[i]

THE PUBLICATIONS OF
THE CHAMPLAIN
SOCIETY
VI

[ii]

[iii]

THE PUBLICATIONS OF
THE CHAMPLAIN
SOCIETY

HEARNE:

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

[iv]

[v]

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

[vi]

[vii]

PREFACE

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.[viii]
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[ix]
has visited the regions described by Hearne, Mr. Tyrrell
writes:—

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.[x]

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.

[xi]

CONTENTS

[xii]

[xiii]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[xvi]

[1]

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.'”

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.

[4]

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]

Photo. J. B. Tyrrell, Oakley, 1894.
S. HEARNE’S NAME ON THE SMOOTH GLACIATED ROCK AT SLOOP’S COVE,
NEAR CHURCHILL

[5]

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[6]
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[7]
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.[8]

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[9]
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:—

[10]

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]

[11]

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.

[12]

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.

[13]

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.

[14]

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[15]
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[16]
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[17]
“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[18]
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:—

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.

MAP OF PART OF NORTH AMERICA
Being a portion of the Map of the World in “Cook’s Third Voyage,” published in 1784
Hearne’s route was first published on this map

[19]

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 note from the “Voyage of La Pérouse” and the
remarks of Lallemant are as follows:—

Hearne[21]
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[22]
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[23]
with lead. The small observatory used by Mr. Wales in
1769 was situated on the south-east bastion.

PLAN OF FORT PRINCE OF WALES.
By J. B. Tyrrell. 1894.
Walls, 37 to 42 feet thick, 16 feet 9 inches high.
Scale: 80 feet = 1 inch.

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.

Toronto, February 1, 1910.

[24]

M^r. Samuel Hearne
Late Chief at Prince of Wales’s Fort.
Hudson’s Bay.
Published as the Act directs by J. Sewell, Cornhill Aug^t. 1st. 1796
From the “European Magazine,” June, 1797

[25]

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.

[26]

[27]

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.
[28]

[29]

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[30]
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[31]
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[32]
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.

[33]

CONTENTS.

Introduction

CHAP. I.

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

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.

CHAP. III.

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

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.

{xiv} CHAP. V.

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

CHAP. VI.

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

CHAP. VII.

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

{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.

{xvii} CHAP. IX.

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

{xviii} CHAP. X.

[41]

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[42]
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[43]
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.

[44]

{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.

[45]

{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:

Mr. Knight soon left Gravesend, and proceeded on his
[46]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,[47]
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[48]
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.

[49]

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[50]
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]

[51]

{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.

[52]

[53]

[55]

[56]

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[58]
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[59]
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.[60]

[61]

A
JOURNEY
TO THE
NORTHERN OCEAN.

CHAP. I.

Having made every necessary arrangement for my departure
on the sixth of November, I took leave of the
Governor, and my other friends, at Prince of Wales’s
Fort, and began my journey, under the salute of seven cannon.[62]

{2} The weather at that time being very mild, made it
but indifferent hauling,[Q] and all my crew being heavy laden,
occasioned us to make but short journeys; however, on the
eighth, we crossed the North branch of Po-co-ree-kis-co River,[22]
and that night put up in a small tuft of woods, which is
between it and Seal River. In the night, one of the Northern
Indians deserted; and as all the rest of my crew were heavy
laden, I was under the necessity of hauling the sledge he had
left, which however was not very heavy, as it scarcely exceeded
sixty pounds.

The weather still continued very fine and pleasant; we
directed our course to the West North West, and early in the
day crossed Seal River. In the course of this day’s journey
we met several Northern Indians, who were going to the
factory with furs and venison; and as we had not killed any
deer from our leaving the Fort, I got several joints of venison
from those strangers, and gave them a note on the Governor
for payment, which seemed perfectly agreeable to all parties.

When on the North West side of Seal River, I asked
Captain Chawchinahaw the distance, and probable time it
would take, before we could reach the main woods; which
he assured me would not exceed four or five days journey.
This put both me and my companions in good {3} spirits, and
we continued our course between the West by North and North
West, in daily expectation of arriving at those woods, which
we were told would furnish us with every thing the country
affords. These accounts were so far from being true, that
after we had walked double the time here mentioned, no signs
of woods were to be seen in the direction we were then steering;
but we had frequently seen the looming of woods to the
South West.

[63]

The cold being now very intense, our small stock of
English provisions all expended, and not the least thing to be
got on the bleak hills we had for some time been walking on,
it became necessary to strike more to the Westward, which we
accordingly did, and the next evening arrived at some small
patches of low scrubby woods, where we saw the tracks of
several deer,[23] and killed a few partridges. The road we had
traversed for many days before, was in general so rough and
stony, that our sledges were daily breaking; and to add to the
inconveniency, the land was so barren, as not to afford us
materials for repairing them: but the few woods we now fell
in with, amply supplied us with necessaries for those repairs;
and as we were then enabled each night to pitch proper tents,
our lodging was much more comfortable than it had been for
many nights before, while we were on the barren grounds,
where, in general, we thought ourselves well off if we could
scrape together as many shrubs as would make a fire; but it
{4} was scarcely ever in our power to make any other defence
against the weather, than by digging a hole in the snow down
to the moss, wrapping ourselves up in our clothing, and lying
down in it, with our sledges set up edgeways to windward.

[64]

On the twenty-first, we did not move; so the Indian men
went a hunting, and the women cut holes in the ice and caught
a few fish in a small lake, by the side of which we had pitched
our tents. At night the men returned with some venison,
having killed three deer, which was without doubt very acceptable;
but our number being great, and the Indians having such
enormous stomachs, very little was left but fragments after the
two or three first good meals. Having devoured the three
deer, and given some necessary repairs to our sledges and snow
shoes, which only took one day, we again proceeded on toward
the North West by West and West North West, through low
scrubby pines,[24] intermixed with some dwarf larch,[25] which is
commonly called juniper in Hudson’s Bay. In our road we
frequently saw the tracks of deer, and many musk-oxen,[26] as
they are called there; but none of my companions were so
fortunate as to kill any of them: so that a few partridges were
all we could get to live on, and those were so scarce, that we
seldom could kill as many as would amount to half a bird a
day for each man; which, considering we had nothing else for
the twenty-four hours, was in reality next to nothing.

{5} By this time I found that Captain Chawchinahaw had
not the prosperity of the undertaking at heart; he often painted
the difficulties in the worst colours, took every method to
dishearten me and my European companions, and several times
hinted his desire of our returning back to the factory: but
finding I was determined to proceed, he took such methods as
he thought would be most likely to answer his end; one
of which was, that of not administering toward our support;
so that we were a considerable time without any other subsistence,
but what our two home-guard (Southern) Indians procured,
and the little that I and the two European men could
kill; which was very disproportionate to our wants, as we had
to provide for several women and children who were with us.

Chawchinahaw finding that this kind of treatment was not
likely to complete his design, and that we were not to be
starved into compliance, at length influenced several of the
best Northern Indians to desert in the night, who took with
them several bags of my ammunition, some pieces of iron
work, such as hatchets, ice chissels, files, &c., as well as several
other useful articles.

[65]

When I became acquainted with this piece of villany, I
asked Chawchinahaw the reason of such behaviour. To which
he answered, that he knew nothing of the affair: but as that
was the case, it would not be {6} prudent, he said, for us to
proceed any farther; adding, that he and all the rest of his
countrymen were going to strike off another way, in order
to join the remainder of their wives and families: and after
giving us a short account which way to steer our course for
the nearest part of Seal River, which he said would be our
best way homeward, he and his crew delivered me most of the
things which they had in charge, packed up their awls, and set
out toward the South West, making the woods ring with their
laughter, and left us to consider of our unhappy situation, near
two hundred miles from Prince of Wales’s Fort, all heavily
laden, and our strength and spirits greatly reduced by hunger
and fatigue.

Our situation at that time, though very alarming, would
not permit us to spend much time in reflection; so we loaded
our sledges to the best advantage (but were obliged to throw
away some bags of shot and ball), and immediately set out on
our return. In the course of the day’s walk we were fortunate
enough to kill several partridges, for which we were all very
thankful, as it was the first meal we had had for several days:
indeed, for the five preceding days we had not killed as much
as amounted to half a partridge for each man; and some days
had not a single mouthful. While we were in this distress,
the Northern Indians were by no means in want; for as they
always walked foremost, they {7} had ten times the chance to
kill partridges, rabbits, or any other thing which was to be met
with, than we had. Beside this advantage, they had great
stocks of flour, oatmeal, and other English provisions, which
they had embezzled out of my stock during the early part of the
journey; and as one of my home Indians, called Mackachy,
and his wife, who is a Northern Indian woman, always resorted
to the Northern Indians tents, where they got amply supplied
with provisions when neither I nor my men had a single
mouthful, I have great reason to suspect they had a principal
hand in the embezzlement: indeed, both the man and his wife
were capable of committing any crime, however diabolical.[66]

This day we had fine pleasant weather for the season of
the year: we set out early in the morning, and arrived the
same day at Seal River, along which we continued our course
for several days. In our way we killed plenty of partridges,
and saw many deer; but the weather was so remarkably serene
that the Indians only killed two of the latter. By this time
game was become so plentiful, that all apprehensions of starving
were laid aside; and though we were heavily laden, and
travelled pretty good days’ journeys, yet as our spirits were
good, our strength gradually returned.

In our course down Seal River we met a stranger, a
Northern Indian, on a hunting excursion; and though {8} he
had not met with any success that day, yet he kindly invited us
to his tent, saying he had plenty of venison at my service; and
told the Southern Indians, that as there were two or three
beaver houses near his tent, he should be glad of their assistance
in taking them, for there was only one man and three women
at the tent.

Though we were at that time far from being in want of
provisions, yet we accepted his offer, and set off with our new
guide for his tent, which, by a comparative distance, he told
us, was not above five miles from the place where we met him,
but we found it to be nearer fifteen; so that it was the middle
of the night before we arrived at it. When we drew near the
tent, the usual signal for the approach of strangers was given,
by firing a gun or two, which was immediately answered by
the man at the tent. On our arrival at the door, the good
man of the house came out, shook me by the hand, and
welcomed us to his tent; but as it was too small to contain
us all, he ordered his women to assist us in pitching our tent;
and in the mean time invited me and as many of my crew as
his little habitation could contain, and regaled us with the best
in the house. The pipe went round pretty briskly, and the
conversation naturally turned on the treatment we had received
from Chawchinahaw and his gang; which was always answered[67]
by our host with, “Ah! if I had been there, it should not have
been so!” when, notwithstanding his hospitality on the present
occasion, he {9} would most assuredly have acted the same
part as the others had done, if he had been of the party.

Having refreshed ourselves with a plentiful supper, we
took leave of our host for a while, and retired to our tent;
but not without being made thoroughly sensible that many
things would be expected from me before I finally left
them.

Early in the morning, my Indians assisted us in taking the
beaver houses already mentioned[27]; but the houses being small,
and some of the beavers escaping, they only killed six, all of
which were cooked the same night, and voraciously devoured
under the denomination of a feast. I also received from the
Indians several joints of venison, to the amount of at least two
deer; but notwithstanding I was to pay for the whole, I found
that Mackachy and his wife got all the prime parts of the
meat; and on my mentioning it to them, there was so
much clanship among them, that they preferred making a
present of it to Mackachy, to selling it to me at double
the price for which venison sells in those parts: a sufficient
proof of the singular advantage which a native of this
country has over an Englishman, when at such a distance
from the Company’s Factories as to depend entirely on them
for subsistence.

{10} Thinking I had made my stay here long enough, I
gave orders to prepare for our departure; and as I had purchased
plenty of meat for present use while we were at this
tent, so I likewise procured such a supply to carry with us, as
was likely to last us to the Fort.

[68]

Early in the morning we took a final leave of our host, and
proceeded on our journey homewards. One of the strangers
accompanied us, for which at first I could not see his motive;
but soon after our arrival at the Factory, I found that the
purport of his visit was to be paid for the meat, said to be
given gratis to Mackachy while we were at his tent. The
weather continued very fine, but extremely cold; and during
this part of my journey nothing material happened, till we
arrived safe at Prince of Wales’s Fort on the eleventh of
December, to my own great mortification, and to the no small
surprise of the Governor, who had placed great confidence in
the abilities and conduct of Chawchinahaw.

[69]

{11} CHAP. II.

During my absence from Prince of Wales’s Fort on
my former journey, several Northern Indians arrived
in great distress at the Factory, and were employed in
shooting partridges for the use of our people at the Fort. One
of those Indians called Conne-e-quese, said he had been very near
to the famous river I was engaged to go in quest of. Accordingly
Mr. Norton engaged him and two other Northern Indians
to accompany me on this second attempt; but to avoid all
incumbrances as much as possible, it was thought advisable not
to take any women,[R] that the Indians might have fewer to provide
for. I would not permit any European to go with me,
but two of the home-guard (Southern) Indian men were to
accompany me as before. Indeed the Indians, both Northern and
Southern, paid so little attention to Isbester and Merriman on
my former journey, particularly in times of scarcity, that I was
determined not to take them with me in future; though the
former was very desirous to accompany me again, and was well
calculated to encounter the hardships of {13} such an undertaking.
Merriman was quite sick of such excursions, and so
far from offering his service a second time, seemed to be very
thankful that he was once more arrived in safety among his
friends; for before he got to the Factory he had contracted a
most violent cold.

Having come to the above resolutions, and finally determined
on the number of Indians that were to accompany us,
we were again fitted out with a large supply of ammunition,
and as many other useful articles as we could conveniently take
with us, together with a small sample of light trading goods,
for presents to the Indians, as before.

[71]

My instructions on this occasion amounted to no more than
an order to proceed as fast as possible; and for my conduct
during the journey, I was referred to my former instructions of
November 6th, 1769.

Every thing being in readiness for our departure, on the
twenty-third of February I began my second journey, accompanied
by three Northern Indians and two of the home-guard
(Southern) Indians. I took particular care, however, that
Mackachy, though an excellent hunter, should not be of our
party; as he had proved himself, during my former journey,
to be a sly artful villain.

The snow at this time was so deep on the top of the ramparts,
that few of the cannon were to be seen, {14} otherwise the
Governor would have saluted me at my departure, as before;
but as those honours could not possibly be of any service to
my expedition, I readily relinquished everything of the kind;
and in lieu of it, the Governor, officers, and people, insisted on
giving me three cheers.

After leaving the Factory, we continued our course in much
the same direction as in my former journey, till we arrived at
Seal River; when, instead of crossing it, and walking on the
barren grounds as before, we followed the course of the river,
except in two particular places, where the bends tended so
much to the South, that by crossing two necks of land not
more than five or six miles wide, we saved the walking of near
twenty miles each time, and still came to the main river again.

The weather had been so remarkably boisterous and
changeable, that we were frequently obliged to continue two
or three nights in the same place. To make up for this
inconveniency, deer were so plentiful for the first eight or ten
days, that the Indians killed as many as was necessary; but
we were all so heavy laden that we could not possibly take
much of the meat with us. This I soon perceived to be a
great evil, which exposed us to such frequent inconveniences,
that in case of not killing any thing for three or four days[72]
together, we were in great want of provisions; we seldom,
however, went to bed entirely supperless {15} till the eighth of
March; when though we had only walked about eight miles
that morning, and expended all the remainder of the day in
hunting, we could not produce a single thing at night, not
even a partridge! nor had we discerned the track of any thing
that day, which was likely to afford us hopes of better success
in the morning. This being the case, we prepared some hooks
and lines ready to angle for fish, as our tent was then by the
side of a lake belonging to Seal River, which seemed by its
situation to afford some prospect of success.

Early in the morning we took down our tent, and moved
about five miles to the West by South, to a part of the lake
that seemed more commodious for fishing than that where
we had been the night before. As soon as we arrived at this
place, some were immediately employed cutting holes in the
ice, while others pitched the tent, got fire-wood, &c.; after
which, for it was early in the morning, those who pitched
the tent went a hunting, and at night one of them returned
with a porcupine,[28] while those who were angling caught several
fine trout, which afforded us a plentiful supper, and we had
some trifle left for breakfast.

Angling for fish under the ice in winter requires no other
process, than cutting round holes in the ice from one to two
feet diameter, and letting down a baited hook, which is always
kept in motion, not only to {16} prevent the water from freezing
so soon as it would do if suffered to remain quite still, but
because it is found at the same time to be a great means
of alluring the fish to the hole; for it is always observed that
the fish in those parts will take a bait which is in motion,
much sooner than one that is at rest.

[73]

Early in the morning we again pursued our angling, and
all the forenoon being expended without any success, we took
down our tent and pitched it again about eight miles farther
to the Westward, on the same lake, where we cut more holes
in the ice for angling, and that night caught several fine pike.[29]
The next day we moved about five miles to the South West,
down a small river, where we pitched our tent; and having
set four fishing nets, in the course of the day we caught many
fine fish, particularly pike, trout,[30] tittymeg, and a coarse kind
of fish known in Hudson’s Bay by the name of Methy.[31][S]

To set a net under the ice, it is first necessary to ascertain
its exact length, by stretching it out upon the ice near the part
proposed for setting it. This being done, a number of round
holes are cut in the ice, at ten or twelve feet distance from
each other, and as many in number as will be sufficient to
stretch the net at its full length. A line is then passed under
the ice, by means {17} of a long light pole, which is first introduced
at one of the end holes, and, by means of two forked
sticks, this pole is easily conducted, or passed from one hole to
another, under the ice, till it arrives at the last. The pole
is then taken out, and both ends of the line being properly
secured, is always ready for use. The net is made fast
to one end of the line by one person, and hauled under the
ice by a second; a large stone is tied to each of the lower
corners, which serves to keep the net expanded, and prevents
it rising from the bottom with every waft of the current.
The Europeans settled in Hudson’s Bay proceed much in the
same manner, though they in general take much more pains;
but the above method is found quite sufficient by the Indians.

In order to search a net thus set, the two end holes only
are opened; the line is veered away by one person, and the
net hauled from under the ice by another; after all the fish
are taken out, the net is easily hauled back to its former
station, and there secured as before.

[74]

As this place seemed likely to afford us a constant supply
of fish, my guide proposed to stay here till the geese began
to fly, which in those Northern parts is seldom before the
middle of May. His reasons for so doing seemed well
founded: “The weather,” he said, “is at this time too cold
to walk on the barren grounds, and the woods from this part
lead so much {18} to the Westward, that were we to continue
travelling in any tolerable shelter, our course would not be
better than West South West, which would only be going out
of our way; whereas, if we should remain here till the weather
permit us to walk due North, over the barren grounds, we
shall then in one month get farther advanced on our journey,
than if we were to continue travelling all the remainder of the
winter in the sweep of the woods.”

