Part 14

The _Indians_, who are called _Northern Indians_, having their Habitations to North-west of _Churchill_, mention a Sea to the Westward of them, and which is from _Churchill_ Factory in _Hudson_'s Bay twenty-five Days Journey, not a direct Course, but from the round they are obliged to take. They speak of the _Eskemaux Indians_ to Eastward of them, but never give an Account of any other Nations to Northward or Westward of them. Mr. _Scroggs_, who was sent out by the _Hudson_'s Bay Company in 1722, had two Northern _Indians_, whom he carried with him, when he was in about Lat. 62. knew the Country very well, and had a great Desire to go home, saying they were but two or three Days Journey from their Family. And the Northern _Indians_ who were with Captain _Middleton_, were desirous of his going near the Shore, between Lat. 62 Deg. and 64. In Lat. 63° and 14´, Captain _Middleton_ put two of the _Indians_ ashore, who were desirous of returning to their own Country. And the Author saw an _Indian_, whose Daughter had married a Northern _Indian_ and been home with her, direct his own Son to sketch out on a Board with a burnt Stick, the Coast of that Sea, which his Son did, and the Father afterwards took and corrected it where he said the Son had mistook.

Governor _Dobbs_, in the Account mentioned P. 45, mentions, 'that _Joseph le France_ was acquainted with an _Indian_, who lived at some Distance from _Nelson_ River in _Hudson_'s Bay, who, about 15 Years before that Time, went to War against a Nation living Northward on the Western Ocean of _America_. When they went they carried their Families with them, and hunted and fished from Place to Place for two Winters and one Summer, having left their Country in Autumn, and in _April_ following came to the Sea Side, on the Western Coast, where they immediately made their Canoes. At some little Distance they saw an Island, which was about a League and a Half long when the Tide was out, or Water fell, they had no Water betwixt them and the Island, but when it rose it covered all the Passage betwixt them and the Island, as high up as the Woods upon the Shore. There they left their Wives and Children, and old Men, to conduct them home and provide them with Provisions, by hunting and shooting for them on the Road; and he, with thirty Warriors, went in Quest of their Enemies the _Tete Plat_. After they parted with their Families they came to a Streight, which they passed in their Canoes. The Sea Coast lay almost East and West; for he said the Sun rose upon his Right Hand, and at Noon it was almost behind him as he passed the Streight, and always set in the Sea. After passing the Streight they coasted along the Shore three Months, going into the Country or Woods as they went along to hunt for Provisions. He said they saw a great many large black Fish spouting up Water in the Sea. After they had coasted for near three Months, they saw the Footsteps of some Men on the Sand; then judged they were near their Enemies, quitted their Canoes, went five Days through the Woods to the Banks of a River, found their Enemy's Town, made an Attack, the Enemy rallied and put them to flight.' Then proceeds, 'upon which they fled to the Woods, and from thence made their Escape to their Canoes before their Enemies overtook them, and after a great deal of Fatigue got to the Streight; and, after getting over, they all died one after the other, except this old Man, of Fatigue and Famine, leaving him alone to travel to his own Country, which took him up about a Year's Time.' When he reached the River _Sakie_ he met his Friends again, who relieved him.

The _Indians_ that this antient _Indian_ went to War against, (and this _Indian_ was living at _York Fort_ in _Hudson_'s Bay in 1746) are mentioned to be the _Tete Plat_, or _Plascotez de Chicus_. The Part which they inhabit is variously laid down by the Geographers; by some in Lat. 67, Long. 265 East from _Ferro_, which is the extremest Longitude that their Country is laid down in. Mons. _de Lisle_ and others place them in Lat. 63, and Long. 280 East from _Ferro_, so their true Situation is uncertain. Yet it is apparent that they do not live near to or on the Coast of the _South Sea_, or Western Ocean. For what _Joseph le France_ in this Account, and so of all _Indians_, meant by the Word Sea is any Mass or Collection of Salt Waters which have a Tide. P. 38, in the same Work, giving an Account of the _Indians_ passing down to _York Fort_. 'The River _de Terre Rouge_, and from that Place they descend gradually to the Sea.' By which _Joseph le France_ means _Hudson_'s Bay. Governor _Dobbs_ mentioning the Western Ocean of _America_ is a Mistake, which he was led into as having a Consistency with the System which he had adopted. These Warriors left their own Country in Autumn, are said to have lived near _Port Nelson_ or _York Fort_, and were at the Sea Side in _April_. Their not being sooner is not to be attributed to the Length of the Journey but to the Season of the Year. The old _Indian_ was a Year returning to his own Country; but he was fatigued and almost famished, so labouring under a great Debility, and had his Food to seek in whatever Manner he could procure it. The Winter also came on soon after his return from the Enemy. They were on the Western Side of the Land, which separates _Hudson_'s Bay from that Sea, where they saw so great a Tide. Afterwards passed a Streight, which Streight lay North and South. The Sea they came from and the Sea they passed into after such Streight, laid East and West. They continually kept the Western Shore, as that was the Side on which their Enemy lived; and though they were so long as three Months in their Passage, they were obliged to go every Day ashore to hunt, being thirty in Company, required a pretty considerable Subsistance. Their Canoes can bear no Serge or Wave when the Wind blows, therefore are obliged to keep close to the Shore, and must go to the Bottom of each Bay.

