Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

J. B. TYRRELL. TORONTO, _February 1, 1910_.

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

[6] Ibid., p. 271.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By SAMUEL HEARNE.

LONDON:

Printed for A. STRAHAN and T. CADELL: And Sold by T. CADELL Jun. and W. DAVIES, (Successors to Mr. CADELL,) in the Strand.

1795

TO SAMUEL WEGG, ESQ., GOVERNOR, SIR JAMES WINTER LAKE, DEPUTY GOVERNOR, AND THE REST OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HONOURABLE _HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY._

* * * * *

HONOURABLE SIRS,

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

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

PREFACE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CONTENTS.

PAGE INTRODUCTION 41

CHAP. I.

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

Set off from the Fort; arrive at Po-co-ree-kis-co River--One of the Northern Indians deserts--Cross Seal River, and walk on the barren grounds--Receive wrong information concerning the distance of the woods--Weather begins to be very cold, provisions all expended, and nothing to be got--Strike to the Westward, arrive at the woods, and kill three deer--Set forward in the North West quarter, see the tracks of musk-oxen and deer, but killed none--Very short of provisions--Chawchinahaw wants us to return--Neither he nor his crew contribute to our maintenance--He influences several of the Indians to desert--Chawchinahaw and all his crew leave us--Begin our return to the Factory; kill a few partridges, the first meal we had had for several days--Villany of one of the home Indians and his wife, who was a Northern Indian woman--Arrive at the Seal River, kill two deer; partridges plenty--Meet a strange Northern Indian, accompany him to his tent, usage received there; my Indians assist in killing some beaver--Proceed toward home, and arrive at the Fort 61

CHAP. II.

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