These reasons appeared to me very judicious, and as the
plan seemed likely to be attended with little trouble, it met
with my entire approbation. That being the case, we took
additional pains in building our tent, and made it as commodious
as the materials and situation would admit.

To pitch an Indian’s tent in winter, it is first necessary
to search for a level piece of dry ground; which cannot
be ascertained but by thrusting a stick through the snow
down to the ground, all over the proposed part. When a
convenient spot is found, the snow is then cleared away in
a circular form to the very moss; and when it is proposed
to remain more than a night or two in one place, the moss
is also cut up and removed, as it is very liable when dry
to take fire, and occasion much trouble to the inhabitants.
A quantity of poles are then procured, which are generally
proportioned both in number and length to the {19} size of
the tent cloth, and the number of persons it is intended to
contain. If one of the poles should not happen to be forked,
two of them are tied together near the top, then raised erect,
and their buts or lower ends extended as wide as the proposed
diameter of the tent; the other poles are then set round at[75]
equal distances from each other, and in such order, that their
lower ends form a complete circle, which gives boundaries to
the tent on all sides: the tent cloth is then fastened to a
light pole, which is always raised up and put round the poles
from the weather side, so that the two edges that lap over
and form the door are always to the leeward. It must be
understood that this method is only in use when the Indians
are moving from place to place every day; for when they
intend to continue any time in one place, they always make
the door of their tent to face the south.

The tent cloth is usually of thin Moose leather, dressed and
made by the Indians, and in shape it nearly resembles a fan-mount
inverted; so that when the largest curve incloses the
bottom of the poles, the smaller one is always sufficient to
cover the top; except a hole, which is designedly left open
to serve the double purpose of chimney and window.

The fire is always made on the ground in the center, and
the remainder of the floor, or bottom of the tent, is covered all
over with small branches of the pine tree, {20} which serve
both for seats and beds. A quantity of pine tops and branches
are laid round the bottom of the poles on the outside, over
which the eaves of the tent is staked down; a quantity of snow
is then packed over all, which excludes great part of the
external air, and contributes greatly to the warmth within.
The tent here described is such as is made use of by the
Southern Indians, and the same with which I was furnished
at the Factory; for that made use of by the Northern Indians
is made of different materials, and is of a quite different shape,
as shall be described hereafter.

The situation of our tent at this time was truly pleasant,[32]
particularly for a spring residence; being on a small elevated
point, which commanded an extensive prospect over a large
lake, the shores of which abounded with wood of different
kinds, such as pine, larch, birch, and poplar; and in many
places was beautifully contrasted with a variety of high hills,
that shewed their snowy summits above the tallest woods.
About two hundred yards from the tent was a fall, or rapid,
which the swiftness of the current prevents from freezing
in the coldest winters. At the bottom of this fall, which
empties itself into the above lake, was a fine sheet of open
water near a mile in length, and at least half a mile in
breadth; by the margin of which we had our fishing nets set,
all in open view from the tent.

[76]

{21} The remaining part of this month passed on without
any interruption, or material occurrence, to disturb our repose,
worth relating: our fishing nets provided us with daily food,
and the Indians had too much philosophy about them to give
themselves much additional trouble; for during the whole
time not one of them offered to look for a partridge, or anything
else which could yield a change of diet.

As the time may now be supposed to have lain heavy on
my hands, it may not be improper to inform the reader how
I employed it. In the first place, I embraced every favourable
opportunity of observing the latitude of the place, the mean
of which was 58° 46′ 30″ North; and the longitude by account
was 5° 57′ West, from Prince of Wales’s Fort. I then corrected
my reckoning from my last observation; brought up
my journal, and filled up my chart, to the place of our
residence. I built also some traps, and caught a few martins;
and by way of saving my ammunition, set some snares for
partridges. The former is performed by means of a few logs,
so arranged that when the martin attempts to take away the
bait laid for him, he with very little struggle pulls down a
small post that supports the whole weight of the trap; when,
if the animal be not killed by the weight of the logs, he is
confined till he be frozen to death, or killed by the hunter
going his rounds.[77]

{22} To snare partridges requires no other process than
making a few little hedges across a creek, or a few short hedges
projecting at right angles from the side of an island of willows,
which those birds are found to frequent. Several openings
must be left in each hedge, to admit the birds to pass
through, and in each of them a snare must be set; so that
when the partridges are hopping along the edge of the willows
to feed, which is their usual custom, some of them soon get
into the snares, where they are confined till they are taken
out. I have caught from three to ten partridges in a day by
this simple contrivance; which requires no further attendance
than going round them night and morning.

I have already observed that nothing material happened
to disturb our repose till the first of April, when to our
great surprise the fishing nets did not afford us a single fish.
Though some of the preceding days had been pretty successful,
yet my companions, like true Indians, seldom went to
sleep till they had cleared the tent of every article of provision.
As nothing was to be caught in the nets, we all went
out to angle; but in this we were equally unsuccessful, as we
could not procure one fish the whole day. This sudden
change of circumstances alarmed one of my companions so
much, that he began to think of resuming the use of his gun,
after having laid it by for near a month.

{23} Early in the morning we arose; when my guide
Conne-e-quese went a hunting, and the rest attended the nets
and hooks near home; but all with such bad success, that we
could not procure enough in one day to serve two men for a
supper. This, instead of awakening the rest of my companions,
sent them to sleep; and scarcely any of them had the
prudence to look at the fishing nets, though they were not
more than two or three hundred yards from the tent door.

My guide, who was a steady man, and an excellent hunter,
having for many years been accustomed to provide for a large
family, seemed by far the most industrious of all my crew;[78]
he closely pursued his hunting for several days, and seldom
returned to the tent till after dark, while those at the tent
passed most of their time in smoking and sleeping.

Several days passed without any signs of relief, till the
10th, when my guide continued out longer than ordinary,
which made us conjecture that he had met with strangers, or
seen some deer, or other game, which occasioned his delay.
We all therefore lay down to sleep, having had but little
refreshment for the three preceding days, except a pipe of
tobacco and a draught of water; even partridges had become
so scarce that not one was to be got; the heavy thaws had
driven them all out towards the barren grounds. About midnight,
to our {24} great joy, our hunter arrived, and brought
with him the blood and fragments of two deer that he had
killed. This unexpected success soon roused the sleepers,
who, in an instant, were busily employed in cooking a large
kettle of broth, made with the blood, and some fat and scraps
of meat shred small, boiled in it. This might be reckoned
a dainty dish at any time, but was more particularly so in our
present almost famished condition.

After partaking of this refreshment, we resumed our rest,
and early in the morning set out in a body for the place where
the deer were lying. As we intended to make our stay but
short, we left our tent standing, containing all our baggage.
On our arrival at the place of destination, some were immediately
employed in making a hut or barrocado with young
pine trees; while one man skinned the deer, the remainder
went a hunting, and in the afternoon returned to the hut,
after having killed two deer.

Several days were now spent in feasting and gluttony;
during which the Indians killed five more deer and three fine
beavers; finding at last, however, that there was little prospect
of procuring either more deer or beavers, we determined
to return to our tent, with the remains of what we had already
obtained.[79]

The flesh of these deer, though none of the largest, might
with frugality have served our small number, (being {25} only
six) for some time; but my companions, like other Indians,
feasted day and night while it lasted; and were so indolent
and unthinking, as not to attend properly to the fishing nets;
so that many fine fish, which had been entangled in the nets,
were entirely spoiled, and in about twelve or fourteen days we
were nearly in as great distress for provisions as ever.

During the course of our long inactivity, Saw-sop-o-kishac,
commonly called Sossop, my principal Southern Indian, as he
was cutting some birch for spoons, dishes, and other necessary
household furniture, had the misfortune to cut his leg in
such a manner as to be incapable of walking; and the other
Southern Indian, though a much younger man, was so indolent
as not to be of any service to me, except hauling part
of our luggage, and eating up part of the provisions which
had been provided by the more industrious part of my companions.

On the twenty-fourth, early in the day, a great body of
Indians was seen in the South West, on the large lake by the side
of which our tent stood. On their arrival at our tent we discovered
them to be the wives and families of the Northern
Indian goose-hunters, who were gone to Prince of Wales’s
Fort to attend the season. They were bound toward the
barren ground, there to wait the return of their husbands and
relations from the Fort, after the termination of the goose-season.

{26} My guide having for some days past determined to
move toward the barren ground, this morning we took down
our tent, packed up our luggage, and proceeded to the Eastward
in the same track we came; but Sossop being so lame
as to be obliged to be hauled on a sledge, I easily prevailed
on two of the Indians who had joined us on the 24th, and
who were pursuing the same road, to perform this service
for him.[80]

After two days good walking in our old track, we arrived
at a part of Seal River called She-than-nee,[33] where we pitched
our tent and set both our fishing-nets, intending to stay there
till the geese began to fly. Though we had seen several swans
and some geese flying to the Northward, it was the thirteenth
of May before we could procure any. On that day the
Indians killed two swans and three geese. This in some
measure alleviated our distress, which at that time was very
great; having had no other subsistence for five or six days,
than a few cranberries, that we gathered from the dry ridges
where the snow was thawed away in spots; for though we set
our fishing-nets in the best judged places, and angled at every
part that was likely to afford success, we only caught three
small fish during the whole time. Many of the Northern
Indians, who had joined us on the 24th of April, remained
in our company for some time; and though I well knew they
had had a plentiful winter, and had then good stocks of dried
meat by them, and {27} were also acquainted with our distress,
they never gave me or my Southern companions the
least supply, although they had in secret amply provided for
our Northern guides.

By the nineteenth, the geese, swans, ducks, gulls, and
other birds of passage, were so plentiful, that we killed every
day as many as were sufficient for our support; and having
stopped a few days to recruit our spirits after so long a fast,
on the twenty-third we began once more to proceed toward
the barren ground. Sossop having now perfectly recovered
from his late misfortune, everything seemed to have a favourable
appearance; especially as my crew had been augmented
to twelve persons, by the addition of one of my guide’s
wives, and five others, whom I had engaged to assist in carrying
our luggage; and I well knew, from the season of the
year, that hauling would soon be at an end for the summer.

[81]

The thaws having been by this time so great as to render
travelling in the woods almost impracticable, we continued our
course to the East on Seal River, about sixteen miles farther,
when we came to a small river, and a string of lakes connected
with it, that tended to the North.

The weather for some time was remarkably fine and
pleasant. Game of all kinds was exceedingly plentiful, {28}
and we continued our course to the Northward on the above
river and lakes till the first of June, when we arrived at a place
called Beralzone.[34] In our way thither, beside killing more
geese than was necessary, we shot two deer. One of my
companions had now the misfortune to shatter his hand very
much by the bursting of a gun; but as no bones were broken,
I bound up the wound, and with the assistance of some of
Turlington’s drops, yellow basilicon, &c., which I had with
me, soon restored the use of his hand; so that in a very short
time he seemed to be out of all danger.

After stopping a few days at Beralzone, to dry a little
venison and a few geese, we again proceeded to the Northward
on the barren ground; for on our leaving this place we soon
got clear of all the woods.

The snow was by this time so soft as to render walking in
snow-shoes very laborious; and though the ground was bare
in many places, yet at times, and in particular places, the snow-drifts
were so deep, that we could not possibly do without
them. By the sixth, however, the thaws were so general, and
the snows so much melted, that as our snow-shoes were
attended with more trouble than service, we all consented
to throw them away. Till the tenth, our sledges proved
serviceable, particularly in crossing lakes and ponds on the
ice; but that mode of travelling now growing dangerous on
account of the great thaws, we {29} determined to throw
away our sledges, and every one to take a load on his
back.

[82]

This I found to be much harder work than the winter
carriage, as my part of the luggage consisted of the following
articles, viz. the quadrant and its stand, a trunk containing
books, papers, &c., a land-compass, and a large bag containing
all my wearing apparel; also a hatchet, knives, files, &c., beside
several small articles, intended for presents to the natives.
The awkwardness of my load, added to its great weight, which
was upward of sixty pounds, and the excessive heat of the
weather, rendered walking the most laborious task I had ever
encountered; and what considerably increased the hardship,
was the badness of the road, and the coarseness of our lodging,
being, on account of the want of proper tents, exposed to the
utmost severity of the weather. The tent we had with us was
not only too large, and unfit for barren ground service, where
no poles were to be got, but we had been obliged to cut it
up for shoes, and each person carried his own share. Indeed
my guide behaved both negligently and ungenerously on this
occasion; as he never made me, or my Southern Indians,
acquainted with the nature of pitching tents on the barren
ground; which had he done, we could easily have procured
a set of poles before we left the woods. He took care, however,
to procure a set for himself and his wife; and when
the tent was divided, though he made shift to get a piece
large enough to serve him for {30} a complete little tent, he
never asked me or my Southern Indians to put our heads
into it.

Beside the inconvenience of being exposed to the open air,
night and day, in all weathers, we experienced real distress
from the want of victuals. When provisions were procured,
it often happened that we could not make a fire, so that we
were obliged to eat the meat quite raw; which at first, in the
article of fish particularly, was as little relished by my Southern
companions as myself.[83]

Notwithstanding these accumulated and complicated hardships,
we continued in perfect health and good spirits; and
my guide, though a perfect niggard of his provisions, especially
in times of scarcity, gave us the strongest assurance of
soon arriving at a plentiful country, which would not only
afford us a certain supply of provisions, but where we should
meet with other Indians, who probably would be willing to
carry part of our luggage. This news naturally gave us great
consolation; for at that time the weight of our constant loads
was so great, that when Providence threw any thing in our
way, we could not carry above two days provisions with us,
which indeed was the chief reason of our being so frequently
in want.

From the twentieth to the twenty-third we walked every
day near twenty miles, without any other subsistence {31} than
a pipe of tobacco, and a drink of water when we pleased:
even partridges and gulls, which some time before were in
great plenty, and easily procured, were now so scarce and shy,
that we could rarely get one; and as to geese, ducks, &c., they
had all flown to the Northward to breed and molt.

Early in the morning of the twenty-third, we set out as
usual, but had not walked above seven or eight miles before
we saw three musk-oxen grazing by the side of a small lake.
The Indians immediately went in pursuit of them; and as
some of them were expert hunters, they soon killed the whole
of them. This was no doubt very fortunate; but, to our
great mortification, before we could get one of them skinned,
such a fall of rain came on, as to put it quite out of our
power to make a fire; which, even in the finest weather, could
only be made of moss, as we were near an hundred miles from
any woods. This was poor comfort for people who had not
broke their fast for four or five days. Necessity, however,
has no law; and having been before initiated into the method
of eating raw meat, we were the better prepared for this
repast: but this was by no means so well relished, either by[84]
me or the Southern Indians, as either raw venison or raw
fish had been: for the flesh of the musk-ox is not only coarse
and tough, but smells and tastes so strong of musk as to
make it very disagreeable when raw, though it is tolerable
eating when properly cooked. The weather continued so {32}
remarkably bad, accompanied with constant heavy rain, snow,
and sleet, and our necessities were so great by the time the
weather permitted us to make a fire, that we had nearly eat to
the amount of one buffalo quite raw.

Notwithstanding I mustered up all my philosophy on this
occasion, yet I must confess that my spirits began to fail me.
Indeed our other misfortunes were greatly aggravated by the
inclemency of the weather, which was not only cold, but so
very wet that for near three days and nights, I had not one
dry thread about me. When the fine weather returned, we
made a fire, though it was only of moss, as I have already
observed; and having got my cloaths dry, all things seemed
likely to go on in the old channel, though that was indifferent
enough; but I endeavoured, like a sailor after a storm, to
forget past misfortunes.

None of our natural wants, if we except thirst, are so
distressing, or hard to endure, as hunger; and in wandering
situations, like that which I now experienced, the hardship is
greatly aggravated by the uncertainty with respect to its duration,
and the means most proper to be used to remove it, as
well as by the labour and fatigue we must necessarily undergo
for that purpose, and the disappointments which too frequently
frustrate our best concerted plans and most strenuous exertions:
it not only enfeebles the body, but depresses the spirits,
in spite of {33} every effort to prevent it. Besides, for want
of action, the stomach so far loses its digestive powers, that
after long fasting it resumes its office with pain and reluctance.
During this journey I have too frequently experienced the
dreadful effects of this calamity, and more than once been
reduced to so low a state by hunger and fatigue, that when[85]
Providence threw any thing in my way, my stomach has
scarcely been able to retain more than two or three ounces,
without producing the most oppressive pain. Another disagreeable
circumstance of long fasting is, the extreme difficulty
and pain attending the natural evacuations for the first time;
and which is so dreadful, that of it none but those who have
experienced can have an adequate idea.

To record in detail each day’s fare since the commencement
of this journey, would be little more than a dull repetition
of the same occurrences. A sufficient idea of it may be given
in a few words, by observing that it may justly be said to have
been either all feasting, or all famine; sometimes we had too
much, seldom just enough, frequently too little, and often
none at all. It will be only necessary to say that we have
fasted many times two whole days and nights; twice upwards
of three days; and once, while at She-than-nee, near seven
days, during which we tasted not a mouthful of anything,
except a few cranberries, water, scraps of old leather, and
burnt bones. On those pressing occasions I have frequently
seen the Indians examine their wardrobe, {34} which consisted
chiefly of skin-clothing, and consider what part could best be
spared; sometimes a piece of an old, half-rotten deer skin,
and at others a pair of old shoes, were sacrificed to alleviate
extreme hunger. The relation of such uncommon hardships
may perhaps gain little credit in Europe; while those who are
conversant with the history of Hudson’s Bay, and who are
thoroughly acquainted with the distress which the natives of
the country about it frequently endure, may consider them as
no more than the common occurrences of an Indian life, in
which they are frequently driven to the necessity of eating one
another.[T]

[86]

{35} Knowing that our constant loads would not permit
us to carry much provisions with us, we agreed to continue a
day or two to refresh ourselves, and to dry a little meat in
the sun, as it thereby not only becomes more portable, but is
always ready for use. On the twenty-sixth, all that remained
of the musk-ox flesh being properly dried and fit for carriage,
we began to proceed on our journey Northward, and on the
thirtieth of June arrived at a small river, called Cathawhachaga,[35]
which empties[87]
itself into a large lake called Yath-kyed-whoie,[36]
or White Snow Lake. Here we found several tents of
Northern Indians, who had been some time employed spearing
deer in their canoes, as they crossed the above mentioned
little river. Here also we met a Northern Indian Leader, or
Captain, called Keelshies, and a small party of his crew, who
were bound to Prince of Wales’s Fort, with furs {36} and other
commodities for trade. When Keelshies was made acquainted
with the intent of my journey, he readily offered his service
to bring me anything from the Factory that we were likely
to stand in need of; and though we were then in latitude
63° 4′ North, and longitude 7° 12′ West from Churchill, yet
he promised to join us again, at a place appointed by my
guide, by the setting in of the Winter. In consequence of
this offer, I looked over our ammunition and other articles;
and finding that a little powder, shot, tobacco, and a few
knives were likely to be of service before the journey could
be completed, I determined to send a letter to the governor
of Prince of Wales’s Fort, to advise him of my situation, and
to desire him to send by the bearer a certain quantity of the
above articles; on which Keelshies and his crew proceeded on
their journey for the Factory the same day.

