that, in spite of the great strength of the fort which he occupied, he was really not able to make effective resistance against his powerful and determined enemy, who outnumbered him more than ten to one. Although the fort mounted forty heavy guns, and was provided with plenty of ammunition and small arms, it had only thirty-nine men within its walls at the time. But even if Hearne had had a stronger garrison, it is doubtful whether he would have attempted resistance, for his training in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company had taught him to preserve the peace at any price, and it was impossible for him to set aside at a moment's notice what had become second nature to him.

We have seen that Hearne had not the forceful character possessed by Alexander Mackenzie; yet, as a man must be judged by the results which he achieves, it is perhaps all the more creditable to him to have done what he did with his more complaisant and observant disposition. Though he could not control the Indians with whom he travelled, he nevertheless accomplished his purpose of making the journey, and has left a splendid record of it to enrich posterity. He was hardly a great geographer, though he added largely to the geographical knowledge of Northern Canada west of Hudson Bay. It was he who finally set at rest the question of a north-west passage by sea to China and the Orient, south of the mouth of the Coppermine River. He knew nothing of mines or ores, and the information he brought back about the "mine" of copper which he was sent to explore was exceedingly meagre. He verified the report of the existence of native copper on the surface in uncertain quantity. Incidentally he showed that the place where it occurred was too remote and difficult of access to permit of a copper mine being worked at a profit, even if the copper should be found in great abundance. But that was all. In fact, even to the present time, we have very little accurate knowledge of the character and extent of this copper deposit near the Coppermine River, as may be seen by referring to the notes on pages [194] et seq.

On Hearne's first and second journeys he had quite adequate scientific apparatus, and so could take astronomical observations to determine his true position. So we find that he occasionally made use of his quadrant and took such observations; consequently the positions given on the map for the principal points in these two journeys are approximately correct. But he started on his third journey with very faulty instruments, and he would appear to have made very little use even of them. The map of the course followed by him on this journey strongly suggests a rough sketch made by his Indian guide, rather than a careful plan worked out by himself, from day to day, or week to week. For example, between Island and Kasba Lakes, near the beginning of his journey, and shortly after he had diverged from his course of the previous year, he began to go wrong. If he was using his compass at all, it is possible that some source of local magnetic attraction was influencing it, for the position of the last-named lake (on his map) is some sixty or seventy miles too far north. It is inconceivable that he could have made any serious effort to correct this faulty course by astronomical observations with his quadrant. His book is chiefly valuable therefore not so much because of its geographical information, but because it is an accurate, sympathetic, and patently truthful record of life among the Chipewyan Indians at that time. Their habits, customs, and general mode of life, however disagreeable or repulsive, are recorded in detail, and the book will consequently always remain a classic in American ethnology.

The manuscript report on Hearne's exploration was submitted to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company immediately after his return, and they highly commended him for the work he had done, and gave him a handsome bonus.[10] The first account of his journey which seems to have been published was given to the world in 1784 in the "Introduction to Cook's Third Voyage," pp. xlvi-l, written by Dr. John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, who later also edited Hearne's own book. The route followed by Hearne on his successful third journey is incorporated in the general map of the world accompanying this book. A Mr. Roberts, who prepared this map, makes the following note with regard to it:—

"The whole of Hudson's Bay I took from a chart compiled by Mr. Marley, from all the most authentic maps he could procure of those parts, with which I was favoured by Samuel Wegg, Esq., F.R.S., and Governor of that Company, who also politely furnished me with Mr. Hearne's Journals and the map of his route to the Coppermine River, which is faithfully inserted in the chart.

"(Sgd.) Henry Roberts.

"Shoreham, Sussex, May 18, 1784."[11]

Another brief account of Hearne's trip is given in "Pennant's Arctic Zoology," also published in 1784, while his map is incorporated in one of the maps published in "Pennant's Supplement to Arctic Zoology," 1787. Some of the names used on these two maps were continued on the map accompanying Alexander Mackenzie's "Voyages," and also on Arrowsmith's maps up to comparatively recent dates.

The book here republished appeared first in 1795, three years after Hearne's death, as a large quarto volume of xliv + 458 pages, with five maps, and four full-page illustrations. It was edited by the above-named Dr. John Douglas, who is said to have drawn up the narrative, and to have finished the Introduction, though just how much Hearne's diction was altered by the editor is not known. It is probable, however, that the MS. was published almost exactly as Hearne had written it. An octavo edition, similar in letterpress to the original quarto one, but with some slight omissions or differences in the text and in the general map, was published in Dublin in 1796.

A French translation of the 1795 edition, by Lallemant, one of the secretaries in the French Department of the Marine, was published at Paris in 1799. Dr. Arthur G. Doughty, the Archivist of the Dominion of Canada, has very kindly compared this edition with the English one of 1795, and makes the following remarks with regard to it:—

"The dedication of the English version is omitted in the French. In the Introduction, page 27, there is a note in the English edition which is not translated. Pages 441 to 445 of the English edition are omitted in the French. At the beginning of the French version there is a note on Hearne from the 'Voyage of La Pérouse,' and some remarks by Lallemant. The translation of the whole volume appears to be good."

The note from the "Voyage of La Pérouse" and the remarks of Lallemant are as follows:—

"A La Pérouse.—C'est à vous que l'Europe est redevable de la publication de cet ouvrage, dont le manuscrit fut trouvé parmi les papiers du Gouverneur du fort du Prince de Galles, lorsque vous vous rendîtes maître des établissements anglais dans la Baie de Hudson. En le remettant à son auteur, à la condition expresse de le faire imprimer et publier, jamais vainqueur n'exerça plus utilement son droit de conquête et n'imposa au vaincu une condition plus honorable.[12] Elle était digne du marin aussi généreux qu'éclairé qui devait, quelques années après, entreprendre un voyage non moins important, et dont aujourd'hui nous déplorons la perte.

"Pourquoi faut-il, brave et excellent Dupetit-Thouars, que vous nous ayez été aussi ravi! vous qui m'excitâtes avec tant d'ardeur à traduire la relation de Samuel Hearne, et qui, après avoir tout sacrifié pour aller redemander la Pérouse aux îles de la mer du Sud, soupiriez après la paix pour reprendre vos projets de découvertes. Accablé par le nombre au combat d'Aboukir, une mort glorieuse vous a enlevé à votre patrie, à deux sœurs chéries, à l'amitié, aux sciences, et il ne nous est revenu de vous que cette réponse héroïque à l'ennemi: 'Voyez mon pavillon; on ne le déplacera qu'en m'ôtant la vie.'

"La Pérouse, vous l'eussiez pleuré comme nous! il était si attaché à son pays, à son métier, et si passionné pour leur gloire. Il avait une âme si forte et un cœur si sensible; un esprit si cultivé et des dehors si modestes. Il était ami si vrai et frère si tendre. Perpetue, Félicité, j'en appèle à votre douleur profonde!

"En associant son nom au vôtre, la Pérouse, permettez qu'il partage avec vous l'hommage d'une traduction à laquelle je me suis empressé de consacrer mes veilles pour concourir à vos vues respectives d'utilité. Puisse ce monument être digne de vous deux!

"Lallemant,
"l'un des Secrétaires de la Marine."

Hearne intimates on page [32] that the map here reproduced differs slightly from those which he had previously published, a reference doubtless to the one in Cook's "Voyage," but he claims that this one is the most accurate, since he had revised it with great care. Both maps are here given; further explorations in the northern country alone can determine which is the more correct.

Fort Prince of Wales, from which place Hearne started on his expedition, was built by the Hudson's Bay Company in the years 1733 to 1771. It is said to have been designed by English military engineers, and, according to Joseph Robson, was built under the direction of the resident Governor, though Robson himself had much to do with its construction.