This Account agrees both with that of _de Fonte_ and _de Fuca_. The Sea they imbarked on was that at the Back of _Hudson_'s Bay, and the Streight might be formed by some Island, or both the Shores approach each other, tho' the Account is not sufficiently intelligible to make any Description of it in the Map. _De Fuca_ says the Streight grew wider when he entered such Sea, which seems to imply it had been narrow. And the _Indians_, as before-mentioned, said there was a Streight, and they can perceive the Land on the other Side. _De Fuca_ also mentions he went ashore, and found the Land fruitful, and rich of Gold and Silver and Pearls, and other Things, like _Nova Hispania_. Which shews it was a mixed Country; for a fruitful Country and a Produce of Gold and Silver is not a Description compatible with one and the same Part. The one we may suppose the Description of the Parts nearer the Ocean, the other of the Parts where the _Tete Plat_ live: But the old _Indian_ seems also to make a Distinction; for he says they went to hunt in the Country and the Woods. When they had passed the Streight, they came into the broader Part of the Streight of _Anian_, which appeared to them to be a Sea. As to the Place of their Imbarkation, they would be directed by where they could procure Birch to make their Canoes.

The true Situation of the Part they went to, nor where they imbarked is not to be determined with any Certainty; but it doth not carry the least Probability that they went to War with a People more than a thousand Miles distant. It is scarce probable they had ever heard the Name of the Inhabitants of those Parts, much more so acquainted with their Situation as to be able to form a Plan of going to conquer them. There must have been some particular Cause for their going to War with a People so far off; what that was it would be difficult to imagine; if it was only to shew their Prowess, they must have had Enemies nearer home, against whom there was a greater Probability of succeeding. Neither could it be at that Distance, as they had one continued Scene of Fatigue until they reached the Streights; their Hearts broken by Reason of the Disappointment, the Heat of Summer, no venturing ashore but for a very short Time, either for Food or Refreshment, as they expected the Conquerors to follow them with Canoes, it would have been impossible for them to have reached the Streight. If they had a hundred Leagues a direct Course until they attained the Place of their Imbarkation, and by going round the Bays, might be near twice that Distance, the Current also against them, it would be sufficient, stout young Fellows, and full of Blood as they were, for what they underwent to be fatal to them. It is evident the Streight was not far from where they imbarked, and the Relation seems to express it so, as they had such a Fatigue in attaining to it. Allowing the _Tete Plat_ to be in Long. 108 Degrees from _London_, and the true Course was W. S. W. or E. N. E. on their return, with a Distance of a hundred Leagues, they would alter their Latitude 114 Miles, and make 277 Miles Departure, which, with 27 Miles to a Degree, would make the Place of their Imbarkation to be in Longitude 98 from _London_, about the Longitude of _Ronquillo_. As to the Latitude where the _Tete Plat Indians_ live, and as to the Longitude it is but conjecture; there is such a Discordancy and Contradiction in the Maps, there is such Uncertainty, that the North-west and West Parts beyond _Hudson_'s Bay in the Latitude of _Churchill_, seem to be entirely unknown. But this is to be observed, and which has been my Direction in these Observations, the _Northern Indians_ and the _Home Indians_ about the Factory of _York_ Fort, mention these _Tete Plat Indians_, and speak of them as their Enemies, therefore they cannot be at so great a Distance as the Western Ocean, neither further than where I have supposed their Country to be. For as the Time the _Indians_ were going there three Months, that is not to be considered so much with respect to the Distance, as they would choose a proper Season, when there were the fewest _Indians_ in the Towns, and were mostly engaged abroad in their Summer hunting. Perhaps there are no People who plan better in the Partizan Way, and execute with more Success. They fix the Time they intend to make their Attack before they set out, then proceed easily and gradually towards their Enemy's Country, allowing a Sufficiency of Time in which they may recover any Accident by which they might be delayed, as unseasonable Weather, Difficulty and Disappointments as to procuring Subsistance, or any Indisposition, that they go to Action in their full Strength and Vigour; as an _Indian_ who conducts an Expedition would be as much contemned for Want of Prudence, on his Return to the Towns, as he would for his Want of Conduct in leading his People to an Attack, and when the Enemy was too powerful not bringing them off without the Loss of a Scalp. In either of which Cases the young People, who observe freely the most exact Discipline, and implicitly obey what he orders, would not go any more to War with him.