MAP OF YATH-KYED LAKE AND PART OF KAZAN RIVER
By J. B. Tyrrell, 1894

Cathawhachaga was the only river we had seen since the
breaking up of the ice that we could not ford; and as we had
not any canoes with us, we were obliged to get ferried across
by the strange Indians. When we arrived on the North side[88]
of this river, where the Indians resided, my guide proposed to
stop some time, to dry and pound some meat to take with us;
to which I readily consented. We also set our fishing-nets,
and caught a considerable quantity of very fine fish; such as
tittemeg, barble,[37] &c.

{37} The number of deer which crossed Cathawhachaga,
during our stay there, was by no means equal to our expectations,
and no more than just sufficient to supply our present
wants; so that after waiting several days in fruitless expectation,
we began to prepare for moving; and accordingly, on
the sixth of July, we set out, though we had not at that time
as much victuals belonging to our company as would furnish
us a supper. During our stay here, we had each day got as
much fish or flesh as was sufficient for present expenditure;
but, being in hopes of better times, saved none.

Before we left Cathawhachaga, I made several observations
for the latitude, and found it to be 63° 4′ North.[38] I also
brought up my journal, and filled up my chart to that time.
Everything being now ready for our departure, my guide
informed me that in a few days a canoe would be absolutely
necessary, to enable us to cross some unfordable rivers which
we should meet, and could not avoid. This induced me to
purchase one at the easy rate of a single knife, the full value
of which did not exceed one penny. It must be observed,
that the man who sold the canoe had no farther occasion for
it, and was glad to take what he could get; but had he been
thoroughly acquainted with our necessities, he most assuredly
would have had the conscience to have asked goods to the
amount of ten beaver skins at least.

[89]

{38} This additional piece of luggage obliged me to engage
another Indian; and we were lucky enough at that time to
meet with a poor forlorn fellow, who was fond of the office,
having never been in a much better state than that of a beast
of burthen. Thus, provided with a canoe, and a man to
carry it, we left Cathawhachaga, as has been observed, on
the sixth of July, and continued our course to the North
by West, and North North West; and that night put up by
the side of a small bay of White Snow Lake,[39] where we angled,
and caught several fine trout, some of which weighed not less
than fourteen or sixteen pounds. In the night heavy rain
came on, which continued three days; but the ninth proving
fine weather, and the sun displaying his beams very powerfully,
we dried our clothes, and proceeded to the Northward. Toward
the evening, however, it began again to rain so excessively,
that it was with much difficulty we kept our powder and
books dry.

On the seventeenth, we saw many musk-oxen, several of
which the Indians killed; when we agreed to stay here a day
or two, to dry and pound[U] some of the carcases to take with
us. The flesh of any animal, when it is thus prepared, is
not only hearty food, but is always ready for {39} use, and at
the same time very portable. In most parts of Hudson’s Bay
it is known by the name of Thew-hagon,[40] but amongst the
Northern Indians it is called Achees.

Having prepared as much dried flesh as we could transport,
we proceeded to the Northward; and at our departure
left a great quantity of meat behind us, which we could neither
eat nor carry away. This was not the first time we had so
done; and however wasteful it may appear, it is a practice
so common among all the Indian tribes, as to be thought
nothing of. On the twenty-second, we met several strangers,
whom we joined in pursuit of the deer, &c. which were at
this time so plentiful, that we got every day a sufficient
number for our support, and indeed too frequently killed
several merely for the tongues, marrow, and fat.

[90]

After we had been some time in company with those
Indians, I found that my guide seemed to hesitate about
proceeding any farther; and that he kept pitching his tent
backward and forward, from place to place, after the deer,
and the rest of the Indians. On my asking him his reason
for so doing; he answered, that as the year was too far
advanced to admit of our arrival at the Coppermine River
that Summer, he thought it more advisable to pass the Winter
with some of the Indians then in company, and alleged that
there could be no fear of our arriving at that river early in the
Summer of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one.
As I could not {40} pretend to contradict him, I was entirely
reconciled to his proposal; and accordingly we kept moving
to the Westward with the other Indians. In a few days,
many others joined us from different quarters; so that by
the thirtieth of July we had in all above seventy tents, which
did not contain less than six hundred persons. Indeed our
encampment at night had the appearance of a small town;
and in the morning, when we began to move, the whole
ground (at least for a large space all round) seemed to be
alive, with men, women, children, and dogs. Though the
land was entirely barren, and destitute of every kind of
herbage, except wish-a-capucca[V] and moss, yet the deer were
so numerous that the Indians not only killed as many as
were sufficient for our large number, but often several merely
for the skins, marrow, &c. and left the carcases to rot,
or to be devoured by the wolves, foxes, and other beasts of
prey.

MAP OF DUBAWNT LAKE AND PART OF DUBAWNT RIVER
By J. B. and J. W. Tyrrell, 1893

[91]

In our way to the Westward we came to several rivers,
which, though small and of no note, were so deep as not to
be fordable, particularly Doobaunt River.[W] On those occasions
only, we had recourse to our canoe, which, though of the
common size, was too small to carry more {41} than two
persons; one of whom always lies down at full length for
fear of making the canoe top-heavy, and the other sits on his
heels and paddles. This method of ferrying over rivers,
though tedious, is the most expeditious way these poor people
can contrive; for they are sometimes obliged to carry their
canoes one hundred and fifty, or two hundred miles, without
having occasion to make use of them; yet at times they cannot
do without them; and were they not very small and portable,
it would be impossible for one man to carry them, which they
are often obliged to do, not only the distance above mentioned,
but even the whole Summer.

[92]

The person I engaged at Cathawhachaga to carry my
canoe proving too weak for the task, another of my crew was
obliged to exchange loads with him, which seemed perfectly
agreeable to all parties; and as we walked but short days’
journies, and deer were very plentiful, all things went on
very smoothly. Nothing material happened till the eighth,
when we were near losing the quadrant and all our powder
from the following circumstance: the fellow who had been
released from carrying the canoe proving too weak, as hath
been already observed, had, after the exchange, nothing to
carry but my powder and his own trifles; the latter were
indeed very inconsiderable, not equal in size and weight to
a soldier’s knapsack. As I intended to have a little sport with
the deer, and knowing his load to be much lighter than mine, I
gave him the quadrant {42} and stand to carry, which he took
without the least hesitation, or seeming ill-will. Having thus
eased myself for the present of a heavy and cumbersome part
of my load, I set out early in the morning with some of the
Indian men; and after walking about eight or nine miles,
saw, from the top of a high hill, a great number of deer
feeding in a neighbouring valley; on which we laid down our
loads and erected a flag, as a signal for the others to pitch
their tents there for the night. We then pursued our hunting,
which proved very successful. At night, however, when we
came to the hill where we had left our baggage, I found that
only part of the Indians had arrived, and that the man who
had been entrusted with my powder and quadrant, had set off
another way, with a small party of Indians that had been in
our company that morning. The evening being far advanced,
we were obliged to defer going in search of him till the
morning, and as his track could not be easily discovered in the
Summer, the Southern Indians, as well as myself, were very
uneasy, fearing we had lost the powder, which was to provide
us with food and raiment the remainder of our journey. The
very uncourteous behaviour of the Northern Indians then in[93]
company, gave me little hopes of receiving assistance from
them, any longer than I had wherewithal to reward them for
their trouble and expense; for during the whole time I had
been with them, not one of them had offered to give me the
least morsel of victuals, without asking something in exchange,
which, in general, was three times the value of {43} what they
could have got for the same articles, had they carried them to
the Factory, though several hundred miles distant.

So inconsiderate were those people, that wherever they
met me, they always expected that I had a great assortment of
goods to relieve their necessities; as if I had brought the
Company’s warehouse with me. Some of them wanted guns;
all wanted ammunition, iron-work, and tobacco; many were
solicitous for medicine; and others pressed me for different
articles of clothing; but when they found I had nothing to
spare, except a few nick-nacks and gewgaws, they made no
scruple of pronouncing me a “poor servant, noways like the
Governor at the Factory, who, they said, they never saw, but
he gave them something useful.” It is scarcely possible to
conceive any people so void of common understanding, as to
think that the sole intent of my undertaking this fatiguing
journey, was to carry a large assortment of useful and heavy
implements, to give to all that stood in need of them; but
many of them would ask me for what they wanted with the
same freedom, and apparently with the same hopes of success,
as if they had been at one of the Company’s Factories. Others,
with an air of more generosity, offered me furs to trade with
at the same standard as at the Factory; without considering
how unlikely it was that I should increase the enormous
weight of my load with articles which could be of no more
use to me in my present situation than they were to themselves.

{44} This unaccountable behaviour of the Indians occasioned
much serious reflection on my part; as it showed
plainly how little I had to expect if I should, by any accident,[94]
be reduced to the necessity of depending upon them for
support; so that, though I laid me down to rest, sleep was
a stranger to me that night. The following beautiful lines of
Dr. Young I repeated above an hundred times:

After passing the night in this melancholy manner, I got
up at daybreak, and, with the two Southern Indians, set out
in quest of our deserter. Many hours elapsed in fruitless
search after him, as we could not discover a single track in
the direction which we were informed he had taken. The
day being almost spent without the least appearance of
success, I proposed repairing to the place where I had delivered
the quadrant to him, in hopes of seeing some track in
the moss that might lead to the way the Indians were gone
whom our deserter had accompanied. On our arrival at that
place, we found they had struck down toward a little river
which they had crossed the morning before; and there, to
our great joy, we found the quadrant and the bag of powder
lying on the top of a high stone, but not a human being was
to be seen. On {45} examining the powder, we found that
the bag had been opened, and part of it taken out; but, notwithstanding
our loss was very considerable, we returned with
light hearts to the place at which we had been the night
before, where we found our baggage safe, but all the Indians
gone; they had, however, been so considerate as to set up
marks to direct us what course to steer. By the time we had
adjusted our bundles, the day was quite spent; seeing, however,
a smoke, or rather a fire, in the direction we were ordered
to steer, we bent our way towards it; and a little after ten
o’clock at night came up with the main body of the Indians;[95]
when, after refreshing ourselves with a plentiful supper, the
first morsel we had tasted that day, we retired to rest, which
I at least enjoyed with better success than the preceding
night.

In the morning of the eleventh we proceeded on to the
West, and West by South; but on the twelfth did not move.
This gave us an opportunity of endeavouring to ascertain the
latitude by a meridian altitude, when we found the place to be
in 63° 10′ North nearly. It proving rather cloudy about noon,
though exceeding fine weather, I let the quadrant stand, in
order to obtain the latitude more exactly by two altitudes; but,
to my great mortification, while I was eating my dinner, a
sudden gust of wind blew it down; and as the ground where
it stood was {46} very stoney, the bubble, the sight-vane, and
vernier, were entirely broke to pieces, which rendered the
instrument useless. In consequence of this misfortune I
resolved to return again to the Fort, though we were then in
the latitude of 63° 10′ North, and about 10° 40′ West longitude
from Churchill River.[43]

[96]

{47} CHAP. III.

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

The day after I had the misfortune to break the
quadrant, several Indians joined me from the Northward,
some of whom plundered me and my companions
of almost every useful article we had, among which
was my gun; and notwithstanding we were then on the point
of returning to the Factory, yet, as one of my companions’ guns
was a little out of order, the loss was likely to be {48} severely
felt; but it not being in my power to recover it again, we were
obliged to rest contented.

Nothing can exceed the cool deliberation of those villains;
a committee[97]
of them entered my tent.[X] The ringleader seated
himself on my left-hand. They first begged me to lend them
my skipertogan[Y] to fill a pipe of tobacco. After smoking two
or three pipes, they asked me for several articles which I had
not, and among others for a pack of cards; but on my answering
that I had not any of the articles they mentioned, one of
them put his hand on my baggage, and asked if it was mine.
Before I could answer in the affirmative, he and the rest of his
companions (six in number) had all my treasure spread on the
ground. One took one thing, and another another, till at last
nothing was left but the empty bag, which they permitted me
to keep. At length, considering that, though I was going to
the Factory, I should want a knife to cut my victuals, an awl to
mend my shoes, and a needle to mend my other clothing, they
readily gave me these articles, though not without making me
understand that I ought to look upon {49} it as a great favour.
Finding them possessed of so much generosity, I ventured to
solicit them for my razors; but thinking that one would be
sufficient to shave me during my passage home, they made no
scruple to keep the other; luckily they chose the worst. To
complete their generosity, they permitted me to take as much
soap as I thought would be sufficient to wash and shave me
during the remainder of my journey to the Factory.

Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 12, 1893.
CAMP ON THE SHORE OF DUBAWNT LAKE

Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 18, 1893.
DUBAWNT RIVER BELOW DUBAWNT LAKE
WHERE HEARNE CROSSED THE RIVER IN JULY 1770

They were more cautious in plundering the Southern
Indians, as the relation of such outrages being committed on
them might occasion a war between the two nations; but they
had nothing of that kind to dread from the English. However,
the Northern Indians had address enough to talk my
home-guard Indians out of all they had: so that before we
left them, they were as clean swept as myself, excepting their
guns, some ammunition, an old hatchet, an ice-chissel, and a
file to sharpen them.

[98]

It may probably be thought strange that my guide, who
was a Northern Indian, should permit his countrymen to commit
such outrages on those under his charge; but being a man
of little note, he was so far from being able to protect us, that
he was obliged to submit to nearly the same outrage himself.
On this occasion he assumed a great air of generosity; but the
fact was, he gave freely what it was not in his power to protect.

{50} Early in the morning of the nineteenth, I set out on
my return, in company with several Northern Indians, who were
bound to the Factory with furrs and other commodities in trade.
This morning the Indian who took my gun, returned it to me,
it being of no use to him, having no ammunition. The weather
for some time proved fine, and deer were very plentiful; but
as the above ravagers had materially lightened my load, by
taking everything from me, except the quadrant, books, &c.,
this part of my journey was the easiest and most pleasant of
any I had experienced since my leaving the Fort. In our way
we frequently met with other Indians, so that scarcely a day
passed without our seeing several smokes made by other
strangers. Many of those we met joined our party, having
furrs and other commodities for trade.

The deer’s hair being now of a proper length for clothing,
it was necessary, according to the custom, to procure as many
of their skins, while in season, as would make a suit of warm
clothing for the Winter: and as each grown person requires
the prime parts of from eight to eleven of those skins (in proportion
to their size) to make a complete suit, it must naturally
be supposed that this addition to my burden was very considerable.
My load, however cumbersome and heavy, was yet very
bearable; but, after I had carried it several weeks, it proved
of no service; for we had not any women properly belonging
to our company, consequently had not any {51} person to[99]
dress them; and so uncivil were the other Indians, that they
would neither exchange them for others of an inferior quality
already dressed, nor permit their women to dress them for us,
under pretence that they were always employed in the like duty
for themselves and families, which was by no means the case;
for many of them had sufficient time to have done every little
service of that kind that we could have required of them. The
truth was, they were too well informed of my poverty to do
any acts of generosity, as they well knew I had it not then in
my power to reward them for their trouble. I never saw a set
of people that possessed so little humanity, or that could view
the distresses of their fellow-creatures with so little feeling and
unconcern; for though they seem to have a great affection for
their wives and children, yet they will laugh at and ridicule
the distress of every other person who is not immediately related
to them.

This behaviour of the Indians made our situation very
disagreeable; for as the fall advanced, we began to feel the
cold very severely for want of proper clothing. We suffered
also greatly from the inclemency of the weather, as we had
no tent to shelter us. My guide was entirely exempted from
all those inconveniences, having procured a good warm suit
of clothing; and as one of his wives had long before
joined our party, he was provided with a tent, and every
other necessary consistent {52} with their manner of living:
but the old fellow was so far from interesting himself in our
behalf, that he had, for some time before, entirely withdrawn
from our company; and though he then continued to carry
the greatest part of our little remains of ammunition, yet
he did not contribute in the smallest degree towards our
support. As deer, however, were in great plenty, I felt little
or no inconvenience from his neglect in this respect.

Provisions still continued very plentiful; which was a
singular piece of good fortune, and the only circumstance
which at this time could contribute to our happiness or[100]
safety; for notwithstanding the early season of the year,
the weather was remarkably bad and severely cold, at least
it appeared so to us, probably from having no kind of skin-clothing.
In this forlorn state we continued our course to
the South East; and, to add to the gloominess of our
situation, most of the Northern Indians who had been in
our company all the first part of the fall, were by this time
gone a-head, as we could not keep up with them for want
of snow-shoes.

In the evening of the twentieth, we were joined from the
Westward by a famous Leader, called Matonabbee, mentioned
in my instructions; who, with his followers, or gang, was
also going to Prince of Wales’s Fort, with furrs, and other
articles for trade. This Leader, when a youth, resided several
years at the above Fort, and was {53} not only a perfect master
of the Southern Indian language, but by being frequently
with the Company’s servants, had acquired several words of
English, and was one of the men who brought the latest
accounts of the Coppermine River; and it was on his information,
added to that of one I-dot-le-ezey, (who is since
dead), that this expedition was set on foot.

The courteous behaviour of this stranger struck me very
sensibly. As soon as he was acquainted with our distress,
he got such skins as we had with us dressed for the Southern
Indians, and furnished me with a good warm suit of otter
and other skins: but, as it was not in his power to provide
us with snow-shoes, (being then on the barren ground), he
directed us to a little river which he knew, and where there
was a small range of woods, which, though none of the best,
would, he said, furnish us with temporary snow-shoes and
sledges, that might materially assist us during the remaining
part of our journey. We spent several nights in company
with this Leader, though we advanced towards the Fort at
the rate of ten or twelve miles a day; and as provisions
abounded, he made a grand feast for me in the Southern[101]
Indian style, where there was plenty of good eating, and the
whole concluded with singing and dancing, after the Southern
Indian style and manner. In this amusement my home-guard
Indians bore no inconsiderable part, as they were both men
of some {54} consequence when at home, and well known
to Matonabbee: but among the other Northern Indians, to
whom they were not known, they were held in no estimation;
which indeed is not to be wondered at, when we consider
that the value of a man among those people, is always
proportioned to his abilities in hunting; and as my two
Indians had not exhibited any great talents that way, the
Northern Indians shewed them as much respect as they do
in common to those of very moderate talents among themselves.