The fort, which is one of the most interesting military ruins on the continent, stands on Eskimo Point, just west of the mouth of Churchill River, and though some parts of the walls have fallen, it was, when I visited it, in much the same condition as when built, except that the houses within it had been gutted by fire. It is 310 feet long on the north and south sides, and 317 feet long on the east and west sides, measured from corner to corner of the bastions. The walls are from 37 to 42 feet thick, and 16 feet 9 inches high to the top of the parapet, which is 5 feet high and 6 feet 3 inches wide. On the outside the wall was faced with dressed stone, except towards the river, while on the inside undressed stone was used. The interior of the wall is a rubble of boulders, held together by a poor mortar. In the parapet are forty embrasures and forty guns, from six to twenty-four pounders, are lying on the wall near them, now partly hidden by low willows, currant and gooseberry bushes. The three store-houses and the magazine, which once occupied the centres of the bastions, have disappeared. Within the square enclosure are the stone walls of a house 103 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 17 feet high, which is said to have had a flat roof covered with lead. The small observatory used by Mr. Wales in 1769 was situated on the south-east bastion.

This new edition is a reprint of the quarto edition of 1795. The pagination of the original has been inserted, enclosed within square brackets, at the proper places in the text, and the notes are given as in the original volume. The notes of the present editor are indicated by Arabic numerals.

Most of the photographs here reproduced were taken by the editor in 1893 and 1894, but those of Artillery Lake were taken by Mr. J. W. Tyrrell in 1900, and the Eskimo implements of native copper were obtained by him at that time.

Several additional maps have been added. Among these are the portions of Cook's and Pennant's maps of parts of North America showing the first published records of Hearne's courses; a map of the Coppermine River as surveyed by Sir John Franklin in 1821; and a general map of Northern Canada drawn on the same scale and projection as Hearne's large map, and with his routes laid down as correctly as it has been possible for me to determine them. The latter map is much more easily compared with Hearne's original map than one drawn on the polyconic projection in common use at the present time.

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Edward A. Preble of the Biological Survey, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., author of "A Biological Investigation of the Hudson Bay Region" and "A Biological Investigation of the Athabaska-Mackenzie Region," who has so kindly annotated Chapter X. on the fauna and flora of Hudson Bay, and has also added the notes to which his initials are attached in other parts of the volume.

J. B. TYRRELL.

Toronto, February 1, 1910.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This is an error, as the fort was neither rebuilt nor refortified.

[2] The results of their observations were published in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lix. (1769), pp. 467 and 480, and vol. lx. (1770), pp. 100 and 137.

[3] "Report on the Dubawnt, Kazan, and Ferguson Rivers," by J. B. Tyrrell. "Geological Survey of Canada," Part F, vol. ix. 1896. Ottawa, 1897.

[4] "Six Years' Residence in Hudson's Bay," by J. Robson, 1752, p. 15. Robson strongly urged an overland expedition to discover the copper, p. 60.

[5] Hudson's Bay Report, 1749, p. 230.

[6] Ibid., p. 271.

[7] Hudson's Bay Report, 1749, p. 226.

[8] Henry Kelsey's account of this journey has given rise to a good deal of dispute and scepticism. It gives me the impression that it is a story written from memory years after the journey was performed, but his general description of the country on the Red Deer River just north of the Province of Manitoba, and of the plains of Saskatchewan to the south-west of it, is too clear to be mistaken. I am indebted to Professor W. H. Holmes, Director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, for assistance in identifying the "Naywatamee poets" with the Mandan Indians.

[9] As farther evidence that this expedition was undertaken solely for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the whereabouts of the copper deposits, Edward Umfreville, who was employed as a writer at York Factory in Hearne's time, makes the following interesting statement: "Some years since, the Company being informed that the Indians frequently brought fine pieces of copper to their Settlements on Churchill River, they took into consideration, and appointed a person (S. Hearne) with proper assistants, to survey and examine the river where the valuable acquisition was supposed to be concealed."—The Present State of Hudson's Bay, by Edward Umfreville, p. 45. London, 1790.

[10] Mr. Beckles Willson, in his book "The Great Company," says, on I know not what authority, that it was £200.

[11] "Cook's Third Voyage," vol. i. Introduction, p. lxxxi. London, 1784. For purposes of comparison, the portion of this map which refers to Hearne is republished at the end of the present volume. It is stated by Beckles Willson in "The Great Company" that short accounts of his journey had been published in 1773 and again in 1778-80, but though diligent search has been made for these accounts in the British Museum and elsewhere, no trace of them can be found.

[12] "Le Gouverneur Hearne avait fait, en 1772, un voyage par terre vers le Nord, en partant du fort Churchill dans la Baie de Hudson, 'Samuel Hearne partit du fort du Prince de Galles le 7 Décembre 1770,' voyage dont on attend les détails avec impatience; le journal manuscrit en fut trouvé par la Pérouse dans les papiers de ce Gouverneur, qui insista pour qu'il lui fût laissé comme sa propriété particulière. Ce voyage ayant été fait néanmoins par ordre de la Compagnie de Hudson, dans la vue d'acquérir des connaissances sur la partie du Nord de l'Amérique, le journal pouvait bien être censé appartenir à cette Compagnie, et par conséquent être dévolu au vainqueur; cependant la Pérouse céda, par bonté, aux instances du Gouverneur Hearne, et lui rendit le manuscrit; mais à la condition expresse de la faire imprimer et publier dès qu'il serait de retour en Angleterre. Cette condition ne paraît pas avoir été remplie jusqu'à present.[A] Espérons que la remarque qui en est faite, rendue publique, produira l'effet attendu ou qu'elle engagera le Gouverneur à faire connaître si la Compagnie de Hudson, qui redoute qu'on ne s'immisce dans ses affaires et son commerce, s'est opposée à sa publication."—Discours préliminaire du Voyage de la Pérouse autour du monde, pp. xlvi et xlvii de l'in-4^º.

[A] Le Voyage de Samuel Hearne a été publié à Londres en l'an 3, et celui de la Pérouse à Paris, en l'an 6. (Note du Traducteur du Voyage de Samuel Hearne.)

A
JOURNEY
FROM
Prince of Wales's Fort, in Hudson's Bay,
TO
THE NORTHERN OCEAN.

UNDERTAKEN
BY ORDER OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
FOR THE DISCOVERY OF
COPPER MINES, A NORTH WEST PASSAGE, &c.
In the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, & 1772.

By SAMUEL HEARNE.

LONDON:
Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell:
And Sold by T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, (Successors to
Mr. Cadell,) in the Strand.
1795

TO
SAMUEL WEGG, Esq., Governor,
Sir JAMES WINTER LAKE, Deputy Governor,
AND
THE REST OF THE COMMITTEE
OF THE HONOURABLE
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

HONOURABLE SIRS,

As the following Journey was undertaken at your Request and Expence, I feel it no less my Duty than my Inclination to address it to you; hoping that my humble Endeavours to relate, in a plain and unadorned Style, the various Circumstances and Remarks which {iv} occurred during that Journey, will meet with your Approbation.

I am, with much Esteem and Gratitude,
HONOURABLE SIRS,
Your most obedient, and
most obliged humble Servant,
SAMUEL HEARNE.

PREFACE.

Mr. Dalrymple, in one of his Pamphlets relating to Hudson's Bay, has been so very particular in his observations on my Journey, as to remark, that I have not explained the construction of the Quadrant which I had the misfortune to break in my second Journey to the North. It was a Hadley's Quadrant, with a bubble attached to it for a horizon, and made by Daniel Scatlif of Wapping. But as no instrument of the same principle could be procured when I was setting out on my last Journey, an old Elton's Quadrant, which had been upwards of thirty years at the Fort, was the only instrument I could then be provided with, in any respect proper for making observations with on the land.