Which Way the _Boston_ Ship made this Passage is uncertain. _Gibbons_ was acquainted with _Bylot_, was Shipmate with him in Sir _Thomas Button_'s Voyage. _Bylot_ was also with _Gibbons_ the Time he lost his Season, by being detained in the Ice. _Bylot_ made an Expedition for Discovery of a Passage in the Year 1615, on Sir _Thomas Button_ having at a Trial of a Tide off the Island of _Nottingham_, in _Hudson_'s Streights, found it came from the North-west, and to be from an Opening at the Back of _Cary_'s _Swans-nest_, this Tide he went in Pursuit of; and was as far up as Lat. 65 Deg. 26 Min. then supposed where he was was nothing but a Bay, but could not (he had gone up the East) return down the West Shore. Whether _Gibbons_ took his Information from _Bylot_, and pursued his Plan, is uncertain, and found his Way round the Head of _Repulse_ Bay. He was also acquainted with what _Fox_ had done, who went into Lat. 66 Deg. 5 Min. so further than _Bylot_, who did not return down the Western Shore; but his People being indisposed, and not finding a North-west Tide, he hastened home. These Parts, therefore, were not properly searched, the Conclusion drawn for there not being a Passage there, being that the Tide came from the Eastward.

Or whether _Gibbons_ went through _Hudson_'s Bay is equally uncertain. The undiscovered Parts of which Bay, or the Openings that were not determined in the Expedition in the Year 1747, are in a Map hereto annexed. But the Termination of _Chesterfield_'s or _Bowden_'s Inlet hath been since searched by the Direction of the _Hudson_'s Bay Company, and a Plan made of it, which I have not seen. Their Design was to go as far up such Inlet until it terminated, or there was a Passage into another Water. But as it is terminated by Land, and if there is no Inlet or Opening left on the North or South Shore unsearched, or a Survey taken from the Heights, by which they could be satisfied there was no Communication with any other Waters by which there could be a Passage, it is to be concluded that _Chesterfield_ Inlet is no Streight or Passage as was expected, and it appeared to be as far as the _Californias_ Boat went up, according to the Report made at that Time. The People who had been in the Boat belonging to the _California_, when the Ship was going up _Wager_ Bay, where, from the Depth of the Water, the Breadth between both Shores, the high mountainous Land, there was great Reason to believe there was a Streight or Passage: Those People declared, if there was a Streight they were assured that _Chesterfield_ Inlet was a Streight also.

There remains then to be searched for the Discovery of a Passage, the Opening called _Pistol Bay_, in _Hudson_'s Bay. That Part which _Bylot_ and _Fox_ left undetermined, along the Coast to Southward of _Baffins_ Bay called _Cumberland_ Isles, which entirely consists of large Inlets and broken Lands. We may be too premature in our Conclusions as to the Impracticability of such a Passage from the high Latitude and the Shortness of the Season, as we have the Instance of the _Boston_ Ship, which was so far advanced in the Sea to Westward of _Hudson_'s Bay in the Month of _August_; and some Time would be taken up in finding out the Way. The strong Tides that set in, and the Current when to Westward, which there is apparently in the other Sea, may give an Expedition that may compensate against the Shortness of the Season. It is but a short Time that would be required to pass that Part of the Passage which lies in those high Latitudes, as the Course would be soon altered to the Southward.