During my conversation with this Leader, he asked me
very seriously, If I would attempt another journey for the
discovery of the Copper-mines? And on my answering in
the affirmative, provided I could get better guides than
I had hitherto been furnished with, he said he would readily
engage in that service, provided the Governor at the Fort
would employ him. In answer to this, I assured him his
offer would be gladly accepted; and as I had already experienced
every hardship that was likely to accompany any
future trial, I was determined to complete the discovery, even
at the risque of life itself. Matonabbee assured me, that
by the accounts received from his own countrymen, the
Southern Indians, and myself, it was very probable I might
not experience so much hardship during the whole journey,
as I had already felt, though scarcely advanced one third part
of the journey.

{55} He attributed all our misfortunes to the misconduct
of my guides, and the very plan we pursued, by the desire
of the Governor, in not taking any women with us on this
journey, was, he said, the principal thing that occasioned
all our wants: “for, said he, when all the men are heavy[102]
laden, they can neither hunt nor travel to any considerable
distance; and in case they meet with success in hunting, who
is to carry the produce of their labour? Women,” added he,
“were made for labour; one of them can carry, or haul, as
much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make
and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact,
there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance,
or for any length of time, in this country, without their
assistance. Women,” said he again, “though they do every
thing, are maintained at a trifling expence; for as they always
stand cook, the very licking of their fingers in scarce times,
is sufficient for their subsistence.” This, however odd it may
appear, is but too true a description of the situation of women
in this country; it is at least so in appearance; for the women
always carry the provisions, and it is more than probable they
help themselves when the men are not present.

Early in the morning of the twenty-third, I struck out
of the road to the Eastward, with my two companions and
two or three Northern Indians, while Matonabbee and his
crew continued their course to the Factory, promising {56} to
walk so slow that we might come up with them again; and
in two days we arrived at the place to which we were directed.
We went to work immediately in making snow-shoe frames
and sledges; but notwithstanding our utmost endeavours, we
could not complete them in less than four days. On the first
of November we again proceeded on our journey toward the
Factory; and on the sixth, came up with Matonabbee and his
gang: after which we proceeded on together several days;
when I found my new acquaintance, on all occasions, the most
sociable, kind, and sensible Indian I had ever met with. He
was a man well known, and, as an Indian, of universal knowledge,
and generally respected.

Deer proved pretty plentiful for some time, but to
my great surprise, when I wanted to give Matonabbee a
little ammunition for his own use, I found that my guide,[103]
Conreaquefè, who had it all under his care, had so embezzled
or otherways expended it, that only ten balls and about three
pounds of powder remained; so that long before we arrived
at the Fort we were obliged to cut up an ice-chissel into
square lumps, as a substitute for ball. It is, however, rather
dangerous firing lumps of iron out of such slight barrels
as are brought to this part of the world for trade. These,
though light and handy, and of course well adapted for the
use of both English and Indians in long journies, and of
sufficient strength for leaden shot or ball, are not strong
enough for {57} this kind of shot; and strong fowling-pieces
would not only be too heavy for the laborious ways of hunting
in this country, but their bores being so much larger, would
require more than double the quantity of ammunition that
small ones do; which, to Indians at least, must be an object
of no inconsiderable importance.

I kept company with Matonabbee till the twentieth, at
which time the deer began to be so scarce that hardly a fresh
track could be seen; and as we were then but a few days walk
from the Fort, he advised me to proceed on with all speed, while
he and his companions followed at leisure. Accordingly, on
the twenty-first, I set out post-haste, accompanied by one of
the home-guard (Southern) Tribe, and three Northern Indians.
That night we lay on the South side of Egg River; but, long
before daybreak the next morning, the weather became so bad,
with a violent gale of wind from the North West, and such
a drift of snow, that we could not have a bit of fire: and
as no good woods were near to afford us shelter, we agreed
to proceed on our way: especially as the wind was on our
backs, and though the weather was bad near the surface,
we could frequently see the moon, and sometimes the stars,
to direct us in our course. In this situation we continued
walking the whole day, and it was not till after ten at
night that we could find the smallest tuft of woods to put up
in; for though we well knew we must have passed by several[104]
hummocks of shrubby woods {58} that might have afforded us
some shelter, yet the wind blew so hard, and the snow drifted
so excessively thick, that we could not see ten yards before us
the whole day. Between seven and eight in the evening my
dog, a valuable brute, was frozen to death; so that his sledge,
which was a very heavy one, I was obliged to haul. Between
nine and ten at night we arrived at a small creek, on which
we walked about three quarters of a mile, when we came to a
large tuft of tall willows, and two or three sets of old tent-poles.
Being much jaded, we determined not to proceed any
farther that night; so we went to work, and made the best
defence against the weather that the situation of the place and
our materials would admit. Our labour consisted only in
digging a hole in the snow, and fixing a few deer skins up to
windward of us; but the most difficult task was that of
making a fire. When this was once accomplished, the old
tent-poles amply supplied us with fuel. By the time we had
finished this business, the weather began to moderate, and the
drift greatly to abate; so that the moon and the Aurora
Borealis shone out with great splendour, and there appeared
every symptom of the return of fine weather. After eating
a plentiful supper of venison, therefore, of which we had a
sufficient stock to last us to the Fort, we laid down and got
a little sleep. The next day proving fine and clear, though
excessively sharp, we proceeded on our journey early in the
morning, and at night lay on the South East side of Seal
River. We should have made a much longer day’s {59} journey,
had we not been greatly embarrassed at setting out, by
a jumble of rocks, which we could not avoid without going
greatly out of our way. Here I must observe, that we were
more than fortunate in not attempting to leave the little
creek where we had fixed our habitation the preceding night,
as the spot where we lay was not more than two or three
miles distant from this dangerous place; in which, had we
fallen in with it in the night, we must unavoidably have been[105]
bewildered, if we had not all perished; as notwithstanding
the advantage of a clear day, and having used every possible
precaution, it was with the utmost difficulty that we crossed
it without broken limbs. Indeed it would have been next to
an impossibility to have done it in the night.

The twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth proved fine, clear
weather, though excessively cold; and in the afternoon of the
latter, we arrived at Prince of Wales’s Fort, after having been
absent eight months and twenty-two days, on a fruitless, or at
least an unsuccessful journey.[44]

[106]

{60} CHAP. IV.

On my arrival at the Fort, I informed the Governor,
of Matonabbee’s being so near. On the twenty-eighth
of November he arrived. Notwithstanding
the many difficulties and hardships which I had undergone
during my two unsuccessful attempts, I was so far from being
{61} solicited on this occasion to undertake a third excursion,
that I willingly offered my service; which was readily accepted,
as my abilities and approved courage, in persevering under
difficulties, were thought noways inferior to the task.

A SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF PRINCE OF WALES’S FORT, HUDSON’S BAY
Published by J. Sewell, Cornhill, March 1st, 1797
From the “European Magazine”, June, 1797

[107]

I then determined to engage Matonabbee to be my guide;
to which he readily consented, and with a freedom of speech and
correctness of language not commonly met with among Indians,
not only pointed out the reasons which had occasioned all our
misfortunes in my two former attempts, but described the
plan he intended to pursue; which at the same time that it
was highly satisfactory to me, did honour to his penetration
and judgment; as it proved him to be a man of extensive
observation with respect to times, seasons, and places; and
well qualified to explain everything that could contribute
either to facilitate or retard the ease or progress of travelling
in those dreary parts of the world.

Having engaged Matonabbee, therefore, as my guide, I
began to make preparations for our departure; but Mr.
Norton, the Governor, having been very fully occupied in
trading with a large body of Indians, it was the seventh of
December before I could obtain from him my dispatches.
It may not be improper to observe, that he again wanted to
force some of the home-guard Indians (who were {62} his own
relations[Z]) into our company, merely with a view that they
might engross all the credit of taking care of{63} me during
the journey; but I had round them of so little use in my two
former attempts, that I absolutely refused them; and by so
doing, offended Mr. Norton to such a degree, that neither
time nor absence could ever afterwards eradicate his dislike
of me; so that at my return he used every means in his
power to treat me ill, and to render my life unhappy. However,
to deal with candour on this occasion, it must be
acknowledged to his honour, that whatever our private animosities
might have been, he did not suffer them to interfere
with public business; and I was fitted out with ammunition,
and every other article which Matonabbee thought could be
wanted. I was also furnished, as before, with a small assortment
of light trading goods, as presents to the far distant
Indians.

[109]

[108]

At last I succeeded in obtaining my instructions which
were as follows:

On the seventh of December I set out on my third journey;
and the weather, considering the season of the year, was for
some days pretty mild. One of Matonabbee’s wives being ill,
occasioned us to walk so slow, that {66} it was the thirteenth
before we arrived at Seal River; at which time two men and
their wives left us, whose loads, when added to those of the
remainder of my crew, made a very material difference, especially
as Matonabbee’s wife was so ill as to be obliged to be
hauled on a sledge.

Finding deer and all other game very scarce, and not
knowing how long it might be before we could reach any
place where they were in greater plenty, the Indians walked as
far each day as their loads and other circumstances would
conveniently permit. On the sixteenth, we arrived at Egg
River, where Matonabbee and the rest of my crew had laid
up some provisions and other necessaries, when on their
journey to the Fort. On going to the place where they
thought the provisions had been carefully secured from all
kinds of wild beasts, they had the mortification to find that
some of their countrymen, with whom the Governor had first
traded and dispatched from the Fort, had robbed the store of
every article, as well as of some of their most useful implements.
This loss was more severely felt, as there was a total
want of every kind of game; and the Indians, not expecting
to meet with so great a disappointment, had not used that[111]
economy in the expenditure of the oatmeal and other provisions
which they had received at the Fort, as they probably
would have done, had they not relied firmly on finding a
supply at this place. This disappointment and loss was borne
by the Indians with the greatest fortitude; and I did not hear
{67} one of them breathe the least hint of revenge in case they
should ever discover the offenders; the only effect it had on
them was, that of making them put the best foot foremost.
This was thought so necessary, that for some time we walked
every day from morning till night. The days, however,
being short, our sledges heavy, and some of the road very
bad, our progress seldom exceeded sixteen or eighteen miles a
day, and some days we did not travel so much.

On the eighteenth, as we were continuing our course to
the North West, up a small creek that empties itself into
Egg River, we saw the tracks of many deer which had crossed
that part a few days before; at that time there was not a
fresh track to be seen: some of the Indians, however, who
had lately passed that way, had killed more than they had
occasion for, so that several joints of good meat were found
in their old tent-places; which, though only sufficient for one
good meal, were very acceptable, as we had been in exceeding
straitened circumstances for many days.

On the nineteenth, we pursued our course in the North
West quarter; and, after leaving the above-mentioned creek,
traversed nothing but entire barren ground, with empty
bellies, till the twenty-seventh; for though we arrived at some
woods on the twenty-sixth, and saw a few deer, four of which
the Indians killed, they were {68} at so great a distance from
the place on which we lay, that it was the twenty-seventh
before the meat was brought to the tents. Here the Indians
proposed to continue one day, under pretence of repairing their
sledges and snow shoes; but from the little attention they
paid to those repairs, I was led to think that the want of food
was the chief thing that detained them, as they never ceased[112]
eating the whole day. Indeed for many days before we had
in great want, and for the last three days had not tasted
a morsel of any thing, except a pipe of tobacco and a drink of
snow water; and as we walked daily from morning till night,
and were all heavy laden, our strength began to fail. I must
confess that I never spent so dull a Christmas; and when I
recollected the merry season which was then passing, and
reflected on the immense quantities, and great variety of delicacies
which were then expending in every part of Christendom,
and that with a profusion bordering on waste, I could not
refrain from wishing myself again in Europe, if it had been
only to have had an opportunity of alleviating the extreme
hunger which I suffered with the refuse of the table of any
one of my acquaintance. My Indians, however, still kept in
good spirits; and as we were then across all the barren ground,
and saw a few fresh tracks of deer, they began to think that
the worst of the road was over for that winter, and flattered
me with the expectation of soon meeting with deer and other
game in greater plenty than we had done since our departure
from the Fort.

{69} Early in the morning of the twenty-eighth, we again
set out, and directed our course to the Westward, through
thick shrubby woods, consisting chiefly of ill-shaped stunted
pines, with small dwarf junipers, intermixed here and there,
particularly round the margins of ponds and swamps, with
dwarf willow bushes; and among the rocks and sides of the
hills were also some small poplars.[46]

On the thirtieth, we arrived at the East side of Island
Lake,[47] where the Indians killed two large buck deer; but the
rutting season was so lately over, that their flesh was only
eatable by those who could not procure better food. In the
evening, Matonabbee was taken very ill; and from the nature
of his complaint, I judged his illness to have proceeded from
the enormous quantity of meat that he had eat on the twenty-seventh,
as he had been indisposed ever since that time.
Nothing is more common with those Indians, after they have
eat as much at a sitting as would serve six moderate men,
than to find themselves out of order; but not one of them
can bear to hear that it is the effect of eating too much: in
defence of which they say, that the meanest of the animal
creation knows when hunger is satisfied, and will leave off
accordingly. This, however, is a false assertion, advanced
knowingly in support of an absurd argument; for it is well
known by them, as well as all the Southern Indians, that the
black bear, who, for size and the delicacy of its flesh, may justly
be called a respectable animal, is so far from knowing {70}
when its hunger is satisfied, that, in the Summer, when the
berries are ripe, it will gorge to such a degree, that it frequently,
and even daily, vomits up great quantities of new-swallowed
fruit, before it has undergone any change in the
stomach, and immediately renews its repast with as much
eagerness as before.

[113]

Notwithstanding the Northern Indians are at times so
voracious, yet they bear hunger with a degree of fortitude
which, as Mr. Ellis justly observes of the Southern Indians,
“is much easier to admire than to imitate.” I have more
than once seen the Northern Indians, at the end of three or
four days fasting, as merry and jocose on the subject, as if
they had voluntarily imposed it on themselves; and would
ask each other in the plainest terms, and in the merriest mood,
if they had any inclination for an intrigue with a strange[114]
woman? I must acknowledge that examples of this kind
were of infinite service to me, as they tended to keep up my
spirits on those occasions with a degree of fortitude that would
have been impossible for me to have done had the Indians
behaved in a contrary manner, and expressed any apprehension
of starving.

Early in the morning of the thirty-first, we continued our
journey, and walked about fourteen miles to the Westward
on Island Lake, where we fixed our residence; but Matonabbee
was at this time so ill as to be obliged to be hauled on a
sledge the whole day. The {71} next morning, however, he so
far recovered as to be capable of walking; when we proceeded
on to the West and West by North, about sixteen miles farther
on the same Lake, till we arrived at two tents, which contained
the remainder of the wives and families of my guides,
who had been waiting there for the return of their husbands
from the Fort. Here we found only two men, though there
were upward of twenty women and children; and as those
two men had no gun or ammunition, they had no other
method of supporting themselves and the women, but by
catching fish, and snaring a few rabbits:[48] the latter were scarce,
but the former were easily caught in considerable numbers
either with nets or hooks. The species of fish generally
caught in the nets are tittemeg, pike, and barble; and the
only sorts caught with hooks are trout, pike, burbut, and
a small fish, erroneously called by the English tench: the
Southern Indians call it the toothed tittemeg, and the
Northern Indians call it saint eah. They are delicate eating;
being nearly as firm as a perch, and generally very fat. They
seldom exceed a foot in length, and in shape much resemble a
gurnard, except that of having a very long broad fin on the
back, like a perch, but this fin is not armed with similar
spikes. The scales are large, and of a sooty brown. They
are generally most esteemed when broiled or roasted with the
scales on, of course the skin is not eaten.

[115]

{72} As the Captain [Matonabbee] and one man were
indisposed, we did not move on the second of January; but
early in the morning of the third set out, and walked about
seven miles to the North Westward, five of which were on
the above mentioned Lake; when the Indians having killed
two deer, we put up for the night.

Island Lake (near the center) is in latitude 60° 45′ North,
and 102° 25′ West longitude, from London; and is, at the
part we crossed, about thirty-five miles wide: but from the
North East to the South West it is much larger, and entirely
full of islands, so near to each other as to make the whole
Lake resemble a jumble of serpentine rivers and creeks; and
it is celebrated by the natives as abounding with great plenty
of fine fish during the beginning of the Winter. At different
parts of this Lake most part of the wives and families of those
Northern Indians who visit Prince of Wales’s Fort in October
and November generally reside, and wait for their return; as
there is little fear of their being in want of provisions, even
without the assistance of a gun and ammunition, which is
a point of real consequence to them. The Lake is plentifully
supplied with water from several small rivulets and creeks
which run into it at the South West end; and it empties
itself by means of other small rivers which run to the North
East, the principal of which is Nemace-a-seepee-a-fish, or Little
Fish River. Many of the islands, {73} as well as the main
land round this Lake, abound with dwarf woods, chiefly pines;
but in some parts intermixed with larch and small birch trees.
The land, like all the rest which lies to the North of Seal
River, is hilly, and full of rocks; and though none of the
hills are high, yet as few of the woods grow on their summits,
they in general show their snowy heads far above the woods
which grow in the vallies, or those which are scattered about
their sides.[116]

After leaving Island Lake, we continued our old course
between the West and North West, and travelled at the easy
rate of eight or nine miles a day. Provisions of all kinds
were scarce till the sixteenth, when the Indians killed twelve
deer. This induced us to put up, though early in the day;
and finding great plenty of deer in the neighbourhood of our
little encampment, it was agreed by all parties to remain
a few days, in order to dry and pound some meat to make
it lighter for carriage.

Having, by the twenty-second, provided a sufficient stock
of provision, properly prepared, to carry with us, and repaired
our sledges and snow-shoes, we again pursued our course
in the North West quarter; and in the afternoon spoke with
a stranger, an Indian, who had one of Matonabbee’s wives
under his care. He did not remain in our company above
an hour, as he only smoked part of a few pipes with his
friends, and returned to his tent, which could not {74} be far
distant from the place where we lay that night, as the woman
and her two children joined us next morning, before we had
taken down our tent and made ready for moving. Those
people were the first strangers whom we had met since we
left the Fort, though we had travelled several hundred miles;
which is a proof that this part of the country is but thinly
inhabited. It is a truth well known to the natives, and
doubtless founded on experience, that there are many very
extensive tracts of land in those parts, which are incapable
of affording support to any number of the human race even
during the short time they are passing through them, in the
capacity of migrants, from one place to another; much less
are they capable of affording a constant support to those
who might wish to make them their fixed residence at any
season of the year. It is true, that few rivers or lakes in
those parts are entirely destitute of fish; but the uncertainty
of meeting with a sufficient supply for any considerable time
together, makes the natives very cautious how they put their[117]
whole dependance on that article, as it has too frequently
been the means of many hundreds being starved to
death.

By the twenty-third, deer were so plentiful that the
Indians seemed to think that, unless the season, contrary to
expectation and general experience, should prove unfavourable,
there would be no fear of our being in want of {75} provisions
during the rest of the Winter, as deer had always
been known to be in great plenty in the direction which
they intended to walk.