Mr. Dalrymple also observes, that I only inserted in my last Journal to the Company, one observation for the latitude, which may be true; but I had, nevertheless, several others during that Journey, particularly at Snow-bird Lake, Thelwey-aza-yeth, and Clowey, exclusive of that mentioned in the Journal taken at Conge-cathawhachaga. But when I was on that Journey, and for several {vi} years after, I little thought that any remarks made in it would ever have attracted the notice of the Public; if I had, greater pains might and would have been taken to render it more worthy of their attention than it now is. At that time my ideas and ambition extended no farther than to give my employers such an account of my proceedings as might be satisfactory to them, and answer the purpose which they had in view; little thinking it would ever come under the inspection of so ingenious and indefatigable a geographer as Mr. Dalrymple must be allowed to be. But as the case has turned out otherwise, I have at my leisure hours recopied all my Journals into one book, and in some instances added to the remarks I had before made; not so much for the information of those who are critics in geography, as for the amusement of candid and indulgent readers, who may perhaps feel themselves in some measure gratified, by having the face of a country brought to their view, which has hitherto been entirely unknown to every European except myself. Nor will, I flatter myself, a description of the modes of living, manners, and customs of the natives (which, though long known, have never been described), be less acceptable to the curious.

I cannot help observing, that I feel myself rather hurt at Mr. Dalrymple's rejecting my latitude in so peremptory a manner, and in so great a proportion, as he has done; because, before I arrived at Conge-cathawhachaga, the {vii} Sun did not set during the whole night: a proof that I was then to the Northward of the Arctic Circle. I may be allowed to add, that when I was at the Copper River, on the eighteenth of July, the Sun's declination was but 21°, and yet it was certainly some height above the horizon at midnight; how much, as I did not then remark, I will not now take upon me to say; but it proves that the latitude was considerably more than Mr. Dalrymple will admit of. His assertion, that no grass is to be found on the (rocky) coast of Greenland farther North than the latitude of 65°, is no proof there should not be any in a much higher latitude in the interior parts of North America. For, in the first place, I think it is more than probable, that the Copper River empties itself into a sort of inland Sea, or extensive Bay, somewhat like that of Hudson's: and it is well known that no part of the coast of Hudson's Straits, nor those of Labradore, at least for some degrees South of them, any more than the East coast of Hudson's Bay, till we arrive near Whale River, have any trees on them; while the West coast of the Bay in the same latitudes, is well clothed with timber. Where then is the ground for such an assertion? Had Mr. Dalrymple considered this circumstance only, I flatter myself he would not so hastily have objected to woods and grass being seen in similar situations, though in a much higher latitude. Neither can the reasoning which Mr. Dalrymple derives from the error I committed in estimating the distance to Cumberland House, any way affect the question under {viii} consideration; because that distance being chiefly in longitude, I had no means of correcting it by an observation, which was not the case here.

I do not by any means wish to enter into a dispute with, or incur the displeasure of Mr. Dalrymple; but thinking, as I do, that I have not been treated in so liberal a manner as I ought to have been, he will excuse me for endeavouring to convince the Public that his objections are in a great measure without foundation. And having done so, I shall quit the disagreeable subject with declaring, that if any part of the following sheets should afford amusement to Mr. Dalrymple, or any other of my readers, it will be the highest gratification I can receive, and the only recompence I desire to obtain for the hardships and fatigue which I underwent in procuring the information contained in them.

Being well assured that several learned and curious gentlemen are in possession of manuscript copies of, or extracts from, my Journals, as well as copies of the Charts, I have been induced to make this copy as correct as possible, and to publish it; especially as I observe that scarcely any two of the publications that contain extracts from my Journals, agree in the dates when I arrived at, or departed from, particular places. To rectify those disagreements I applied to the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, for leave to peruse my original Journals. This was granted with the greatest affability {ix} and politeness; as well as a sight of all my Charts relative to this Journey. With this assistance I have been enabled to rectify some inaccuracies that had, by trusting too much to memory, crept into this copy; and I now offer it to the Public under authentic dates and the best authorities, however widely some publications may differ from it.

I have taken the liberty to expunge some passages which were inserted in the original copy, as being no ways interesting to the Public, and several others have undergone great alterations; so that, in fact, the whole may be said to be new-modelled, by being blended with a variety of Remarks and Notes that were not inserted in the original copy, but which my long residence in the country has enabled me to add.

The account of the principal quadrupeds and birds that frequent those Northern regions in Summer, as well as those which never migrate, though not described in a scientific manner, may not be entirely unacceptable to the most scientific zoologists; and to those who are unacquainted with the technical terms used in zoology, it may perhaps be more useful and entertaining, than if I had described them in the most classical manner. But I must not conclude this Preface, without acknowledging, in the most ample manner, the assistance I have received from the perusal of Mr Pennant's Arctic Zoology, which has enabled me to give several of the birds their proper {x} names; for those by which they are known in Hudson's Bay are purely Indian, and of course quite unknown to every European who has not resided in that country.

To conclude, I cannot sufficiently regret the loss of a considerable Vocabulary of the Northern Indian Language, containing sixteen folio pages, which was lent to the late Mr. Hutchins, then Corresponding Secretary to the Company, to copy for Captain Duncan, when he went on discoveries to Hudson's Bay in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety. But Mr. Hutchins dying soon after, the Vocabulary was taken away with the rest of his effects, and cannot now be recovered; and memory, at this time, will by no means serve to replace it.

CONTENTS.

Introduction

[41]

CHAP. I.

Transactions from my leaving Prince of Wales's Fort on my first Expedition, till our Arrival there again.

Set off from the Fort; arrive at Po-co-ree-kis-co River—One of the Northern Indians deserts—Cross Seal River, and walk on the barren grounds—Receive wrong information concerning the distance of the woods—Weather begins to be very cold, provisions all expended, and nothing to be got—Strike to the Westward, arrive at the woods, and kill three deer—Set forward in the North West quarter, see the tracks of musk-oxen and deer, but killed none—Very short of provisions—Chawchinahaw wants us to return—Neither he nor his crew contribute to our maintenance—He influences several of the Indians to desert—Chawchinahaw and all his crew leave us—Begin our return to the Factory; kill a few partridges, the first meal we had had for several days—Villany of one of the home Indians and his wife, who was a Northern Indian woman—Arrive at the Seal River, kill two deer; partridges plenty—Meet a strange Northern Indian, accompany him to his tent, usage received there; my Indians assist in killing some beaver—Proceed toward home, and arrive at the Fort

[61]

CHAP. II.

Transactions from our Arrival at the Factory, to my leaving it again, and during the First Part of my Second Journey, till I had the misfortune to break the Quadrant.

Transactions at the Factory—Proceed on my second journey—Arrive at Seal River—Deer plentiful for some time—Method of angling fish under the ice—Set our fishing-nets—Method of setting nets under the ice—My guide [xii] proposes to stay till the geese should begin to fly; his reasons accepted—Pitch our tent in the best manner—Method of pitching a tent in Winter—Fish plentiful for some time; grow very scarce; in great want of provisions—Manner of employing my time—My guide killed two deer—Move to the place they were lying at; there kill several more deer, and three beavers—Soon in want of provisions again—Many Indians join us from the Westward—We begin to move towards the barren ground—Arrive at She-than-nee, there suffer great distress for want of provisions—Indians kill two swans and three geese—Geese and other birds of passage plentiful—Leave She-than-nee, and arrive at Beralzone—One of my companions guns bursts, and shatters his left hand—Leave Beralzone, and get on the barren ground, clear of all woods—Throw away our sledges and snow shoes—Each person takes a load on his back; my part of the luggage—Exposed to many hardships—Several days without victuals—Indians kill three musk-oxen, but for want of fire are obliged to eat the meat raw—Fine weather returns; make a fire; effects of long fasting; stay a day or two to dry some meat in the Sun—Proceed to the Northward, and arrive at Cathawhachaga; there find some tents of Indians—A Northern Leader called Keelshies meets us; send a letter by him to the Governor—Transactions at Cathawhachaga; leave it and proceed to the Northward—Meet several Indians—My guide not willing to proceed; his reasons for it—Many more Indians join us—Arrive at Doobaunt Whoie River—Manner of ferrying over rivers in the Northern Indian canoes—No rivers in those parts in a useful direction for the natives—Had nearly lost the quadrant and all the powder—Some reflections on our situation, and conduct of the Indians—Find the quadrant and part of the powder—Observe for the latitude—Quadrant broke—Resolve to return again to the Factory

[69]

CHAP. III.