_Seyxas y Lovera_, in his _Theatro Naval Hydrographico_, in the seventh Chapter, P. 426, says, 'North-east of _America_ there is the Coast of _Greenland_, from sixty to sixty-eight Degrees, where there is to the East the Entrance of the Streight of _Frobisher_. North-west in the different Islands which compose the Northern Parts of _America_, there is the Entrance of the Streight of _Hudson_, where the _North Sea_ communicates with the _South Sea_, passing out of the Entrance of the Streight of _Anian_, which runs North-east and South-west to the Northward of the Island of _California_, which Streight is hid by great Gulphs on the Part that is North of _America_, which contain such great Islands, as _Cumberland_ (or _Estoliland_) that are more than one hundred Leagues in Length from North-east to South-west, and their Extremity from East to West more than seventy Leagues.'--Page 44. 'Some hold it for certain that you can sail from _Spain_ to _China_ through those Streights, or to _Japan_, or to the Lands of _Eso_, in three Months. As says also Doctor _Pedro de Syria_; but it is the Opinion of _D. T. V. Y._ Author of the History of the _Imperial_ States of the World, that he holds it for uncertain whether there is such Streight by which you can pass from the _North_ to the _South Sea_.--P. 45. There were some of the Subjects of the King of _France_, who offered themselves, if they could get his Majesty's Licence, to perform that Voyage in four Months; entering the _Canal de Hudson_ from out of the Ocean, with a Course North-west or West North-west, taking always a Sight of the Coast at Noon, they should attain to the Height of the _Arctic_ Circle, or one Degree more, as in making that Voyage they will be favoured in that Part by the Currents and Winds from the East and South-east, and afterwards in their Passage by the Streight of _Anian_, the Winds and Currents would be from the North.--It is said that some Strangers (on what Occasion is not said) have gone that Rout; and that there is in the Archives of the Admiralty of _Lisbon_, and of the _Contratacion at Seville_, a Copy of such Rout; what I here observe is the same with what _Don Francisco de San Millan_ observes, from which or from the Copy of which Rout to be seen in various Languages, or the Disposition of the said Streights, he holds it for certain that there is such a Course, and relates, That a _Hollander_, on the Evidence of a _Spaniard_ who was aboard his Ship, from the North of _California_, forced by the Winds from South-west, attained to sixty-six Degrees North-east, afterwards took a Course East, and East South-east, came into fifty-eight Degrees, when he entered the _North Sea_ to Northward of _Terra Nova_, from thence to _Scotland_, and from _Scotland_ to _Lisbon_, in less than three Months from the Port of _Nativadad_ to _Lisbon_, of which Voyage he makes no Doubt.' And _Seyxas_ observes, he hath seen many other Accounts of Voyages made from _Holland_, also from _England_, to the _South Sea_ in three or four Months, which he much doubts, from the Shortness of the Time; also as in the _Spanish_ Historians they have an Account of what passes in the several Parts of the _South Sea_, in _Cathay_, and _China_, and no such Thing is to be found in the _Bibliotheca_ of the Licentiate _Antonio de Leon_, which sets forth all the Discoveries and Voyages which have been made from any Region from the Year 1200 in _America_.

It is plain from the Account of _Seyxas_, he doth not determine absolutely for a Passage, but that there is a Passage is his Opinion. His chief Objection is to the Accounts from the Brevity of the Time in which the Voyages were said to be performed, and there being no Account in a careful Writer of the Discoveries made in those Parts. He doth not confine the Passage to _Hudson_'s Bay, as I understand him, but to the Streight and the other Openings to Northward through _Cumberland_ Isles, and that they go up into as high a Latitude as the _Arctic_ Circle. Which is agreeable to _Acosta_'s Account, and gives a further Explanation to his Meaning than I have already done. As to which Isles, and to the Northward and Eastward of _Cary_'s _Swans-nest_, it is apparent, from the Perusal of the Voyages, there hath been no certain Account on a compleat Discovery as to those Parts. What he says as to the Voyage of the _Hollander_, it must be observed it was while _Holland_ was under the _Spanish_ Government in the Reign of _Philip_ the Second, and seems to be the same Voyage, of which Mention hath been made that an Account was found amongst the Papers of that Prince.

It hath been shewn to have been the constant Opinion of there being a North-west Passage, from the Time soon after which the _South Sea_ was discovered near the Western Part of _America_, and that this Opinion was adopted by the greatest Men not only in the Time they lived, but whose Eminence and great Abilities are revered by the present Age. That there is a Sea to Westward of _Hudson_'s Bay, there hath been given the concurrent Testimony of _Indians_; and of Navigators and _Indians_ that there is a Streight which unites such Sea with the Western Ocean. The Voyage which lead us into these Considerations, hath so many Circumstances relating to it, which, now they have been considered, shew the greatest Probability of its being authentick; which carry with them as much the Evidence of a Fact, afford as great a Degree of Credibility as we have for any Transaction done a long Time since, which hath not been of a publick Nature and transacted in the Face of the World, so as to fall under the Notice of every one, though under the Disadvantage that the Intent on one Part must have been to have it concealed and buried in Oblivion. Transacted also by Persons in a private Part of the World, who only spoke of it amongst their Friends at home, being themselves Strangers to what they had effected, and made little Account of their Voyage. Besides the Chagrin of their Disappointment, and the illnatured Reflections it might subject them to, they might think it also best not to communicate it to the Publick, as it might encourage others to the like Undertaking, and so they fall into the Hands of the _Spaniards_, not only at the Hazard of their Ship, but their Lives, or at least subject them to many Hardships such as they had sustained to no Purpose. Therefore they thought proper to say little about their Discovery, as it might only be a Means of entrapping some brave Adventurers, who might be animated by their Example to a like Undertaking. These would be and were, by its being so little published on their Parts, (and no Accounts of it in _England_, which shews their Friends were under an Injunction not to make it publick) the Resolutions of such sensible and sagacious Men as _Gibbons_ and _Shapley_ were agreeable to which they acted. All which Circumstances considered, what Degree of Evidence can be required more than hath been given to authenticate this Account of _de Fonte_?