On the third of February, we continued our course to the
West by North and West North West,[49] and were so near
the edge of the woods, that the barren ground was in sight
to the Northward. As the woods trended away to the West,
we were obliged to alter our course to West by South, for
the sake of keeping among them, as well as the deer. In the
course of this day’s walk we saw several strangers, some of
whom remained in our company, while others went on their
respective ways.

On the sixth, we crossed the main branch of Cathawhachaga
River;[50] which, at that part, is about three quarters of a mile
broad; and after walking three miles farther, came to the
side of Cossed Whoie,[51] or Partridge Lake; but the day being
far spent, and the weather excessively cold, we put up for the
night.

[118]

Early in the morning of the seventh, the weather being
serene and clear, we set out, and crossed the above mentioned
Lake; which at that part is about fourteen miles wide; but
from the South South West to North North East is much
larger. It is impossible to describe the intenseness of the cold
which we experienced this day; and the dispatch we made in
crossing the lake is almost incredible, as it was {76} performed
by the greatest part of my crew in less than two hours;
though some of the women, who were heavy laden, took
a much longer time. Several of the Indians were much
frozen, but none of them more disagreeably so than one of
Matonabbee’s wives, whose thighs and buttocks were in a
manner incrusted with frost; and when thawed, several
blisters arose, nearly as large as sheeps’ bladders. The pain
the poor woman suffered on this occasion was greatly aggravated
by the laughter and jeering of her companions, who said
that she was rightly served for belting her clothes so high.
I must acknowledge that I was not in the number of those
who pitied her, as I thought she took too much pains to shew
a clean heel and good leg; her garters being always in sight,
which, though by no means considered here as bordering
on indecency, is by far too airy to withstand the rigorous cold
of a severe winter in a high Northern latitude. I doubt not
that the laughter of her companions was excited by similar
ideas.

When we got on the West side of Partridge Lake we[119]
continued our course for many days toward the West by
South and West South West; when deer were so plentiful,
and the Indians killed such vast numbers, that notwithstanding
we frequently remained three, four, or five days in
a place, to eat up the spoils of our hunting, yet at our
departure we frequently left great quantities of good meat
behind us, which we could neither eat nor carry with us.
{77} This conduct is the more excusable among people
whose wandering manner of life and contracted ideas make
every thing appear to them as the effect of mere chance.
The great uncertainty of their ever visiting this or that
part a second time, induces them to think there is nothing
either wrong or improvident in living on the best the
country will afford, as they are passing through it from
place to place; and they seem willing that those who
come after them should take their chance, as they have
done.

On the twenty-first, we crossed The-whole-kyed Whoie,
or Snowbird Lake,[52] which at that part was about twelve or
thirteen miles wide, though from North to South it is much
larger. As deer were as plentiful as before, we expended
much time in killing and eating them. This Matonabbee
assured me was the best way we could employ ourselves,
as the season would by no means permit us to proceed in
a direct line for the Copper-mine River; but when the Spring
advanced, and the deer began to draw out to the barren
ground, he would then, he said, proceed in such a manner
as to leave no room to doubt of our arrival at the Copper-mine
River in proper time.

[120]

On the second of March, we lay by the side of
Whooldyah’d Whoie or Pike Lake,[53] and not far from
Doo-baunt Whoie River. On the next day we began to cross
the above mentioned Lake, but after walking seven miles
on it to the West South West, we arrived at a large tent of
Northern {78} Indians, who had been living there from the
beginning of the Winter, and had found a plentiful subsistence
by catching deer in a pound. This kind of employment
is performed in the following manner:

When the Indians design to impound deer, they look out
for one of the paths in which a number of them have trod,
and which is observed to be still frequented by them. When
these paths cross a lake, a wide river, or a barren plain, they
are found to be much the best for the purpose; and if the
path run through a cluster of woods, capable of affording
materials for building the pound, it adds considerably to the
commodiousness of the situation. The pound is built by
making a strong fence with brushy trees, without observing
any degree of regularity, and the work is continued to any
extent, according to the pleasure of the builders. I have seen
some that were not less than a mile round, and am informed
that there are others still more extensive. The door, or
entrance of the pound, is not larger than a common gate,
and the inside is so crowded with small counter-hedges as
very much to resemble a maze; in every opening of which
they set a snare, made with thongs of parchment deer-skins
well twisted together, which are amazingly strong. One end
of the snare is usually made fast to a growing pole; but
if no one of a sufficient size can be found near the place where
the snare is set, a loose pole is substituted in its room, which
is always of such size and length that a deer cannot drag
it {79} far before it gets entangled among the other woods,
which are all left standing except what is found necessary for
making the fence, hedges, &c.

Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, July 19, 1893.
WHOLDIAH LAKE AS SEEN FROM THE HILLS TO THE SOUTH

Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 2, 1893.
GROVE OF SPRUCE BESIDE DUBAWNT RIVER,
WITHIN THE BARREN LANDS

[121]

The pound being thus prepared, a row of small brush-wood
is stuck up in the snow on each side of the door or
entrance; and these hedge-rows are continued along the open
part of the lake, river, or plain, where neither stick nor stump
besides is to be seen, which makes them the more distinctly
observed. These poles, or brush-wood, are generally placed
at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards from each other,
and ranged in such a manner as to form two sides of a long
acute angle, growing gradually wider in proportion to the
distance they extend from the entrance of the pound, which
sometimes is not less than two or three miles; while the
deer’s path is exactly along the middle, between the two rows
of brush-wood.

Indians employed on this service always pitch their tent
on or near to an eminence that affords a commanding prospect
of the path leading to the pound; and when they see any deer
going that way, men, women, and children walk along the
lake or river-side under cover of the woods, till they get
behind them, then step forth to open view, and proceed
towards the pound in the form of a crescent. The poor
timorous deer finding themselves pursued, and at the same
time taking the two rows of brushy poles to be two ranks
of people stationed {80} to prevent their passing on either
side, run straight forward in the path till they get into the
pound. The Indians then close in, and block up the entrance
with some brushy trees, that have been cut down
and lie at hand for that purpose. The deer being thus
enclosed, the women and children walk round the pound,
to prevent them from breaking or jumping over the fence,
while the men are employed spearing such as are entangled
in the snares, and shooting with bows and arrows those
which remain loose in the pound.[122]

This method of hunting, if it deserves the name, is sometimes
so successful, that many families subsist by it without
having occasion to move their tents above once or twice during
the course of a whole winter; and when the Spring advances,
both the deer and Indians draw out to the Eastward, on the
ground which is entirely barren, or at least what is so called
in those parts, as it neither produces trees or shrubs of any
kind, so that moss and some little grass is all the herbage
which is to be found on it. Such an easy way of procuring a
comfortable maintenance in the Winter months, (which is by
far the worst time of the year), is wonderfully well adapted
to the support of the aged and infirm, but is too apt to
occasion a habitual indolence in the young and active, who
frequently spend a whole Winter in this indolent manner:
and as those parts of the country are almost destitute of every
animal of the furr kind, it cannot be {81} supposed that those
who indulge themselves in this indolent method of procuring
food can be masters of any thing for trade; whereas those
who do not get their livelihood at so easy a rate, generally
procure furrs enough during the Winter to purchase a sufficient
supply of ammunition, and other European goods, to last
them another year. This is nearly the language of the more
industrious among them, who, of course, are of most importance
and value to the Hudson’s Bay Company, as it is from
them the furrs are procured which compose the greatest part
of Churchill trade. But in my opinion, there cannot exist
a stronger proof that mankind was not created to enjoy
happiness in this world, than the conduct of the miserable
beings who inhabit this wretched part of it; as none but the
aged and infirm, the women and children, a few of the more
indolent and unambitious part of them, will submit to remain
in the parts where food and clothing are procured in this easy
manner, because no animals are produced there whose furrs
are valuable. And what do the more industrious gain by
giving themselves all this additional trouble? The real wants[123]
of these people are few, and easily supplied; a hatchet, an
ice-chissel, a file, and a knife, are all that is required to enable
them, with a little industry, to procure a comfortable livelihood;
and those who endeavour to possess more, are always
the most unhappy, and may, in fact, be said to be only slaves
and carriers to the rest, whose ambition never leads them to any
thing beyond the means of procuring food {82} and clothing.
It is true, the carriers pride themselves much on the respect
which is shewn to them at the Factory; to obtain which they
frequently run great risques of being starved to death in their
way thither and back; and all that they can possibly get there
for the furrs they procure after a year’s toil, seldom amounts
to more than is sufficient to yield a bare subsistence, and a few
furrs for the ensuing year’s market; while those whom they
call indolent and mean-spirited live generally in a state of
plenty, without trouble or risque; and consequently must be
the most happy, and, in truth, the most independent also.
It must be allowed that they are by far the greatest philosophers,
as they never give themselves the trouble to acquire
what they can do well enough without. The deer they kill,
furnishes them with food, and a variety of warm and comfortable
clothing, either with or without the hair, according
as the seasons require; and it must be very hard indeed,
if they cannot get furrs enough in the course of two or three
years, to purchase a hatchet, and such other edge-tools as are
necessary for their purpose. Indeed, those who take no concern
at all about procuring furrs, have generally an opportunity of
providing themselves with all their real wants from their more
industrious countrymen, in exchange for provisions, and ready-dressed
skins for clothing.

It is undoubtedly the duty of every one of the Company’s
servants to encourage a spirit of industry among {83} the
natives, and to use every means in their power to induce them
to procure furrs and other commodities for trade, by assuring
them of a ready purchase and good payment for every thing[124]
they bring to the Factory: and I can truly say, that this has
ever been the grand object of my attention. But I must at
the same time confess, that such conduct is by no means for
the real benefit of the poor Indians; it being well known that
those who have the least intercourse with the Factories, are by
far the happiest. As their whole aim is to procure a comfortable
subsistence, they take the most prudent methods to
accomplish it; and by always following the lead of the deer,
are seldom exposed to the griping hand of famine, so frequently
felt by those who are called the annual traders. It is true,
that there are few of the Indians, whose manner of life I have
just described, but have once in their lives at least visited
Prince of Wales’s Fort; and the hardships and dangers which
most of them experienced on those occasions, have left such
a lasting impression on their minds that nothing can induce
them to repeat their visits: nor is it, in fact, the interest
of the Company that people of this easy turn, and who require
only as much iron-work at a time as can be purchased with
three or four beaver skins, and that only once in two or three
years, should be invited to the Factories; because what they
beg and steal while there, is worth, in the way of trade, three
times the quantity of furrs which they bring. For this reason,
it is much more for the interest of the Company that the
{84} annual traders should buy up all those small quantities
of furrs, and bring them in their own name, than that a parcel
of beggars should be encouraged to come to the Factory with
scarcely as many furrs as will pay for the victuals they eat
while they are on the plantation.

I have often heard it observed, that the Indians who attend
the deer-pounds might, in the course of a Winter, collect a
vast number of pelts, which would well deserve the attention
of those who are called carriers or traders; but it is a truth,
though unknown to those speculators, that the deer skins
at that season are not only as thin as a bladder, but are also
full of warbles, which render them of little or no value.[125]
Indeed, were they a more marketable commodity than they
really are, the remote situation of those pounds from the
Company’s Factories, must for ever be an unsurmountable
barrier to the Indians bringing any of those skins to trade.
The same observation may be made of all the other
Northern Indians, whose chief support, the whole year round,
is venison; but the want of heavy draught in Winter, and
water-carriage in Summer, will not permit them to bring
many deer skins to market, not even those that are in season,
and for which there has always been great encouragement
given.

We stopped only one night in company with the Indians
whom we met on Pike Lake, and in the morning of the fourth,
proceeded to cross the remainder of that {85} Lake; but,
though the weather was fine, and though the Lake was not more
than twenty-seven miles broad at the place where we crossed
it, yet the Indians lost so much time at play, that it was the
seventh before we arrived on the West side of it. During the
whole time we were crossing it, each night we found either
points of land, or islands, to put up in. On the eighth,
we lay a little to the East North East of Black Bear Hill,[54]
where the Indians killed two deer, which were the first we
had seen for ten days; but having plenty of dried meat and
fat with us, we were by no means in want during any part
of that time. On the ninth, we proceeded on our course
to the Westward, and soon met with as great plenty of deer
as we had seen during any part of our journey; which, no
doubt, made things go on smooth and easy: and as the
Spring advanced, the rigour of the Winter naturally abated,
so that at times we had fine pleasant weather over-head,
though it was never so warm as to occasion any thaw, unless
in such places as lay exposed to the mid-day sun, and were
sheltered from all the cold winds.

[126]

On the nineteenth, as we were continuing our course
to the West and West by South, we saw the tracks of several
strangers; and on following the main path, we arrived that
night at five tents of Northern Indians, who had resided there
great part of the Winter, snaring deer in the same manner as
those before mentioned. Indeed, it should {86} seem that this,
as well as some other places, had been frequented more than
once on this occasion; for the wood that had been cut down
for fewel, and other uses, was almost incredible. Before
morning, the weather became so bad, and the storm continued
to rage with such violence, that we did not move for several
days; and as some of the Indians we met with at this place
were going to Prince of Wales’s Fort in the Summer, I
embraced the opportunity of sending by them a Letter to
the Chief at that Fort, agreeably to the tenor of my instructions.
By summing up my courses and distances from my
last observation, for the weather at that time would not
permit me to observe, I judged myself to be in latitude
61° 30′ North, and about 19° 60′ of longitude to the
West of Churchill River. This, and some accounts of
the usage I received from the natives, with my opinion
of the future success of the journey, formed the contents
of my Letter.

On the twenty-third, the weather became fine and
moderate, so we once more pursued our way, and the next
day, as well as on the twenty-sixth, saw several more tents
of Northern Indians, who were employed in the same
manner as those we had formerly met; but some of them
having had bad success, and being relations or acquaintances
of part of my crew, joined our company, and
proceeded with us to the Westward. Though the deer
did not then keep regular paths, so as to enable the
Indians to catch them in pounds, yet they were to be[127]
met {87} with in great abundance in scattered herds; so
that my companions killed as many as they pleased with
their guns.

We still continued our course to the West and West by
South, and on the eighth of April, arrived at a small Lake,
called Thelewey-aza-yeth;[55] but with what propriety it is so
called I cannot discover, for the meaning of Thelewey-aza-yeth
is Little Fish Hill: probably so called from a high hill
which stands on a long point near the West end of the Lake.
On an island in this Lake we pitched our tents, and the
Indians finding deer very numerous, determined to stay here
some time, in order to dry and pound meat to take with us;
for they well knew, by the season of the year, that the deer
were then drawing out to the barren ground, and as the
Indians proposed to walk due North on our leaving the Lake,
it was uncertain when we should again meet with any more.
As several Indians had during the Winter joined our party,
our number had now increased to seven tents, which in the
whole contained not less than seventy persons.

Agreeably to the Indians’ proposals we remained at
Thelewey-aza-yeth ten days; during which time my companions
were busily employed (at their intervals from hunting)
in preparing small staves of birch-wood, about one and a
quarter inch square, and seven or eight feet long. These
serve as tent-poles all the Summer, {88} while on the barren
ground; and as the fall advances, are converted into snowshoe
frames for Winter use. Birchrind, together with timbers
and other wood-work for building canoes, were also another
object of the Indian’s attention while at this place; but as the
canoes were not to be set up till our arrival at Clowey, (which
was many miles distant,) all the wood-work was reduced to its
proper size, for the sake of making it light for carriage.

[128]

As to myself, I had little to do, except to make a few
observations for determining the latitude, bringing up my
journal, and filling up my chart to the present time. I found
the latitude of this place 61° 30′ North, and its longitude, by
my account, 19° West of Prince of Wales’s Fort.

Having a good stock of dried provisions, and most of the
necessary work for canoes all ready, on the eighteenth we
moved about nine or ten miles to the North North West, and
then came to a tent of Northern Indians who were tenting on
the North side of Thelewey-aza River. From these Indians
Matonabbee purchased another wife; so that he had now no
less than seven, most of whom would for size have made good
grenadiers. He prided himself much in the height and
strength of his wives, and would frequently say, few women
would carry or haul heavier loads; and though they had, in
general, a very masculine appearance, yet he preferred them to
those of a {89} more delicate form and moderate stature. In
a country like this, where a partner in excessive hard labour is
the chief motive for the union, and the softer endearments of
a conjugal life are only considered as a secondary object, there
seems to be great propriety in such a choice; but if all the
men were of this way of thinking, what would become of the
greater part of the women, who in general are but of low
stature, and many of them of a most delicate make, though
not of the exactest proportion, or most beautiful mould?
Take them in a body, the women are as destitute of real
beauty as any nation I ever saw, though there are some few
of them, when young, who are tolerable; but the care of a
family, added to their constant hard labour, soon make the[129]
most beautiful among them look old and wrinkled, even
before they are thirty; and several of the more ordinary ones
at that age are perfect antidotes to love and gallantry. This,
however, does not render them less dear and valuable to their
owners, which is a lucky circumstance for those women, and
a certain proof that there is no such thing as any rule or
standard for beauty. Ask a Northern Indian, what is beauty?
he will answer, a broad flat face, small eyes, high cheek-bones,
three or four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead,
a large broad chin, a clumsy hook-nose, a tawny hide,
and breasts hanging down to the belt. Those beauties are
greatly heightened, or at least rendered more valuable, when
the possessor is capable of dressing all kinds of skins, converting
them into the different parts {90} of their clothing, and
able to carry eight or ten[AA] stone in Summer, or haul a much
greater weight in Winter. These, and other similar accomplishments,
are all that are sought after, or expected, of a
Northern Indian woman. As to their temper, it is of little
consequence; for the men have a wonderful facility in making
the most stubborn comply with as much alacrity as could
possibly be expected from those of the mildest and most obliging
turn of mind; so that the only real difference is, the one
obeys through fear, and the other complies cheerfully from a
willing mind; both knowing that what is commanded must
be done. They are, in fact, all kept at a great distance, and
the rank they hold in the opinion of the men cannot be better
expressed or explained, than by observing the method of
treating or serving them at meals, which would appear very
humiliating, to an European woman, though custom makes it
sit light on those whose lot it is to bear it. It is necessary to
observe, that when the men kill any large beast, the women
are always sent to bring it to the tent: when it is brought
there, every operation it undergoes, such as splitting, drying,
pounding, &c. is performed by the women. When any thing
is to be prepared for eating, it is the women who cook it;
and when it is done, the wives and daughters of the greatest
Captains in the country are never served, till all the males,
even those who are in the capacity of servants, have eaten
what they think proper; {91} and in times of scarcity it is
frequently their lot to be left without a single morsel. It
is, however, natural to think they take the liberty of helping
themselves in secret; but this must be done with great
prudence, as capital embezzlements of provisions in such times
are looked on as affairs of real consequence, and frequently
subject them to a very severe beating. If they are practised
by a woman whose youth and inattention to domestic concerns
cannot plead in her favour, they will for ever be a blot in her
character, and few men will chuse to have her for a wife.