Transactions from the time the Quadrant was broken, till I arrived at the Factory.

Several strange Indians join us from the Northward—They plunder me of all I had; but did not plunder the Southern Indians—My guide plundered—We begin our return to the Factory—Meet with other Indians, who join our company—Collect deer-skins for clothing, but could not get them {xiii} dressed—Suffer much hardship from the want of tents and warm clothing—Most of the Indians leave us—Meet with Matonabbee—Some account of him, and his behaviour to me and the Southern Indians—We remain in his company some time—His observations on my two unsuccessful attempts—We leave him, and proceed to a place to which he directed us, in order to make snow-shoes and sledges—Join Matonabbee again, and proceed towards the Factory in his company—Ammunition runs short—Myself and four Indians set off post for the Factory—Much bewildered in a snow storm; my dog is frozen to death; we lie in a bush of willows—Proceed on our journey—Great difficulty in crossing a jumble of rocks—Arrive at the Fort

[96]

CHAP. IV.

Transactions during our Stay at Prince of Wales's Fort, and the former Part of our third Expedition, till our Arrival at Clowey, where we built Canoes, in May 1771.

Preparations for our departure—Refuse to take any of the home-guard Indians with me—By so doing, I offend the Governor—Leave the Fort a third time—My instructions on this expedition—Provisions of all kinds very scarce—Arrive at the woods, where we kill some deer—Arrive at Island Lake—Matonabbee taken ill—Some remarks thereon—Join the remainder of the Indians' families—Leave Island Lake—Description thereof—Deer plentiful—Meet a strange Indian—Alter our course from West North West to West by South—Cross Cathawhachaga River, Cossed Lake, Snow-Bird Lake, and Pike Lake—Arrive at a tent of strangers, who are employed in snaring deer in a pound—Description of a pound—Method of proceeding—Remarks thereon—Proceed on our journey—Meet with several parties of Indians; by one of whom I sent a letter to the Governor at Prince of Wales's Fort—Arrive at Thleweyazayeth—Employment there—Proceed to the North North West and North—Arrive at Clowey—One of the Indian's wives taken in labour—Remarks thereon—Customs observed by the Northern Indians on those occasions

[106]

{xiv} CHAP. V.

Transactions at Clowey, and on our Journey, till our Arrival at the Copper-mine River.

Several strange Indians join us—Indians employed in building canoes; description and use of them—More Indians join us, to the amount of some hundreds—Leave Clowey—Receive intelligence that Keelshies was near us—Two young men dispatched for my letters and goods—Arrive at Peshew Lake; cross part of it, and make a large smoke—One of Matonabbee's wives elopes—Some remarks on the natives—Keelshies joins us, and delivers my letters, but the goods were all expended—A Northern Indian wishes to take one of Matonabbee's wives from him; matters compromised, but had like to have proved fatal to my progress—Cross Peshew Lake, when I make proper arrangements for the remainder of my journey—Many Indians join our party, in order to make war on the Esquimaux at the Copper River—Preparations made for that purpose while at Clowey—Proceed on our journey to the North—Some remarks on the way—Cross Cogead Lake on the ice—The sun did not set—Arrive at Congecathawhachaga—Find several Copper Indians there—Remarks and transactions during our stay at Congecathawhachaga—Proceed on our journey—Weather very bad—Arrive at the Stoney Mountains—Some account of them—Cross part of Buffalo Lake on the ice—Saw many musk-oxen—Description of them—Went with some Indians to view Grizzlebear Hill—Join a strange Northern Indian Leader, called O'lye, in company with some Copper Indians—Their behaviour to me—Arrive at the Copper-mine River

[133]

CHAP. VI.

Transactions at the Copper-mine River, and till we joined all the Women to the South of Cogead Lake.

Some Copper Indians join us—Indians send three spies down the river—Begin my survey—Spies return, and give an account of five tents of Esquimaux—Indians consult the best method to steal on them in the night, and {xv} kill them while asleep—Cross the river—Proceedings of the Indians as they advance towards the Esquimaux tents—The Indians begin the massacre while the poor Esquimaux are asleep, and slay them all—Much affected at the sight of one young woman killed close to my feet—The behaviour of the Indians on this occasion—Their brutish treatment of the dead bodies—Seven more tents seen on the opposite side of the river—The Indians harass them, till they fly to a shoal in the river for safety—Behaviour of the Indians after killing those Esquimaux—Cross the river, and proceed to the tents on that side—Plunder their tents, and destroy their utensils—Continue my survey to the river's mouth—Remarks there—Set out on my return—Arrive at one of the Copper-mines—Remarks on it—Many attempts made to induce the Copper Indians to carry their own goods to market—Obstacles to it—Villany and cruelty of Keelshies to some of those poor Indians—Leave the Copper-mine, and walk at an amazing rate till we join the women, by the side of Cogead Whoie—Much foot-foundered—The appearance very alarming, but soon changes for the better—Proceed to the southward, and join the remainder of the women and children—Many other Indians arrive with them

[173]

CHAP. VII.

Remarks from the Time the Women joined us till our Arrival at the Athapuscow Lake.

Several of the Indians sick—Methods used by the conjurors to relieve one man, who recovers—Matonabbee and his crew proceed to the South West—Most of the other Indians separate, and go their respective ways—Pass by White Stone Lake—Many deer killed merely for their skins—Remarks thereon, and on the deer, respecting seasons and places—Arrive at Point Lake—One of the Indian's wives being sick, is left behind to perish above-ground—Weather very bad, but deer plenty—Stay some time at Point Lake to dry meat, &c.—Winter set in—Superstitious customs observed by my companions, after they had killed the Esquimaux at Copper River—A violent gale of wind oversets my tent and breaks my quadrant—Some Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians join us—Indians propose to go to the Athapuscow Country to kill moose—Leave Point Lake, and arrive at the wood's edge—Arrive at Anawd Lake—Transactions there—Remarkable instance of a man being cured of the palsey by the conjurors—Leave Anawd Lake—Arrive at the great Athapuscow Lake

[209]

{xvi} CHAP. VIII.

Transactions and Remarks from our Arrival on the South Side of the Athapuscow Lake, till our Arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort on Churchill River.

Cross the Athapuscow Lake—Description of it and its productions, as far as could be discovered in Winter, when the snow was on the ground—Fish found in the lake—Description of the buffalo; of the moose or elk, and the method of dressing their skins—Find a woman alone that had not seen a human face for more than seven months—Her account how she came to be in that situation; and her curious method of procuring a livelihood—Many of my Indians wrestled for her—Arrive at the Great Athapuscow River—Walk along the side of the River for several days, and then strike off to the Eastward—Difficulty in getting through the woods in many places—Meet with some strange Northern Indians on their return from the Fort—Meet more strangers, whom my companions plundered, and from whom they took one of their young women—Curious manner of life which those strangers lead, and the reason they gave for roving so far from their usual residence—Leave the fine level country of the Athapuscows, and arrive at the Stony Hills of the Northern Indian Country—Meet some strange Northern Indians, one of whom carried a letter for me to Prince of Wales's Fort, in March one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, and now gave me an answer to it, dated twentieth of June following—Indians begin preparing wood-work and birch-rind for canoes—The equinoctial gale very severe—Indian method of running the moose deer down by speed of foot—Arrival at Theeleyaza River—See some strangers—The brutality of my companions—A tremendous gale and snow-drift—Meet with more strangers; remarks on it—Leave all the elderly people and children, and proceed directly to the Fort—Stop to build canoes, and then advance—Several of the Indians die through hunger, and many others are obliged to decline the journey for want of ammunition—A violent storm and inundation, that forced us to the top of a high hill, where we suffered great distress for more than two days—Kill several deer—The Indians' method of preserving the flesh without the assistance of salt—See several Indians that were going to Knapp's Bay—Game of all kinds remarkably plentiful—Arrive at the Factory

[252]

{xvii} CHAP. IX.

A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.

An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern Indians—They possess a great deal of art and cunning—Are very guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more for their furs than any other tribe of Indians—Always dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities—The men in general jealous of their wives—Their marriages—Girls always betrothed when children, and their reasons for it—Great care and confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine years—Divorces common among those people—The women are less prolific than in warmer countries—Remarkable piece of superstition observed by the women at particular periods—Their art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their husbands on any little quarrel—Reckoned very unclean on those occasions—The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw—Some through necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the birch-tree—A remarkable dish among those people—The young animals always cut out of their dams, eaten, and accounted a great delicacy—The parts of generation of all animals eat by the men and boys—Manner of passing their time, and method of killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows—Their tents, dogs, sledges, &c.—Snow-shoes—Their partiality to domestic vermin—Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country—Face of the country—Species of fish—A peculiar kind of moss useful for the support of man—Northern Indian method of catching fish, either with hooks or nets—Ceremony observed when two parties of those people meet—Diversions in common use—A singular disorder which attacks some of those people—Their superstition with respect to the death of their friends—Ceremony observed on those occasions—Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the world—No form of religion among them—Remarks on that circumstance—The extreme misery to which old age is exposed—Their opinion of the Aurora Borealis, &c.—Some account of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well as to the Hudson's Bay Company

[297]

{xviii} CHAP. X.

An Account of the principal Quadrupeds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay: The Buffalo, Moose, Musk-ox, Deer, and Beaver—A capital Mistake cleared up respecting the We-was-kish.

Animals with Canine Teeth: The Wolf—Foxes of various colours—Lynx, or Wild Cat—Polar, or White Bear—Black Bear—Brown Bear—Wolverene—Otter—Jackash—Wejack—Skunk—Pine Martin—Ermine, or Stote.

Animals with cutting Teeth: The Musk Beaver—Porcupine—Varying Hare—American Hare—Common Squirrel—Ground Squirrel—Mice of various kinds—and the Castor Beaver.

The Pinnated Quadrupeds with finlike Feet, found in Hudson's Bay, are but three in number, viz.: The Walrus, or Sea-Horse—Seal—and Sea-Unicorn.

The Species of Fish found in the Salt Water of Hudson's Bay are also few in number: being the Black Whale—White Whale—Salmon—and Kepling.

Shell-fish, and empty Shells of several kinds, found on the Sea Coast near Churchill River.

Frogs of various sizes and colours; also a great variety of Grubbs, and other Insects, always found in a frozen state during Winter, but when exposed to the heat of a slow fire, are soon re-animated.

An account of some of the principal Birds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay; as well those that only migrate there in Summer, as those that are known to brave the coldest Winters: Eagles of various kinds—Hawks of various sizes and plumage—White or Snowy Owl—Grey or mottled Owl—Cob-a-dee-cooch—Raven—Cinerious Crow—Wood Pecker—Ruffed Grouse—Pheasant—Wood Partridge—Willow Partridge—Rock Partridge—Pigeon—Red-breasted Thrush—Grosbeak—Snow Bunting—White-crowned Bunting—Lapland Finch, two sorts—Lark—Titmouse—Swallow—Martin—Hopping Crane—Brown Crane—Bitron—Carlow, two sorts—Jack Snipe—Red Godwart—Plover—Black Gullemet—Northern Diver—Black-throated Diver—Red-throated Diver—White Gull—Grey Gull—Black-head—Pelican—Goosander—Swans of two species—Common {xix} Grey Goose—Canada Goose—White or Snow Goose—Blue Goose—Horned Wavy—Laughing Goose—Barren Goose—Brent Goose—Dunter Goose—Bean Goose.

The species of Water-Fowl usually called Duck, that resort to those Parts annually, are in great variety; but those that are most esteemed are, the Mallard Duck—Long-tailed Duck—Wigeon, and Teal.

Of the Vegetable Productions as far North as Churchill River, particularly the most useful; such as the Berry-bearing Bushes, &c.: Gooseberry—Cranberry—Heathberry—Dewater-berry—Black Currans—Juniper-berry—Partridge-berry—Strawberry—Eye-berry—Blue-berry—and a small species of Hips.

Burridge—Coltsfoot—Sorrel—Dandelion.

Wish-a-capucca—Jackashey-puck—Moss of various sorts—Grass of several kinds—and Vetches.

The Trees found so far North near the Sea, consist only of Pines—Juniper—Small Poplar—Bush-willows—and Creeping Birch

[335]

INTRODUCTION.

For many years it was the opinion of all ranks of people, that the Hudson's Bay Company were averse to making discoveries of every kind; and being content with the profits of their small capital, as it was then called, did not want to increase their trade. What might have been the ideas of former members of the Company respecting the first part of these charges I cannot say, but I am well assured that they, as well as the present members, have always been ready to embrace every plausible plan for extending the trade. As a proof of this assertion, I need only mention the vast sums of money which they have expended at different times in endeavouring to establish fisheries, though without success: and the following Journey, together with the various attempts made by Bean, Christopher, Johnston, and Duncan,[13] to find a North West passage, are recent proofs that the present members are as desirous of making discoveries, as they are of extending their trade.

That air of mystery, and affectation of secrecy, perhaps, which formerly attended some of the Company's proceedings in the Bay, might give rise to those conjectures; and the unfounded assertions and unjust aspersions of Dobbs, {xxii} Ellis, Robson, Dragge, and the American Traveller,[14] the only Authors that have written on Hudson's Bay, and who have all, from motives of interest or revenge, taken a particular pleasure in arraigning the conduct of the Company, without having any real knowledge of their proceedings, or any experience in their service, on which to found their charges, must have contributed to confirm the public in that opinion. Most of those Writers, however, advance such notorious absurdities, that none except those who are already prejudiced against the Company can give them credit.[B]

Robson, from his six years' residence in Hudson's Bay and in the Company's service, might naturally have been supposed to know something of the climate and soil immediately round the Factories at which he resided; but the whole of his book is evidently written with prejudice, and dictated by a spirit of revenge, because his romantic and inconsistent schemes were rejected by the Company. Besides, it is well known that Robson was no more than a tool in the hand of Mr. Dobbs.

The American Traveller, though a more elegant writer, has still less claim to our indulgence, as his assertions are {xxiii} a greater tax on our credulity. His saying that he discovered several large lumps of the finest virgin copper[C] is such a palpable falsehood that it needs no refutation. No man, either English or Indian, ever found a bit of copper in that country to the South of the seventy-first degree of latitude,[16] unless it had been accidentally dropped by some of the far Northern Indians in their way to the Company's Factory.

The natives who range over, rather than inhabit, the large tract of land which lies to the North of Churchill River, having repeatedly brought samples of copper to the Company's Factory, many of our people conjectured that it was found not far from our settlements; and as the Indians informed them that the mines were not very distant from a large river, it was generally supposed that this river must empty itself into Hudson's Bay; as they could by no means think that any set of people, however wandering their manner of life might be, could ever traverse so large a tract of country as to pass the Northern boundary of that Bay, and particularly without the assistance of water-carriage. The following Journal, however, will show how much those people have been mistaken, and prove also the improbability of putting their favourite scheme of mining into practice.