[130]

Finding plenty of good birch growing by the side of
Theley-aza River, we remained there for a few days, in order
to complete all the wood-work for the canoes, as well as for
every other use for which we could possibly want it on the
barren ground, during our Summer’s cruise. On the twentieth,
Matonabbee sent one of his brothers, and some others, a-head,
with birch-rind and wood-work for a canoe, and gave them
orders to proceed to a small Lake near the barren ground
called Clowey, where they were desired to make all possible
haste in building the canoe, that it might be ready on our
arrival.

Having finished such wood-work as the Indians thought
would be necessary, and having augmented our stock of dried
meat and fat, the twenty-first was appointed for moving; but
one of the women having been taken in labour, and it being
rather an extraordinary case, we {92} were detained more than
two days. The instant, however, the poor woman was delivered,
which was not until she had suffered all the pains
usually felt on those occasions for near fifty-two hours, the
signal was made for moving when the poor creature took her
infant on her back and set out with the rest of the company;[131]
and though another person had the humanity to haul her
sledge for her, (for one day only,) she was obliged to carry a
considerable load beside her little charge, and was frequently
obliged to wade knee-deep in water and wet snow. Her very
looks, exclusive of her moans, were a sufficient proof of the
great pain she endured, insomuch that although she was a
person I greatly disliked, her distress at this time so overcame
my prejudice, that I never felt more for any of her sex in my
life; indeed her sighs pierced me to the soul, and rendered
me very miserable, as it was not in my power to relieve her.

When a Northern Indian woman is taken in labour, a
small tent is erected for her, at such a distance from the other
tents that her cries cannot easily be heard, and the other
women and young girls are her constant visitants: no male,
except children in arms, ever offers to approach her. It is a
circumstance perhaps to be lamented, that these people never
attempt to assist each other on those occasions, even in the
most critical cases. This is in some measure owing to delicacy,
but more probably to an opinion they entertain that nature is
{93} abundantly sufficient to perform every thing required,
without any external help whatever. When I informed them
of the assistance which European women derive from the skill
and attention of our midwives, they treated it with the utmost
contempt; ironically observing, “that the many hump-backs,
bandy-legs, and other deformities, so frequent among the
English, were undoubtedly owing to the great skill of the
persons who assisted in bringing them into the world, and to
the extraordinary care of their nurses afterward.”

A Northern Indian woman after child-birth is reckoned
unclean for a month or five weeks; during which time she
always remains in a small tent placed at a little distance from
the others, with only a female acquaintance or two; and
during the whole time the father never sees the child. Their
reason for this practice is, that children when first born are
sometimes not very sightly, having in general large heads, and[132]
but little hair, and are, moreover, often discoloured by the
force of the labour; so that were the father to see them to
such great disadvantage, he might probably take a dislike to
them, which never afterward could be removed.

The names of the children are always given to them by
the parents, or some person near of kin. Those of the boys
are various, and generally derived from some place, season, or
animal; the names of the girls are chiefly {94} taken from some
part or property of a Martin; such as, the White Martin, the
Black Martin, the Summer Martin, the Martin’s Head, the
Martin’s Foot, the Martin’s Heart, the Martin’s Tail, &c.[AB]

On the twenty-third, as I hinted above, we began to move
forward, and to shape our course nearly North; but the weather
was in general so hot, and so much snow had, in consequence,
been melted, as made it bad walking in snow-shoes, and such
exceeding heavy hauling, that it was the third of May before
we could arrive at Clowey,[56] though the distance was not above
eighty-five miles from Thelewey-aza-yeth. In our way we
crossed part of two small Lakes, called Tittameg Lake and
Scartack Lake; neither of which are of any note, though both
abound with fine fish.

[133]

{95} CHAP. V.

The Lake Clowey is not much more than twelve miles
broad in the widest part. A small river which runs
into it on the West side, is said by the Indians to
join the Athapuscow Lake.

{96} On our arrival at Clowey on the third of May, we
found that the Captain’s brother, and those who were
sent[134]
a-head with him from Theley-aza River, had only got there
two days before us; and, on account of the weather, had not
made the least progress in building the canoe, the plan of
which they had taken with them. The same day we got to
Clowey several other Indians joined us from different quarters,
with intent to build their canoes at the same place. Some of
those Indians had resided within four or five miles, to the
South-East of Clowey, all the Winter; and had procured a
plentiful livelihood by snaring deer, in the manner which has
been already described.

Immediately after our arrival at Clowey, the Indians
began to build their canoes, and embraced every convenient
opportunity for that purpose: but as warm and dry weather
only is fit for this business, which was by no means the case
at present, it was the eighteenth of May before the canoes
belonging to my party could be completed. On the nineteenth
we agreed to proceed on our journey; but Matonabbee’s
canoe meeting with some damage, which took near a whole
day to repair, we were detained till the twentieth.

Those vessels, though made of the same materials with the
canoes of the Southern Indians, differ from them both in shape
and construction; they are also much smaller and {97} lighter;
and though very slight and simple in their construction, are
nevertheless the best that could possibly be contrived for the
use of those poor people, who are frequently obliged to carry
them a hundred, and sometimes a hundred and fifty miles at
a time, without having occasion to put them into the water.
Indeed, the chief use of these canoes is to ferry over unfordable
rivers; though sometimes, and at a few places, it must
be acknowledged, that they are of great service in killing
deer, as they enable the Indians to cross rivers and the narrow
parts of lakes; they are also useful in killing swans, geese,
ducks, &c. in the moulting season.

All the tools used by an Indian in building his canoe, as
well as in making his snow-shoes, and every other kind of
wood-work, consist of a hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl;
in the use of which they are so dextrous, that every thing
they make is executed with a neatness not to be excelled by
the most expert mechanic, assisted with every tool he could
wish.

INDIAN IMPLEMENTS

Reference

A The Bottom of the Canoe
B The Forepart
C The Frame compleat
D A set of Timbers bent and lashed in their proper shape for drying
E A Canoe compleat
F A Paddle
G A spear to kill Deer with in the Water
H The method of carrying the Canoe in Summer

S. H. delin.

Reference to the Skeleton

1 The Stem
2 The Stern Post
3 Two forked Sticks supporting the Stem and Stern
4 The Gunwalls
5 Small Rods placed between the Timbers and the Birchrind
6 The Timbers
7 The Kelsin
8 Large Stones to keep the Bottom steady, till the sides are sewed to

In[135] shape the Northern Indian canoe bears some resemblance
to a weaver’s shuttle; being flat-bottomed, with straight upright
sides, and sharp at each end; but the stern is by far the
widest part, as there the baggage is generally laid, and occasionally
a second person, who always lies down at full length
in the bottom of the canoe. In this manner they carry one
another across rivers and the narrow {98} parts of lakes in those
little vessels, which seldom exceed twelve or thirteen feet in
length, and are from twenty inches to two feet broad in the
widest part. The head, or fore part, is unnecessarily long,
and narrow; and is all covered over with birch-bark, which
adds considerably to the weight, without contributing to the
burthen of the vessel. In general, these Indians make use of
the single paddle, though a few have double ones, like the
Esquimaux: the latter, however, are seldom used, but by
those who lie in wait to kill deer as they cross rivers and
narrow lakes.[AC]

[136]

During our stay at Clowey we were joined by upward of
two hundred Indians from different quarters, most of whom
built canoes at this place; but as I was under the protection
of a principal man, no one offered to molest {99} me, nor can
I say they were very clamorous for any thing I had. This was
undoubtedly owing to Matonabbee’s informing them of my
true situation; which was, that I had not, by any means,
sufficient necessaries for myself, much less to give away. The
few goods which I had with me were intended to be reserved
for the Copper and Dogribbed Indians, who never visit the
Company’s Factories. Tobacco was, however, always given
away; for every one of any note, who joined us, expected to
be treated with a few pipes, and on some occasions it was
scarcely possible to get off without presenting a few inches[AD] to
them; which, with the constant supplies which I was obliged
to furnish my own crew, decreased that article of my stock
so fast, that notwithstanding I had yet advanced so small a
part of my journey, more than one half of my store was
expended. Gun-powder and shot also were articles commonly
asked for by most of the Indians we met; and in general
these were dealt round to them with a liberal hand by my
guide Matonabbee. I must, however, do him the justice to
acknowledge, that what he distributed was all his own, which
he had purchased at the Factory; to my certain knowledge he
bartered one hundred and fifty martins’ skins for powder only;
besides a great number of beaver, and other furrs, for shot,
ball, iron-work, and tobacco, purposely to give away among
his countrymen; as he had certainly as many of these articles
given to him as were, in {100} his opinion, sufficient for our
support during our journey out and home.

Matonabbee’s canoe having been repaired, on the twentieth
we left Clowey, and proceeded Northward. That morning a
small gang of strangers joined us, who informed my guide,
that Captain Keelshies was within a day’s walk to the Southward.
Keelshies was the man by whom I had sent a letter
to Prince of Wales’s Fort, from Cathawhachaga, in the beginning
of July one thousand seven hundred and seventy;
but not long after that, having the misfortune to break my
quadrant, I was obliged to return to the Fort a second time;
and though we saw many smokes, and spoke with several
Indians on my return that year, yet he and I missed each other
on the barren ground, and I had not seen or heard of him
since that time.

[137]

As Matonabbee was desirous that I should receive my
letters, and also the goods I had written for, he dispatched
two of his young men to bring them. We continued our
journey to the Northward; and the next day saw several
large smokes at a great distance to the Eastward on the
barren ground, which were supposed to be made by some
parties of Indians bound to Prince of Wales’s Fort with furrs
and other commodities for trade.

On the twenty-second and twenty-third, we proceeded to
the North, at the rate of fourteen or fifteen miles a day; and
in the evening of the latter, got clear of all {101} the woods,
and lay on the barren ground.[57] The same evening the two
young men who were sent for my letters, &c. returned, and
told me that Keelshies had promised to join us in a few days,
and deliver the things to me with his own hand.

[138]

The twenty-fourth proved bad and rainy weather, so that
we only walked about seven miles, when finding a few blasted
stumps of trees, we pitched our tents. It was well we did so,
for toward night we had excessively bad weather, with loud
thunder, strong lightning, and heavy rain, attended with a
very hard gale of wind from the South West; toward the
next morning, however, the wind veered round to the North
West, and the weather became intensely cold and frosty.
We walked that day about eight miles to the Northward,
when we were obliged to put up, being almost benumbed with
cold. There we found a few dry stumps, as we had done the
day before, which served us for fewel.[AE]

{102} The weather on the twenty-sixth was so bad, with
snow[139] and thick drifting sleet, that we did not move; but the
next morning proving fine and pleasant, we dried our things,
and walked about twelve miles to the Northward; most of the
way on the ice of a small river which runs into Peshew Lake.[AF][58]
We then saw a smoke to the Southward, which we judged to
be made by Keelshies, so we put up for the night by the side
of the above-mentioned Lake, where I expected we should
have waited for his arrival; but, to my great surprise, on the
morrow we again set forward, and walked twenty-two miles to
the Northward on Peshew Lake, and in the afternoon pitched
our tents on an island, where, by my desire, the Indians made
a large smoke, and proposed to stay a day or two for Captain
Keelshies.

Photo: J. W. Tyrrell, 1900.
LAST WOODS ON EAST SHORE, ARTILLERY LAKE

Photo: J. W. Tyrrell, 1900.
WEST SHORE, ARTILLERY LAKE
IN LAT. 62° 56′

[140]

In the night, one of Matonabbee’s wives and another
woman eloped: it was supposed they went off to the Eastward,
in order to meet their former husbands, from {103} whom
they had been sometime before taken by force. This affair
made more noise and bustle than I could have supposed; and
Matonabbee seemed entirely disconcerted, and quite inconsolable
for the loss of his wife. She was certainly by far the
handsomest of all his flock, of a moderate size, and had a fair
complexion; she apparently possessed a mild temper, and
very engaging manners. In fact, she seemed to have every
good quality that could be expected in a Northern Indian
woman, and that could render her an agreeable companion to
an inhabitant of this part of the world. She had not, however,
appeared happy in her late situation; and chose rather
to be the sole wife of a sprightly young fellow of no note,
(though very capable of maintaining her,) than to have the
seventh or eighth share of the affection of the greatest man
in the country. I am sorry to mention an incident which
happened while we were building the canoes at Clowey, and[141]
which by no means does honour to Matonabbee: it is no less
a crime than that of having actually stabbed the husband of
the above-mentioned girl in three places; and had it not been
for timely assistance, would certainly have murdered him, for
no other reason than because the poor man had spoken disrespectfully
of him for having taken his wife away by force.
The cool deliberation with which Matonabbee committed this
bloody action, convinced me it had been a long premeditated
design; for he no sooner heard of the man’s arrival, than he
opened one of his wives’ bundles, and, with the greatest {104}
composure, took out a new long box-handled knife, went into
the man’s tent, and, without any preface whatever, took him by
the collar, and began to execute his horrid design. The poor
man anticipating his danger, fell on his face, and called for
assistance; but before any could be had he received three
wounds in the back. Fortunately for him, they all happened
on the shoulder-blade, so that his life was spared. When
Matonabbee returned to his tent, after committing this horrid
deed, he sat down as composedly as if nothing had happened,
called for water to wash his bloody hands and knife, smoked
his pipe as usual, seemed to be perfectly at ease, and asked if
I did not think he had done right?

It has ever been the custom among those people for the
men to wrestle for any woman to whom they are attached;
and, of course, the strongest party always carries off the prize.
A weak man, unless he be a good hunter and well-beloved, is
seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks
worth his notice: for at any time when the wives of those
strong wrestlers are heavy-laden either with furrs or provisions,
they make no scruple of tearing any other man’s wife from
his bosom, and making her bear a part of his luggage. This
custom prevails throughout all their tribes, and causes a great
spirit of emulation among their youth, who are upon all occasions,
from their childhood, trying their strength and skill
in wrestling. This enables them to protect their property,[142]
and particularly their wives, {105} from the hands of those
powerful ravishers; some of whom make almost a livelihood
by taking what they please from the weaker parties, without
making them any return. Indeed, it is represented as an act
of great generosity, if they condescend to make an unequal
exchange; as, in general, abuse and insult are the only return
for the loss which is sustained.

The way in which they tear the women and other property
from one another, though it has the appearance of the
greatest brutality, can scarcely be called fighting. I never
knew any of them receive the least hurt in these rencontres;
the whole business consists in hauling each other about by the
hair of the head: they are seldom known either to strike or
kick one another. It is not uncommon for one of them to cut
off his hair and to grease his ears, immediately before the contest
begins. This, however, is done privately; and it is sometimes
truly laughable, to see one of the parties strutting about
with an air of great importance, and calling out, “Where is
he? Why does he not come out?” when the other will bolt
out with a clean shorned head and greased ears, rush on his
antagonist, seize him by the hair, and though perhaps a much
weaker man, soon drag him to the ground, while the stronger
is not able to lay hold on him. It is very frequent on those
occasions for each party to have spies, to watch the other’s
motions, which puts them more on a footing of equality. For
want of hair to pull, they {106} seize each other about the
waist, with legs wide extended, and try their strength, by
endeavouring to vie who can first throw the other down.

On these wrestling occasions the standers-by never attempt
to interfere in the contest; even one brother offers not to
assist another, unless it be with advice, which, as it is always
delivered openly on the field during the contest, may, in fact,
be said to be equally favourable to both parties. It sometimes
happens that one of the wrestlers is superior in strength to
the other; and if a woman be the cause of the contest, the[143]
weaker is frequently unwilling to yield, notwithstanding he is
greatly overpowered. When this happens to be the case, the
relations and friends, or other bye-standers, will sometimes
join to persuade the weaker combatant to give up the contest,
lest, by continuing it, he should get bruised and hurt, without
the least probability of being able to protect what he is contending
for. I observed that very few of those people were
dissatisfied with the wives which had fallen to their lot, for
whenever any considerable number of them were in company,
scarcely a day passed without some overtures being made for
contests of this kind; and it was often very unpleasant to me, to
see the object of the contest sitting in pensive silence watching
her fate, while her husband and his rival were contending
for the prize. I have indeed not only felt pity for those poor
wretched victims, but the utmost indignation, when I {107} have
seen them won, perhaps, by a man whom they mortally hated.
On those occasions their grief and reluctance to follow their
new lord has been so great, that the business has often ended
in the greatest brutality; for, in the struggle, I have seen the
poor girls stripped quite naked, and carried by main force to
their new lodgings. At other times it was pleasant enough
to see a fine girl led off the field from a husband she disliked,
with a tear in one eye and a finger on the other: for custom,
or delicacy if you please, has taught them to think it necessary
to whimper a little, let the change be ever so much to their
inclination. I have throughout this account given the women
the appellation of girls, which is pretty applicable, as the
objects of contest are generally young, and without any
family: few of the men chuse to be at the trouble of maintaining
other people’s children, except on particular occasions,
which will be taken notice of hereafter.

Some of the old men, who are famous on account of their
supposed skill in conjuration, have great influence in persuading
the rabble from committing those outrages; but the
humanity of these sages is seldom known to extend beyond[144]
their own families. In defence of them they will exert their
utmost influence; but when their own relations are guilty of
the same crime, they seldom interfere. This partial conduct
creates some secret, and several open enemies; but the generality
of their neighbours are deterred, through fear or superstition,
from {108} executing their revenge, and even from
talking disrespectfully of them, unless it be behind their backs;
which is a vice of which almost every Indian in this country,
without exception, is guilty.

Notwithstanding the Northern Indians are so covetous, and
pay so little regard to private property as to take every advantage
of bodily strength to rob their neighbours, not only of
their goods, but of their wives, yet they are, in other respects,
the mildest tribe, or nation, that is to be found on the borders
of Hudson’s Bay: for let their affronts or losses be ever so
great, they never will seek any other revenge than that of
wrestling. As for murder, which is so common among all
the tribes of Southern Indians, it is seldom heard of among
them. A murderer is shunned and detested by all the tribe,
and is obliged to wander up and down, forlorn and forsaken
even by his own relations and former friends. In that respect
a murderer may truly be compared to Cain, after he had killed
his brother Abel. The cool reception he meets with by all
who know him, occasions him to grow melancholy, and he
never leaves any place but the whole company say “There
goes the murderer!” The women, it is true, sometimes
receive an unlucky blow from their husbands for misbehaviour,
which occasions their death; but this is thought nothing of:
and for one man or woman to kill another out of revenge, or
through jealousy, or on any other account, is so extraordinary,
that very few are now {109} existing who have been guilty of it.
At the present moment I know not one, beside Matonabbee,
who ever made an attempt of that nature; and he is, in every
other respect, a man of such universal good sense, and, as an
Indian, of such great humanity, that I am at a loss how to[145]
account for his having been guilty of such a crime, unless it be
by his having lived among the Southern Indians so long, as
to become tainted with their blood-thirsty, revengeful, and
vindictive disposition.