{xxiv} The accounts of this grand River, which some have turned into a Strait, together with the samples of copper, were brought to the Company's Factory at Churchill River immediately after its first establishment, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifteen; and it does not appear that any attempts were made to discover either the river or mines till the year one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, when the Company fitted out a ship, called the Albany Frigate, Captain George Barlow,[D] and a sloop {xxv} called the Discovery, Captain David Vaughan. The sole command of this expedition, however, was given to Mr. James Knight, a man of great experience in the Company's service, who had been many years Governor at the different Factories in the Bay, and who had made the first settlement at Churchill River. Notwithstanding the experience Mr. Knight might have had of the Company's business, and his knowledge of those parts of the Bay where he had resided, it cannot be supposed he was well acquainted with the nature of the business in which he then engaged, having nothing to direct him but the slender and imperfect accounts which he had received from the Indians, who at that time were little known, and less understood.

{xxvi} Those disadvantages, added to his advanced age, he being then near eighty, by no means discouraged this bold adventurer; who was so prepossessed of his success, and of the great advantage that would arise from his discoveries, that he procured, and took with him, some large iron-bound chests, to hold gold dust and other valuables, which he fondly flattered himself were to be found in those parts.

The first paragraph of the Company's Orders to Mr. Knight on this occasion appears to be as follows:

"To Captain James Knight.

"4th June, 1719.

"Sir,

"From the experience we have had of your abilities in the management of our affairs, we have, upon your application to us, fitted out the Albany frigate, Captain George Barlow, and the Discovery, Captain David Vaughan, Commander, upon a discovery to the Northward; and to that end have given you power and authority to act and do all things relating to the said voyage, the navigation of the said ship and sloop only excepted; and have given orders and instructions to our said Commanders for that purpose.

"You are, with the first opportunity of wind and weather, to depart from Gravesend on your intended {xxvii} voyage, and by God's permission, to find out the Straits of Anian, in order to discover gold and other valuable commodities to the Northward, &c. &c."

Mr. Knight soon left Gravesend, and proceeded on his voyage; but the ship not returning to England that year, as was expected, it was judged that she had wintered in Hudson's Bay; and having on board a good stock of provisions, a house in frame, together with all necessary mechanics, and a great assortment of trading goods, little or no thoughts were entertained of their not being in safety; but as neither ship nor sloop returned to England in the following year, (one thousand seven hundred and twenty), the Company were much alarmed for their welfare; and, by their ship which went to Churchill in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one, they sent orders for a sloop called the Whale-Bone, John Scroggs Master, to go in search of them; but the ship not arriving in Churchill till late in the year, those orders could not be put in execution till the Summer following (one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two).

The North West coast of Hudson's Bay being little known in those days, and Mr. Scroggs finding himself greatly embarrassed with shoals and rocks, returned to Prince of Wales's Fort without making any certain discovery respecting the above ship or sloop; for all the marks he saw among the Esquimaux at Whale Cove scarcely {xxviii} amounted to the spoils which might have been made from a trifling accident, and consequently could not be considered as signs of a total shipwreck.

The strong opinion which then prevailed in Europe respecting the probability of a North West passage by the way of Hudson's Bay, made many conjecture that Messrs. Knight and Barlow had found that passage, and had gone through it into the South Sea, by the way of California. Many years elapsed without any other convincing proof occurring to the contrary, except that Middleton, Ellis, Bean, Christopher, and Johnston, had not been able to find any such passage. And notwithstanding a sloop was annually sent to the Northward on discovery, and to trade with the Esquimaux, it was the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, before we had positive proofs that poor Mr. Knight and Captain Barlow had been lost in Hudson's Bay.

The Company were now carrying on a black whale fishery, and Marble Island was made the place of rendezvous, not only on account of the commodiousness of the harbour, but because it had been observed that the whales were more plentiful about that island than on any other part of the coast. This being the case, the boats, when on the look-out for fish, had frequent occasion to row close to the island, by which means they discovered a new harbour near the East end of it, at the head {xxix} of which they found guns, anchors, cables, bricks, a smith's anvil, and many other articles, which the hand of time had not defaced, and which being of no use to the natives, or too heavy to be removed by them, had not been taken from the place in which they were originally laid. The remains of the house, though pulled to pieces by the Esquimaux for the wood and iron, are yet very plain to be seen, as also the hulls, or more properly speaking, the bottoms of the ship and sloop, which lie sunk in about five fathoms water, toward the head of the harbour. The figure-head of the ship, and also the guns, &c. were sent home to the Company, and are certain proofs that Messrs. Knight and Barlow had been lost on that inhospitable island, where neither stick nor stump was to be seen, and which lies near sixteen miles from the main land. Indeed the main is little better, being a jumble of barren hills and rocks, destitute of every kind of herbage except moss and grass; and at that part, the woods are several hundreds of miles from the sea-side.

In the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, while we were prosecuting the fishery, we saw several Esquimaux at this new harbour; and perceiving that one or two of them were greatly advanced in years, our curiosity was excited to ask them some questions concerning the above ship and sloop, which we were the better enabled to do by the assistance of an Esquimaux, who was then in the Company's service as a linguist, and annually sailed in one of their vessels in that character. The {xxx} account which we received from them was full, clear, and unreserved, and the sum of it was to the following purport:

When the vessels arrived at this place (Marble Island) it was very late in the Fall, and in getting them into the harbour, the largest received much damage; but on being fairly in, the English began to build the house, their number at that time seeming to be about fifty. As soon as the ice permitted, in the following Summer, (one thousand seven hundred and twenty), the Esquimaux paid them another visit, by which time the number of the English was greatly reduced, and those that were living seemed very unhealthy. According to the account given by the Esquimaux they were then very busily employed, but about what they could not easily describe, probably in lengthening the long-boat; for at a little distance from the house there is now lying a great quantity of oak chips, which have been most assuredly made by carpenters.

Sickness and famine occasioned such havock among the English, that by the setting in of the second Winter their number was reduced to twenty. That Winter (one thousand seven hundred and twenty) some of the Esquimaux took up their abode on the opposite side of the harbour to that on which the English had built their houses,[E] and {xxxi} frequently supplied them with such provisions as they had, which chiefly consisted of whale's blubber and seal's flesh and train oil. When the Spring advanced, the Esquimaux went to the continent, and on their visiting Marble Island again, in the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one, they only found five of the English alive, and those were in such distress for provisions that they eagerly eat the seal's flesh and whale's blubber quite raw, as they purchased it from the natives. This disordered them so much, that three of them died in a few days, and the other two, though very weak, made a shift to bury them. Those two survived many days after the rest, and frequently went to the top of an adjacent rock, and earnestly looked to the South and East, as if in expectation of some vessels coming to their relief. After continuing there a considerable time together, and nothing appearing in sight, they sat down close together, and wept bitterly. At length one of the two died, and the other's strength was so far exhausted, that he fell down and died also, in attempting to dig a grave for his companion. The {xxxii} sculls and other large bones of those two men are now lying above-ground close to the house. The longest liver was, according to the Esquimaux account, always employed in working of iron into implements for them; probably he was the armourer, or smith.

Some Northern Indians who came to trade at Prince of Wales's Fort in the Spring of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, brought farther accounts of the grand river, as it was called, and also several pieces of copper, as samples of the produce of the mine near it; which determined Mr. Norton, who was then Governor at Churchill, to represent it to the Company as an affair worthy of their attention; and as he went that year to England, he had an opportunity of laying all the information he had received before the Board, with his opinion thereon, and the plan which he thought most likely to succeed in the discovery of those mines. In consequence of Mr. Norton's representations, the Committee resolved to send an intelligent person by land to observe the longitude and latitude of the river's mouth, to make a chart of the country he might walk through, with such remarks as occurred to him during the Journey; when I was pitched on as a proper person to conduct the expedition. By the ship that went to Churchill in the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, the Company sent out some astronomical instruments, very portable, and fit for such observations as they required me {xxxiii} to make, and at the same time requested me to undertake the Journey, promising to allow me at my return, a gratuity proportionable to the trouble and fatigue I might undergo in the expedition.[F]

{xxxiv} I did not hesitate to comply with the request of the Company, and in the November following, when some Northern Indians came to trade, Mr. Norton, who was then returned to the command of Prince of Wales's Fort, engaged such of them for my guides as he thought were most likely to answer the purpose; but none of them had been at this grand river. I was fitted out with everything thought necessary, and with ammunition to serve two years. I was to be accompanied by two of the Company's servants, two of the Home-guard[G] (Southern) Indians, {xxxv} and a sufficient number of Northern Indians to carry and haul my baggage, provide for me, &c. But for the better stating this arrangement, it will not be improper to insert my Instructions, which, with some occasional remarks thereon, will throw much light on the following Journal, and be the best method of proving how far those orders have been complied with, as well as shew my reasons for neglecting some parts as unnecessary, and the impossibility of putting other parts of them in execution.

"ORDERS and INSTRUCTIONS for Mr. Samuel Hearne, going on an Expedition by Land towards the Latitude 70° North, in order to gain a Knowledge of the Northern Indians Country, &c. on Behalf of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, in the Year 1769.

"Mr. Samuel Hearne,

"Sir,

"Whereas the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company have been informed by the report from Indians, that there is a great probability of considerable advantages to be expected from a better knowledge of their country by us, than what hitherto has been obtained; and as it is the Company's earnest desire to embrace every circumstance that may tend to the benefit of the said Company, or the Nation at large, they have requested you to conduct this Expedition; and as you {xxxvi} have readily consented to undertake the present Journey, you are hereby desired to proceed as soon as possible, with William Isbester sailor, and Thomas Merriman landsman, as companions, they both being willing to accompany you; also two of the Home-guard Southern Indians, who are to attend and assist you during the Journey; and Captain Chawchinahaw, his Lieutenant Nabyah, and six or eight of the best Northern Indians we can procure, with a small part of their families, are to conduct you, provide for you, and assist you and your companions in every thing that lays in their power, having particular orders so to do.

"2dly, Whereas you and your companions are well fitted-out with every thing we think necessary, as also a sample of light trading goods; these you are to dispose of by way of presents (and not by way of trade) to such far-off Indians as you may meet with, and to smoke your Calimut[H] of Peace with their leaders, in order to establish a friendship with them. You are also to persuade them as much as possible from going to war with each other, to encourage them to exert themselves in procuring furrs and other articles for trade, and to assure them of good payment for them at the Company's Factory.

"It is sincerely recommended to you and your companions to treat the natives with civility, so as not to give {xxxvii} them any room for complaint or disgust, as they have strict orders not to give you the least offence, but are to aid and assist you in any matter you may request of them for the benefit of the undertaking.

"If any Indians you may meet, that are coming to the Fort, should be willing to trust you with either food or clothing, make your agreement for those commodities, and by them send me a letter, specifying the quantity of each article, and they shall be paid according to your agreement. And, according to the Company's orders, you are to correspond with me, or the Chief at Prince of Wales's Fort for the time being, at all opportunities: And as you have mathematical instruments with you, you are to send me, or the Chief for the time being, an account of what latitude and longitude you may be in at such and such periods, together with the heads of your proceedings; which accounts are to be remitted to the Company by the return of their ships.[I]

"3dly, The Indians who are now appointed your guides, are to conduct you to the borders of the Athapuscow[J] Indians country, where Captain Matonabbee {xxxviii} is to meet you[K] in the Spring of one thousand seven hundred and seventy, in order to conduct you to a river represented by the Indians to abound with copper ore, animals of the furr kind, &c., and which is said to be so far to the Northward, that in the middle of the Summer the Sun does not set, and is supposed by the Indians to empty itself into some ocean. This river, which is called by the Northern Indians Neetha-san-san-dazey, or the Far Off Metal River, you are, if possible, to trace to the mouth, and there determine the latitude and longitude as near as you can; but more particularly so if you find it navigable, and that a settlement can be made there with any degree of safety, or benefit to the Company.

"Be careful to observe what mines are near the river, what water there is at the river's mouth, how far the woods are from the sea-side, the course of the river, the nature of the soil, and the productions of it; and make any other remarks that you may think will be either necessary or satisfactory. And if the said river be likely to be of any utility, take possession of it on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company, by cutting your {xxxix} name on some of the rocks, as also the date of the year, month, &c.[L]

"When you attempt to trace this or any other river, be careful that the Indians are furnished with a sufficient number of canoes for trying the depth of water, the strength of the current, &c. If by any unforeseen accident or disaster you should not be able to reach the before-mentioned river, it is earnestly recommended to you, if possible, to know the event of Wager Strait;[M] for it is represented by the last discoverers to terminate in small rivers and lakes. See how far the woods are from the navigable parts of it; and whether a settlement could with any propriety be made there. If this should prove unworthy of notice, you are to take the same method with Baker's Lake, which is the head of {xl} Bowden's or Chesterfield's Inlet;[N] as also with any other rivers you may meet with; and if likely to be of any utility, you are to take possession of them, as before mentioned, on the behalf of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company. The draft of Bowden's Inlet and Wager Strait I send with you, that you may have a better idea of those places, in case of your visiting them.

"4thly, Another material point which is recommended to you, is to find out, if you can, either by your own travels, or by information from the Indians, whether there is a passage through this continent.[O] It will be {xli} very useful to clear up this point, if possible, in order to prevent farther doubts from arising hereafter respecting a passage out of Hudson's Bay[P] into the Western Ocean, as hath lately been represented by the American Traveller. The particulars of those remarks you are to insert in your Journal, to be remitted home to the Company.

"If you should want any supplies of ammunition, or other necessaries, dispatch some trusty Indians to the Fort with a letter, specifying the quantity of each article, and appoint a place for the said Indians to meet you again.

"When on your return, if at a proper time of the year, and you should be near any of the harbours that are frequented by the brigantine Charlotte, or the sloop Churchill, during their voyage to the Northward, and you should chuse to return in one of them, you are desired to make frequent smokes as you approach those harbours, and they will endeavour to receive you by making smokes in answer to yours; and as one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one will probably be the year in which you will return, the Masters of those vessels at that period shall have particular orders on that head.

{xlii} "It will be pleasing to hear by the first opportunity, in what latitude and longitude you meet the Leader Matonabbee, and how far he thinks it is to the Coppermine River, as also the probable time it may take before you can return. But in case any thing should prevent the said Leader from joining you, according to expectation, you are then to procure the best Indians you can for your guides, and either add to, or diminish, your number, as you may from time to time think most necessary for the good of the expedition.

"So I conclude, wishing you and your companions a continuance of health, together with a prosperous Journey, and a happy return in safety. Amen.

"Moses Norton, Governor.

"Dated at Prince of Wales's Fort, Churchill River, Hudson's
"Bay, North America, November 6th, 1769."

Isbester and Merriman, mentioned in my Instructions, actually accompanied me during my first short attempt; but the Indians knowing them to be but common men, used them so indifferently, particularly in scarce times, that I was under some apprehensions of their being starved to death, and I thought myself exceedingly happy when I got them safe back to the Factory. This extraordinary behaviour of the Indians made me determine not to take any Europeans with me on my two last expeditions.