Early in the morning of the twenty-ninth, Captain Keelshies
joined us. He delivered to me a packet of letters, and
a two-quart keg of French brandy; but assured me, that the
powder, shot, tobacco, knives, &c. which he received at the
Fort for me, were all expended. He endeavoured to make
some apology for this, by saying, that some of his relations
died in the Winter, and that he had, according to their custom,
thrown all his own things away; after which he was obliged to
have recourse to my ammunition and other goods, to support
himself and a numerous family. The very affecting manner
in which he related this story, often crying like a child, was
a great proof of his extreme sorrow, which he wished to
persuade me arose from the recollection of his having embezzled
so much of my property; but I was of a different
opinion, and attributed his grief to arise from the remembrance
of his deceased relations. However, as a small recompence for
my loss, he presented me with four {110} ready-dressed moose-skins,
which was, he said, the only retribution he could then
make. The moose-skins, though not the twentieth part of the
value of the goods which he had embezzled, were in reality
more acceptable to me, than the ammunition and the other
articles would have been, on account of their great use as shoe-leather,
which at that time was a very scarce article with us,
whereas we had plenty of powder and shot.

On the same day that Keelshies joined us, an Indian man,
who had been some time in our company, insisted on taking
one of Matonabbee’s wives from him by force, unless he complied
with his demands, which were, that Matonabbee should
give him a certain quantity of ammunition, some pieces of
iron-work, a kettle, and several other articles; every one of
which, Matonabbee was obliged to deliver, or lose the woman;[146]
for the other man far excelled him in strength. Matonabbee
was more exasperated on this occasion, as the same man had
sold him the woman no longer ago than the nineteenth of the
preceding April. Having expended all the goods he then
possessed, however, he was determined to make another bargain
for her; and as she was what may be called a valuable
woman in their estimation; that is, one who was not only
tolerably personable, but reckoned very skilful in manufacturing
the different kinds of leather, skins, and furrs, and at the
same time very clever in the performance of every other
domestic duty required of the sex in this part of the {111}
world; Matonabbee was more unwilling to part with her,
especially as he had so lately suffered a loss of the same kind.

This dispute, which was after some hours decided by words
and presents, had like to have proved fatal to my expedition;
for Matonabbee, who at that time thought himself as great
a man as then lived, took this affront so much to heart,
especially as it was offered in my presence, that he almost
determined not to proceed any farther toward the Coppermine
River, and was on the point of striking off to the Westward,
with an intent to join the Athapuscow Indians, and
continue with them: he being perfectly well acquainted with
all their leaders, and most of the principal Indians of that
country, from whom, during a former residence among them
of several years, he said he had met with more civility than he
ever did from his own countrymen. As Matonabbee seemed
resolutely bent on his design, I had every reason to think that
my third expedition would prove equally unsuccessful with
the two former. I was not, however, under the least apprehension
for my own safety, as he promised to take me with him,
and procure me a passage to Prince of Wales’s Fort, with some
of the Athapuscow Indians, who at that time annually visited
the Factory in the way of trade. After waiting till I thought
Matonabbee’s passion had a little abated, I used every argument
of which I was master in favour of his proceeding on the[147]
journey; assuring him {112} not only of the future esteem of
the present Governor of Prince of Wales’s Fort, but also of
that of all his successors as long as he lived; and that even the
Hudson’s Bay Company themselves would be ready to acknowledge
his assiduity and perseverance, in conducting a business
which had so much the appearance of proving advantageous
to them. After some conversation of this kind, and a good
deal of intreaty, he at length consented to proceed, and
promised to make all possible haste. Though it was then
late in the afternoon, he gave orders for moving, and accordingly
we walked about seven miles that night, and put up on
another island in Peshew Lake. The preceding afternoon the
Indians had killed a few deer; but our number was then so
great, that eight or ten deer would scarcely afford us all a
taste. These deer were the first we had seen since our leaving
the neighbourhood of Thelewey-aza-yeth; so that we had
lived all the time on the dried meat which had been prepared
before we left that place in April.

The thirtieth proved bad, rainy weather; we walked, however,
about ten miles to the Northward, when we arrived on
the North side of Peshew Lake, and put up. Here Matonabbee
immediately began to make every necessary arrangement
for facilitating the executing of our design; and as he had
promised to make all possible haste, he thought it expedient
to leave most of his wives and all his children in the care of
some Indians, then in our company, who had his orders to
proceed to the {113} Northward at their leisure; and who, at
a particular place appointed by him, were to wait our return
from the Copper-mine River. Having formed this resolution,
Matonabbee selected two of his young wives who had no
children, to accompany us; and in order to make their loads
as light as possible, it was agreed that we should not take
more ammunition with us than was really necessary for our
support, till we might expect again to join those Indians and
the women and children. The same measures were also[148]
adopted by all the other Indians of my party; particularly
those who had a plurality of wives, and a number of children.

As these matters took some time to adjust, it was near
nine o’clock in the evening of the thirty-first before we could
set out; and then it was with much difficulty that Matonabbee
could persuade his other wives from following him, with their
children and all their lumber; for such was their unwillingness
to be left behind, that he was obliged to use his authority
before they would consent, consequently they parted in anger;
and we no sooner began our march, than they set up a most
woeful cry, and continued to yell most piteously as long as
we were within hearing. This mournful scene had so little
effect on my party, that they walked away laughing, and as
merry as ever. The few who expressed any regret at their
departure from those whom they were to leave behind, {114}
confined their regard wholly to their children, particularly to
the youngest, scarcely ever mentioning their mother.

Though it was so late when we left the women, we walked
about ten miles that night before we stopped. In our way we
saw many deer; several of which the Indians killed. To talk
of travelling and killing deer in the middle of the night, may
at first view have the appearance of romance; but our wonder
will speedily abate, when it is considered that we were then to
the Northward of 64° of North latitude, and that, in consequence
of it, though the Sun did not remain the whole night
above the horizon, yet the time it remained below it was so short,
and its depression even at midnight so small at this season of
the year, that the light, in clear weather, was quite sufficient for
the purpose both of walking, and hunting any kind of game.[59]

[149]

It should have been observed, that during our stay at
Clowey a great number of Indians entered into a combination
with those of my party to accompany us to the Copper-mine
River; and with no other intent than to murder the Esquimaux,
who are understood by the Copper Indians to frequent
that river in considerable numbers. This scheme, notwithstanding
the trouble and fatigue, as well as danger, with which
it must be obviously attended, was nevertheless so universally
approved by those people, that for some time almost every man
who joined {115} us proposed to be of the party. Accordingly,
each volunteer, as well as those who were properly of my
party, prepared a target, or shield, before we left the woods of
Clowey. Those targets were composed of thin boards, about
three quarters of an inch thick, two feet broad, and three feet
long; and were intended to ward off the arrows of the Esquimaux.
Notwithstanding these preparations, when we came to
leave the women and children, as has been already mentioned,
only sixty volunteers would go with us; the rest, who were
nearly as many more, though they had all prepared targets,
reflecting that they had a great distance to walk, and that no
advantage could be expected from the expedition, very prudently
begged to be excused, saying, that they could not be
spared for so long a time from the maintenance of their wives
and families; and particularly, as they did not see any then in
our company, who seemed willing to encumber themselves
with such a charge. This seemed to be a mere evasion, for I
am clearly of opinion that poverty on one side, and avarice
on the other, were the only impediments to their joining our
party; had they possessed as many European goods to squander
away among their countrymen as Matonabbee and those
of my party did, in all probability many might have been
found who would have been glad to have accompanied us.

When I was acquainted with the intentions of my companions,
and saw the warlike preparations that were carrying
on, I endeavoured as much as possible to persuade {116} them
from putting their inhuman design into execution; but so far
were my intreaties from having the wished-for effect, that it[150]
was concluded I was actuated by cowardice; and they told me,
with great marks of derision, that I was afraid of the Esquimaux.
As I knew my personal safety depended in a great
measure on the favourable opinion they entertained of me
in this respect, I was obliged to change my tone, and replied,
that I did not care if they rendered the name and race of the
Esquimaux extinct; adding at the same time, that though
I was no enemy to the Esquimaux, and did not see the
necessity of attacking them without cause, yet if I should find
it necessary to do it, for the protection of any one of my company,
my own safety out of the question, so far from being
afraid of a poor defenceless Esquimaux, whom I despised more
than feared, nothing should be wanting on my part to protect
all who were with me. This declaration was received with
great satisfaction; and I never afterwards ventured to interfere
with any of their war-plans. Indeed, when I came to consider
seriously, I saw evidently that it was the highest folly for an
individual like me, and in my situation, to attempt to turn the
current of a national prejudice which had subsisted between
those two nations from the earliest periods, or at least as long
as they had been acquainted with the existence of each other.

Having got rid of all the women, children, dogs, heavy
baggage, and other incumbrances, on the first of June we
{117} pursued our journey to the Northward with great speed;
but the weather was in general so precarious, and the snow,
sleet, and rain so frequent, that notwithstanding we embraced
every opportunity which offered, it was the sixteenth of June
before we arrived in the latitude of 67° 30′, where Matonabbee
had proposed that the women and children should wait our
return from the Copper-mine River.

In our way hither we crossed several lakes on the
ice; of which Thoy-noy-kyed Lake[60] and Thoy-coy-lyned
Lake[61] were the principal. We also crossed a few inconsiderable
creeks and rivers,[62] which were only useful as they furnished a
small supply of fish to the natives. The weather, as I have before
observed, was in general disagreeable, with a great deal of rain
and snow. To make up for that inconvenience, however, the
deer were so plentiful, that the Indians killed not only a
sufficient quantity for our daily support, but frequently great
numbers merely for the fat, marrow and tongues. To induce
them to desist from this practice, I often interested myself,
and endeavoured, as much as possible, to convince them in the
clearest terms of which I was master, of the great impropriety
of such waste; particularly at a time of the year when their
skins could not be of any use for clothing, and when the
anxiety to proceed on our journey would not permit us to
stay long enough in one place to eat up half the spoils of
their hunting. As national customs, however, are not easily
{118} overcome, my remonstrances proved ineffectual; and I
was always answered, that it was certainly right to kill plenty,
and live on the best, when and where it was to be got, for that
it would be impossible to do it where every thing was scarce:
and they insisted on it, that killing plenty of deer and other
game in one part of the country, could never make them
scarcer in another. Indeed, they were so accustomed to kill
every thing that came within their reach, that few of them
could pass by a small bird’s nest, without slaying the young
ones, or destroying the eggs.

[152]

[151]

From the seventeenth to the twentieth, we walked between
seventy and eighty miles to the North West and North North
West; the greater part of the way by Cogead Lake[63]; but
the Lake being then frozen, we crossed all the creeks and bays
of it on the ice.

On the twenty-first we had bad rainy weather, with so
thick a fog that we could not see our way: about ten o’clock
at night, however, it became fine and clear, and the Sun shone
very bright; indeed it did not set all that night, which was
a convincing proof, without any observation, that we were then
considerably to the North of the Arctic Polar Circle.

As soon as the fine weather began, we set out and walked
about seven or eight miles to the Northward, when we {119}
came to a branch of Conge-ca-tha-wha-chaga River[64]; on the
North side of which we found several Copper Indians, who
were assembled, according to annual custom, to kill deer as
they cross the river in their little canoes.

[153]

The ice being now broken up, we were, for the first time
this Summer, obliged to make use of our canoes to ferry
across the river: which would have proved very tedious, had
it not been for the kindness of the Copper Indians, who sent
all their canoes to our assistance. Though our number was
not much less than one hundred and fifty, we had only three
canoes, and those being of the common size, could only carry
two persons each, without baggage. It is true, when water
is smooth, and a raft of three or four of those canoes is well
secured by poles lashed across them, they will carry a much
greater weight in proportion, and be much safer, as there is
scarcely a possibility of their oversetting; and this is the
general mode adopted by the people of this country in crossing
rivers when they have more than one canoe with them.

Having arrived on the North side of this river, we found
that Matonabbee, and several others in our company, were
personally acquainted with most of the Copper Indians whom
we found there. The latter seemed highly pleased at the
interview with our party, and endeavoured, by every means in
their power, to convince our company of their readiness to serve
us to the utmost; so that by the {120} time we had got our
tents pitched, the strangers had provided a large quantity of
dried meat and fat, by way of a feast, to which they invited[154]
most of the principal Indians who accompanied me, as well as
Matonabbee and myself, who were presented with some of the
very best.

It is natural to suppose, that immediately after our arrival
the Copper Indians would be made acquainted with the nature
and intention of our journey. This was no sooner done than
they expressed their entire approbation, and many of them
seemed willing and desirous of giving every assistance; particularly
by lending us several canoes, which they assured us
would be very useful in the remaining part of our journey,
and contribute both to our ease and dispatch. It must be
observed, that these canoes were not entirely entrusted to my
crew, but carried by the owners themselves who accompanied
us; as it would have been very uncertain where to have found
them at our return from the Copper River.

Agreeably to my instructions, I smoked my calumet of
peace with the principal of the Copper Indians, who seemed
highly pleased on the occasion; and, from a conversation held
on the subject of my journey, I found they were delighted
with the hopes of having an European settlement in their
neighbourhood, and seemed to have no idea that any impediment
could prevent such a scheme from being carried into
execution. Climates and {121} seasons had no weight with
them; nor could they see where the difficulty lay in getting to
them; for though they acknowledged that they had never seen
the sea at the mouth of the Copper River clear of ice, yet they
could see nothing that should hinder a ship from approaching
it; and they innocently enough observed, that the water was
always so smooth between the ice and shore, that even small
boats might get there with great ease and safety. How a ship
was to get between the ice and the shore, never once occurred
to them.

Whether it was from real motives of hospitality, or from
the great advantages which they expected to reap by my discoveries,
I know not; but I must confess that their civility[155]
far exceeded what I could expect from so uncivilized a tribe,
and I was exceedingly sorry that I had nothing of value to
offer them. However, such articles as I had, I distributed
among them, and they were thankfully received by them.
Though they have some European commodities among them,
which they purchase from the Northern Indians, the same
articles from the hands of an Englishman were more prized.
As I was the first whom they had ever seen, and in all probability
might be the last, it was curious to see how they flocked
about me, and expressed as much desire to examine me from
top to toe, as an European Naturalist would a non-descript
animal. They, however, found and pronounced me to be a
perfect human being, except in the colour of my hair {122}
and eyes: the former, they said, was like the stained hair of a
buffaloe’s tail, and the latter, being light, were like those of a
gull. The whiteness of my skin also was, in their opinion, no
ornament, as they said it resembled meat which had been
sodden in water till all the blood was extracted. On the
whole, I was viewed as so great a curiosity in this part of the
world, that during my stay there, whenever I combed my head,
some or other of them never failed to ask for the hairs that
came off, which they carefully wrapped up, saying, “When I
see you again, you shall again see your hair.”

The day after our arrival at Congecathawhachaga, Matonabbee
dispatched his brother, and several Copper Indians, to
Copper-mine River, with orders to acquaint any Indians they
might meet, with the reason of my visiting those parts, and
also when they might probably expect us at that river. By
the bearers of this message I sent a present of tobacco and
some other things, to induce any strangers they met to be
ready to give us assistance, either by advice, or in any other
way which might be required.

As Matonabbee and the other Indians thought it advisable
to leave all the women at this place, and proceed to the
Copper-mine River without them, it was thought necessary[156]
to continue here a few days, to kill as many deer as would be
sufficient for their support during {123} our absence. And notwithstanding
deer were so plentiful, yet our numbers were so
large, and our daily consumption was so great, that several
days elapsed before the men could provide the women with a
sufficient quantity; and then they had no other way of preserving
it, than by cutting it in thin slices and drying it in the
Sun. Meat, when thus prepared, is not only very portable,
but palatable; as all the blood and juices are still remaining
in the meat, it is very nourishing and wholesome food; and
may, with care, be kept a whole year without the least danger
of spoiling. It is necessary, however, to air it frequently
during the warm weather, otherwise it is liable to grow
mouldy: but as soon as the chill air of the fall begins, it
requires no farther trouble till next Summer.

We had not been many days at Congecathawhachaga
before I had reason to be greatly concerned at the behaviour of
several of my crew to the Copper Indians. They not only
took many of their young women, furrs, and ready-dressed
skins for clothing, but also several of their bows and arrows,
which were the only implements they had to procure food and
raiment, for the future support of themselves, their wives, and
families. It may probably be thought, that as these weapons
are of so simple a form, and so easily constructed, they might
soon be replaced, without any other trouble or expense than a
little labour; but this supposition can only hold good in
places where proper materials are easily procured, which was
not the case here: {124} if it had, they would not have been
an object of plunder. In the midst of a forest of trees, the
wood that would make a Northern Indian a bow and a few
arrows, or indeed a bow and arrows ready made, are not of
much value; no more than the man’s trouble that makes
them: but carry that bow and arrows several hundred miles
from any woods and place where those are the only weapons
in use, their intrinsic value will be found to increase, in[157]
the same proportion as the materials which are made are
less attainable.[AG]

To do Matonabbee justice on this occasion, I must say
that he endeavoured as much as possible to persuade his
countrymen from taking either furrs, clothing, or bows, from
the Copper Indians, without making them some satisfactory
return; but if he did not encourage, neither did he endeavour
to hinder them from taking as many women as they pleased.
Indeed, the Copper Indian women seem to be much esteemed
by our Northern traders; for what reason I know not, as they
are in reality the same people in every respect; and their
language differs not so much as the dialects of some of the
nearest counties in England do from each other.

It is not surprising that a plurality of wives is customary
among these people, as it is so well adapted to {125} their situation
and manner of life. In my opinion no race of people under
the Sun have a greater occasion for such an indulgence. Their
annual hunt, in quest of furrs, is so remote from any
European settlement, as to render them the greatest travellers
in the known world; and as they have neither horse nor water
carriage, every good hunter is under the necessity of having
several persons to assist in carrying his furrs to the Company’s
Fort, as well as carrying back the European goods which he
receives in exchange for them. No persons in this country
are so proper for this work as the women, because they are
inured to carry and haul heavy loads from their childhood,
and to do all manner of drudgery; so that those men who
are capable of providing for three, four, five, six, or more
women, generally find them humble and faithful servants,
affectionate wives, and fond and indulgent mothers to their
children. Though custom makes this way of life sit apparently
easy on the generality of the women, and though, in
general, the whole of their wants seem to be comprized in
food and clothing only, yet nature at times gets the better
of custom, and the spirit of jealousy makes its appearance
among them: however, as the husband is always arbitrator,
he soon settles the business, though perhaps not always to
the entire satisfaction of the parties.