{xliii} With regard to that part of my Instructions which directs me to observe the nature of the soil, the productions thereof, &c., it must be observed, that during the whole time of my absence from the Fort, I was invariably confined to stony hills and barren plains all the Summer, and before we approached the woods in the Fall of the year, the ground was always covered with snow to a considerable depth; so that I never had an opportunity of seeing any of the small plants and shrubs to the Westward. But from appearances, and the slow and dwarfy growth of the woods, &c. (except in the Athapuscow country), there is undoubtedly a greater scarcity of vegetable productions than at the Company's most Northern Settlement; and to the Eastward of the woods, on the barren grounds, whether hills or vallies, there is a total want of herbage except moss, on which the deer feed; a few dwarf willows creep among the moss; some wish-a-capucca and a little grass may be seen here and there, but the latter is scarcely sufficient to serve the geese and other birds of passage during their short stay in those parts, though they are always in a state of migration, except when they are breeding and in a moulting state.

In consequence of my complying with the Company's request, and undertaking this Journey, it is natural to suppose that every necessary arrangement was made for the easier keeping of my reckoning, &c., under the many inconveniences I must be unavoidably obliged to labour in such an expedition. I drew a Map on a large skin of parchment, that contained twelve degrees of latitude {xliv} North, and thirty degrees of longitude West, of Churchill Factory, and sketched all the West coast of the Bay on it, but left the interior parts blank, to be filled up during my Journey. I also prepared detached pieces on a much larger scale for every degree of latitude and longitude contained in the large Map. On those detached pieces I pricked off my daily courses and distance, and entered all lakes and rivers, &c., that I met with; endeavouring, by a strict enquiry of the natives, to find out the communication of one river with another, as also their connections with the many lakes with which that country abounds: and when opportunity offered, having corrected them by observations, I entered them in the general Map. These and several other necessary preparations, for the easier, readier, and more correctly keeping my Journal and Chart, were also adopted; but as to myself, little was required to be done, as the nature of travelling long journies in those countries will never admit of carrying even the most common article of clothing; so that the traveller is obliged to depend on the country he passes through, for that article, as well as for provisions. Ammunition, useful iron-work, some tobacco, a few knives, and other indispensable articles, make a sufficient load for any one to carry that is going a journey likely to last twenty months, or two years. As that was the case, I only took the shirt and clothes I then had on, one spare coat, a pair of drawers, and as much cloth as would make me two or three pair of Indian stockings, which, together with a blanket for bedding, composed the whole of my stock of clothing.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] John Bean was master of the Company's sloop trading to Knapp's Bay and Whale Cove in 1756 and subsequent years, but no more is known of him. Captain Christopher was sent from Churchill in 1761 to examine Chesterfield Inlet, and during that and the following years he explored it to the head of Baker Lake. Magnus Johnson explored Rankin Inlet in 1764. Captain Duncan in 1791 explored Corbett's Inlet, and in the following year made a re-examination of Chesterfield Inlet, and ascended a short distance up Dubawnt River.

[14] "An Account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay." By Arthur Dobbs. London, 1774.

"A Voyage to Hudson's Bay by the Dobbs Galley and California in the Years 1746 and 1747." By Henry Ellis. London, 1748.

"An Account of Six Years' Residence in Hudson's Bay." By Joseph Robson. London, 1752.

"An Account of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage Performed in the Years 1746 and 1747," 2 vols. By the Clerk of the California [T. S. Dragge]. London, 1748.

"The American Traveller." By an Old and Experienced Trader [Alexander Cluny], London, 1769.

[B] Since the above was written, a Mr. Umfreville has published an account of Hudson's Bay, with the same ill-nature as the former Authors; and for no other reason than that of being disappointed in succeeding to a command in the Bay, though there was no vacancy for him.[15]

[15] Umfreville states (p. 3) that he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in the capacity of writer at the salary of £15 a year, and continued in that employ eleven years. But some disagreement arising in point of salary he quitted the service. ("The Present State of Hudson's Bay." By Edward Umfreville. London, 1790.)

[C] American Traveller, p. 23.[17]

[16] As Hearne's latitudes of the Coppermine River are much too far north, this should be changed to read "the sixty-seventh degree of latitude."

[17] The American Traveller is speaking of the possibility of opening up a trade in copper, and he says that in 1744 he discovered several large lumps of copper, but he doubtless meant that he was shown it by the natives, or found it with them.

[D] Captain Barlow was Governor at Albany Fort when the French went over land from Canada to besiege it in 1704. The Canadians and their Indian guides lurked in the neighbourhood of Albany for several days before they made the attack, and killed many of the cattle that were grazing in the marshes. A faithful Home-Indian, who was on a hunting excursion, discovering those strangers, and supposing them to be enemies, immediately returned to the Fort, and informed the Governor of the circumstance, who gave little credit to it. However, every measure was taken for the defence of the Fort, and orders were given to the Master of a sloop that lay at some distance, to come to the Fort with all possible expedition on hearing a gun fired.

Accordingly, in the middle of the night, or rather in the morning, the French came before the Fort, marched up to the gate, and demanded entrance. Mr. Barlow, who was then on the watch, told them that the Governor was asleep, but he would get the keys immediately. The French, hearing this, expected no opposition, and flocked up to the gate as close as they could stand. Barlow took the advantage of this opportunity, and instead of opening the gate, only opened two port holes, where two six-pounders stood loaded with grape shot, which were instantly fired. This discharge killed great numbers of the French, and among them the Commander, who was an Irishman.

Such an unexpected reception made the remainder retire with great precipitation; and the Master of the sloop hearing the guns, made the best of his way up to the Fort; but some of the French who lay concealed under the banks of the river killed him, and all the boat's crew.

The French retired from this place with reluctance; for some of them were heard shooting in the neighbourhood of the Fort ten days after they were repulsed; and one man in particular walked up and down the platform leading from the gate of the Fort to the Launch for a whole day. Mr. Fullarton, who was then Governor at Albany, spoke to him in French, and offered him kind quarters if he chose to accept them; but to those proposals he made no reply, and only shook his head. Mr. Fullarton then told him, that unless he would resign himself up as a prisoner, he would most assuredly shoot him; on which the man advanced nearer the Fort, and Mr. Fullarton shot him out of his chamber window. Perhaps the hardships this poor man expected to encounter in his return to Canada, made him prefer death; but his refusing to receive quarter from so humane and generous an enemy as the English, is astonishing.

[E] I have seen the remains of those houses several times; they are on the West side of the harbour, and in all probability will be discernible for many years to come.

It is rather surprising, that neither Middleton, Ellis, Christopher, Johnston, nor Garbet, who have all of them been at Marble Island, and some of them often, ever discovered this harbour; particularly the last-mentioned gentleman, who actually sailed quite round the island in a very fine pleasant day in the Summer of 1766. But this discovery was reserved for a Mr. Joseph Stephens! a man of the least merit I ever knew, though he then had the command of a vessel called the Success, employed in the whale-fishery; and in the year 1769, had the command of the Charlotte given to him, a fine brig of one hundred tons; when I was his mate.

[F] The conditions offered me on this occasion cannot be better expressed than in the Company's own words, which I have transcribed from their private letter to me, dated 25th May 1769:

"From the good opinion we entertain of you, and Mr. Norton's recommendation, we have agreed to raise your wages to £——[18] per annum for two years, and have placed you in our Council at Prince of Wales's Fort; and we should have been ready to advance you to the command of the Charlotte, according to your request, if a matter of more immediate consequence had not intervened.

"Mr. Norton has proposed an inland Journey, far to the North of Churchill, to promote an extension of our trade, as well as for the discovery of a North West Passage, Copper Mines, &c.; and as an undertaking of this nature requires the attention of a person capable of taking an observation for determining the longitude and latitude, and also distances, and the course of rivers and their depths, we have fixed upon you (especially as it is represented to us to be your own inclination) to conduct this Journey, with proper assistants.

"We therefore hope you will second our expectations in readily performing this service, and upon your return we shall willingly make you any acknowledgment suitable to your trouble therein.

"We highly approve of your going in the Speedwell, to assist on the whale-fishery last year, and heartily wish you health and success in the present expedition.

"We remain your loving Friends,