[158]

Much does it redound to the honour of the Northern
Indian women when I affirm, that they are the mildest and
most virtuous females I have seen in any part of North
{126} America; though some think this is more owing to
habit, custom, and the fear of their husbands, than from real
inclination. It is undoubtedly well known that none can
manage a Northern Indian woman so well as a Northern
Indian man; and when any of them have been permitted to
remain at the Fort, they have, for the sake of gain, been easily
prevailed on to deviate from that character; and a few have,
by degrees, become as abandoned as the Southern Indians, who
are remarkable throughout all their tribes for being the most
debauched wretches under the Sun. So far from laying any
restraint on their sensual appetites, as long as youth and inclination
last, they give themselves up to all manner of even incestuous
debauchery; and that in so beastly a manner when they
are intoxicated, a state to which they are peculiarly addicted,
that the brute creation are not less regardless of decency. I
know that some few Europeans, who have had little opportunity
of seeing them, and of enquiring into their manners, have been
very lavish in their praise; but every one who has had much
intercourse with them, and penetration and industry enough
to study their dispositions, will agree, that no accomplishments
whatever in a man, is sufficient to conciliate the affections, or
preserve the chastity of a Southern Indian woman.[AH]

[159]

{127} The Northern Indian women are in general so far
from being like those I have above described, that it is very
{128} uncommon to hear of their ever being guilty of incontinency,
not even those who are confined to the sixth or even
eighth part of a man.

It is true, that were I to form my opinion of those women
from the behaviour of such as I have been more particularly
acquainted with, I should have little reason to say much in
their favour; but impartiality will not {129} permit me to
make a few of the worst characters a standard for the general
conduct of all of them. Indeed it is but reasonable to think
that travellers and interlopers will be always served with the
worst commodities, though perhaps they pay the best price
for what they have.

It may appear strange, that while I am extolling the
chastity of the Northern Indian women, I should acknowledge
that it is a very common custom among the men of[160]
this country to exchange a night’s lodging with each other’s
wives. But this is so far from being considered as an act
which is criminal, that it is esteemed by them as one of the
strongest ties of friendship between two families; and in case
of the death of either man, the other considers himself bound
to support the children of the deceased. Those people are so
far from viewing this engagement as a mere ceremony, like
most of our Christian god-fathers and god-mothers, who,
notwithstanding their vows are made in the most solemn
manner, and in the presence of both God and man, scarcely
ever afterward remember what they have promised, that there
is not an instance of a Northern Indian having once neglected
the duty which he is supposed to have taken upon himself to
perform. The Southern Indians, with all their bad qualities,[161]
are remarkably humane and charitable to the widows and
children of departed friends; and as their situation and
manner of life enable them to do more acts of charity with
less trouble {130} than falls to the lot of a Northern Indian,
few widows or orphans are ever unprovided for among them.

Though the Northern Indian men make no scruple of having
two or three sisters for wives at one time, yet they are very
particular in observing a proper distance in the consanguinity
of those they admit to the above-mentioned intercourse with
their wives. The Southern Indians are less scrupulous on those
occasions; for among them it is not at all uncommon for one
brother to make free with another brother’s wife or daughter;[AI]
but this is held in abhorrence by the Northern Indians.

{131} By the time the Indians had killed as many deer as
they thought would be sufficient for the support of the women
during our absence, it was the first of July; and during this
time I had two good observations, both by meridional and
double altitudes; the mean of which determined the latitude
of Congecathawhachaga[65] to be 68° 46′ North; and its longitude,
by account, was 24° 2′ West from Prince of Wales’s
Fort, or 118° 15′ West of the meridian of London.

[162]

On the second, the weather proved very bad, with much
snow and sleet; about nine o’clock at night, however, it grew
more moderate, and somewhat clearer, so that we set out, and
walked about ten miles to the North by West, when we lay
down to take a little sleep. At our departure from Congecathawhachaga,
several Indians who had entered the war list,
rather chose to stay behind with the women; but their loss
was amply supplied by Copper Indians, who accompanied us
in the double capacity of guides and warriors.

On the third the weather was equally bad with that of the
preceding day; we made shift, however, to walk ten or eleven
miles in the same direction we had done the day before, and
at last were obliged to put up, not being able to see our way
for snow and thick drift. By putting up, no more is to be
understood than that we got to leeward of a {132} great stone,
or into the crevices of the rocks, where we regaled ourselves
with such provisions as we had brought with us, smoked
our pipes, or went to sleep, till the weather permitted us to
proceed on our journey.

On the fourth, we had rather better weather, though
constant light snow, which made it very disagreeable under
foot. We nevertheless walked twenty-seven miles to the
North West, fourteen of which were on what the Indians call
the Stony Mountains; and surely no part of the world better
deserves that name. On our first approaching these mountains,
they appeared to be a confused heap of stones, utterly
inaccessible to the foot of man: but having some Copper
Indians with us who knew the best road, we made a tolerable
shift to get on, though not without being obliged frequently
to crawl on our hands and knees. Notwithstanding the
intricacy of the road, there is a very visible path the whole
way across these mountains, even in the most difficult parts:
and also on the smooth rocks, and those parts which are[163]
capable of receiving an impression, the path is as plain and
well-beaten, as any bye foot-path in England. By the side of
this path there are, in different parts, several large, flat, or
table stones, which are covered with many thousands of small
pebbles. These the Copper Indians say have been gradually
increased by passengers going to and from the mines; and on
its being observed to us that it was the {133} universal custom
for every one to add a stone to the heap, each of us took up
a small stone in order to increase the number, for good luck.

Just as we arrived at the foot of the Stony Mountains,
three of the Indians turned back; saying, that from every
appearance, the remainder of the journey seemed likely to be
attended with more trouble than would counterbalance the
pleasure they could promise themselves by going to war with
the Esquimaux.

On the fifth, as the weather was so bad, with constant
snow, sleet, and rain, that we could not see our way, we did
not offer to move: but the sixth proving moderate, and quite
fair till toward noon, we set out in the morning, and walked
about eleven miles to the North West; when perceiving bad
weather at hand, we began to look out for shelter among the
rocks, as we had done the four preceding nights, having
neither tents nor tent-poles with us. The next morning
fifteen more of the Indians deserted us, being quite sick of the
road, and the uncommon badness of the weather. Indeed,
though these people are all enured to hardships, yet their
complaint on the present occasion was not without reason:
for, from our leaving Congecathawhachaga we had scarcely
a dry garment of any kind, or any thing to screen us from the
inclemency of the weather, except rocks and {134} caves; the
best of which were but damp and unwholesome lodging. In
some the water was constantly dropping from the rock that
formed the roof, which made our place of retreat little better
than the open air; and we had not been able to make one spark
of fire (except what was sufficient to light a pipe) from the[164]
time of our leaving the women on the second instant; it is
true, in some places there was a little moss, but the constant
sleet and rain made it so wet, as to render it as impossible to
set fire to it as it would be to a wet sponge.

We had no sooner entered our places of retreat, than we
regaled ourselves with some raw venison which the Indians
had killed that morning; the small stock of dried provisions
we took with us when we left the women being now all
expended.

Agreeably to our expectations, a very sudden and heavy
gale of wind came on from the North West, attended with so
great a fall of snow, that the oldest Indian in company said,
he never saw it exceeded at any time of the year, much less
in the middle of Summer. The gale was soon over, and by
degrees it became a perfect calm: but the flakes of snow were
so large as to surpass all credibility, and fell in such vast
quantities, that though the shower only lasted nine hours,
we were in danger of being smothered in our caves.

{135} On the seventh, we had a fresh breeze at North West,
with some flying showers of small rain, and at the same time
a constant warm sunshine, which soon dissolved the greatest
part of the new-fallen snow. Early in the morning we crawled
out of our holes, which were on the North side of the Stony
Mountains, and walked about eighteen or twenty miles to the
North West by West. In our way we crossed part of a large
lake on the ice, which was then far from being broken up.
This lake I distinguished by the name of Buffalo, or Musk-Ox
Lake,[66] from the number of those animals[67] that we found
grazing on the margin of it; many of which the Indians
killed, but finding them lean, only took some of the bulls’
hides for shoe-soals. At night the bad weather returned,
with a strong gale of wind at North East, and very cold rain
and sleet.

[165]

This was the first time we had seen any of the musk-oxen
since we left the Factory. It has been observed that we saw
a great number of them in my first unsuccessful attempt,
before I had got an hundred miles from the Factory; and
indeed I once perceived the tracks of two of those animals
within nine miles of Prince of Wales’s Fort. Great numbers
of them also were met with in my second journey to the
North: several of which my companions killed, particularly
on the seventeenth of July one thousand seven hundred and
seventy. They are also found at times in considerable numbers
near the sea-coast of Hudson’s Bay, {136} all the way from
Knapp’s Bay to Wager Water, but are most plentiful within
the Arctic Circle. In those high latitudes I have frequently
seen many herds of them in the course of a day’s walk, and
some of those herds did not contain less than eighty or an
hundred head. The number of bulls is very few in proportion
to the cows; for it is rare to see more than two or
three full-grown bulls with the largest herd: and from the
number of the males that are found dead, the Indians are of
opinion that they kill each other in contending for the females.
In the rutting season they are so jealous of the cows, that they
run at either man or beast who offers to approach them; and
have been observed to run and bellow even at ravens, and
other large birds, which chanced to light near them. They
delight in the most stony and mountainous parts of the barren
ground, and are seldom found at any great distance from the
woods. Though they are a beast of great magnitude, and apparently
of a very unwieldy inactive structure, yet they climb
the rocks with great ease and agility, and are nearly as sure-footed
as a goat: like it too, they will feed on any thing; though they
seem fondest of grass, yet in Winter, when that article cannot
be had in sufficient quantity, they will eat moss, or any other
herbage they can find, as also the tops of willows and the[166]
tender branches of the pine tree. They take the bull in
August, and bring forth their young the latter end of May,
or beginning of June; and they never have more than one at
a time.

{137} The musk-ox, when full grown, is as large as the
generality, or at least as the middling size, of English black
cattle;[AJ] but their legs, though large, are not so long; nor is
their tail longer than that of a bear; and, like the tail of that
animal, it always bends downward and inward, so that it is
entirely hid by the long hair of the rump and hind quarters:
the hunch on their shoulders is not large, being little more in
proportion than that of a deer: their hair is in some parts very
long, particularly on the belly, sides, and hind quarters; but the
longest hair about them, particularly the bulls, is under the
throat, extending from the chin to the lower part of the chest,
between the fore-legs; it there hangs down like a horse’s
mane inverted, and is full as long, which makes the animal
have a most formidable appearance. It is of the hair from this
part that the Esquimaux make their musketto {138} wigs, and
not from the tail, as is asserted by Mr. Ellis;[AK] their tails, and
the hair which is on them, being too short for that purpose.
In Winter they are provided with a thick fine wool, or furr,
that grows at the root of the long hair, and shields them from
the intense cold to which they are exposed during that season;
but as the Summer advances, this furr loosens from the skin,
and, by frequently rolling themselves on the ground, it works
out to the end of the hair, and in time drops off, leaving little
for their Summer clothing except the long hair. The season
is so short in those high latitudes, that the new fleece begins
to appear, almost as soon as the old one drops off; so that by
the time the cold becomes severe, they are again provided
with a Winter-dress.

[167]

The flesh of the musk-ox noways resembles that of the
Western buffalo, but is more like that of the moose or elk;
and the fat is of a clear white, slightly tinged with a light
azure. The calves and young heifers are good eating; but
the flesh of the bulls both smells and tastes so strong of musk,
as to render it very disagreeable: even the knife that cuts the
flesh of an old bull will smell so strong of musk, that nothing
but scouring the blade quite bright can remove it, and the
handle will retain the scent for a long time. Though no
part of a bull is free from this smell, yet the parts of generation,
in particular the urethra, are by far the most strongly
impregnated. The {139} urine itself must contain the scent
in a very great degree; for the sheaths of the bull’s penis are
corroded with a brown gummy substance, which is nearly as
high-scented with musk as that said to be produced by the
civet cat; and after having been kept for several years, seems
not to lose any of its quality.

On the eighth, the weather was fine and moderate, though
not without some showers of rain. Early in the morning we
set out, and walked eighteen miles to the Northward. The
Indians killed some deer; so we put up by the side of a small
creek, that afforded a few willows, with which we made a
fire for the first time since our leaving Congecathawhachaga;[168]
consequently it was here that we cooked our first meal for a
whole week. This, as may naturally be supposed, was well
relished by all parties, the Indians as well as myself. And as
the Sun had, in the course of the day, dried our clothing, in
spite of the small showers of rain, we felt ourselves more
comfortable than we had done since we left the women. The
place where we lay that night, is not far from Grizzled Bear
Hill; which takes its name from the numbers of those animals
that are frequently known to resort thither for the purpose of
bringing forth their young in a cave that is found there. The
wonderful description which the Copper Indians gave of this
place exciting the curiosity of several of my companions as
well as myself, we went to view it; but on our arrival at it
{140} found little worth remarking about it, being no more
than a high lump of earth, of a loamy quality, of which kind
there are several others in the same neighbourhood, all standing
in the middle of a large marsh, which makes them resemble
so many islands in a lake. The sides of these hills are quite
perpendicular; and the height of Grizzled Bear Hill, which
is the largest, is about twenty feet above the level ground that
surrounds it. Their summits are covered with a thick sod of
moss and long grass, which in some places projects over the
edge; and as the sides are constantly mouldering away, and
washing down with every shower of rain during the short
Summer, they must in time be levelled with the marsh in
which they are situated. At present those islands, as I call
them, are excellent places of retreat for the birds which migrate
there to breed; as they can bring forth their young in perfect
safety from every beast except the Quiquehatch,[68] which, from
the sharpness of its claws and the amazing strength of its legs,
is capable of ascending the most difficult precipices.

[169]

On the side of the hill that I went to survey, there is a
large cave which penetrates a considerable way into the rock, and
may probably have been the work of the bears, as we could
discover visible marks that some of those beasts had been there
that Spring. This, though deemed very curious by some of my
companions, did not appear so to me, as it neither engaged my
attention, nor raised my {141} surprise, half so much as the sight
of the many hills and dry ridges on the East side of the marsh,
which are turned over like ploughed land by those animals, in
searching for ground-squirrels,[69] and perhaps mice, which constitute
a favourite part of their food. It is surprising to see
the extent of their researches in quest of those animals, and
still more to view the enormous stones rolled out of their
beds by the bears on those occasions. At first I thought these
long and deep furrows had been effected by lightning; but the
natives assured me they never knew anything of the kind
happen in those parts, and that it was entirely the work of the
bears seeking for their prey.

On the ninth, the weather was moderate and cloudy, with
some flying showers of rain. We set out early in the morning,
and walked about forty miles to the North and North by East.
In our way we saw plenty of deer and musk-oxen: several of
the former the Indians killed, but a smart shower of rain coming
on just as we were going to put up, made the moss so wet
as to render it impracticable to light a fire. The next day
proving fine and clear, we set out in the morning, and walked
twenty miles to the North by West and North North West;
but about noon the weather became so hot and sultry as to
render walking very disagreeable; we therefore put up on the
top of a high hill, and as the moss was then dry, lighted a fire,
and should have made a comfortable meal, and been otherwise
tolerably happy, had it not been {142} for the muskettoes, which
were uncommonly numerous, and their stings almost insufferable.
The same day Matonabbee sent several Indians a-head,
with orders to proceed to the Copper-mine River as fast as
possible, and acquaint any Indians they might meet, of our
approach. By those Indians I also sent some small presents,
as the surest means to induce any strangers they found, to
come to our assistance.

[170]

The eleventh was hot and sultry, like the preceding day.
In the morning we walked ten or eleven miles to the North
West, and then met a Northern Indian Leader, called Oule-eye,
and his family, who were, in company with several Copper
Indians, killing deer with bows and arrows and spears, as they
crossed a little river, by the side of which we put up, as did
also the above-mentioned Indians.[AL] That afternoon I smoked
my calumet of peace with these strangers, and found them a
quite different set of people, at least in principle, from those I
had seen at Congecathawhachaga: for though they had great
plenty of provisions, they neither offered me nor my companions
a mouthful, and would, if they had been permitted,
have taken the last garment from off my back, and robbed me
of every article I possessed. Even my Northern companions
could not help taking notice of such unaccountable behaviour.
Nothing but their poverty {143} protected them from being
plundered by those of my crew; and had any of their women
been worth notice, they would most assuredly have been pressed
into our service.

The twelfth was so exceedingly hot and sultry, that we
did not move; but early in the morning of the thirteenth,
after my companions had taken what dry provisions they
chose from our unsociable strangers, we set out, and walked
about fifteen or sixteen miles to the North and North by East,
in expectation of arriving at the Copper-mine River that day;
but when we had reached the top of a long chain of hills,
between which we were told the river ran, we found it to be
no more than a branch of it which empties itself into the main
river about forty miles from its influx into the sea. At that
time all the Copper Indians were dispatched different ways, so
that there was not one in company, who knew the shortest cut
to the main river. Seeing some woods to the Westward, and
judging that the current of the rivulet ran that way, we
concluded that the main river lay in that direction, and was
not very remote from our present situation. We therefore
directed our course by the side of it, when the Indians met
with several very fine buck deer, which they destroyed; and
as that part we now traversed afforded plenty of good fire-wood,
we put up, and cooked the most comfortable meal to
which we had sat down for some months. As such favourable
opportunities of indulging the appetite happen but seldom, it
is a general {144} rule with the Indians, which we did not
neglect, to exert every art in dressing our food which the most
refined skill in Indian cookery has been able to invent, and which
consists chiefly in boiling, broiling, and roasting: but of all
the dishes cooked by those people, a beeatee, as it is called in
their language, is certainly the most delicious, at least for a
change, that can be prepared from a deer only, without any
other ingredient. It is a kind of haggis, made with the blood,
a good quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of
the flesh, together with the heart and lungs cut, or more
commonly torn into small shivers; all which is put into the
stomach, and roasted, by being suspended before the fire by a
string. Care must be taken that it does not get too much
heat at first, as the bag would thereby be liable to be burnt,
and the contents be let out. When it is sufficiently done, it
will emit steam, in the same manner as a fowl or a joint of
meat; which is as much as to say, Come, eat me now: and if
it be taken in time, before the blood and other contents are
too much done, it is certainly a most delicious morsel, even
without pepper, salt, or any other seasoning.

[171]

After regaling ourselves in the most plentiful manner, and
taking a few hours rest, (for it was almost impossible to sleep
for the muskettoes,) we once more set forward, directing our[172]
course to the North West by West; and after walking about
nine or ten miles, arrived at that long wished-for spot, the
Copper-mine River.[70]