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.
[Illustration: 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.
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.)
[Illustration: 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. 1^{st}. 1796 From the
"European Magazine," June, 1797_]
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.
Transactions at the Factory--Proceed on my second
journey--Arrive at Seal River--Deer plentiful for some
time--Method of angling fish under the ice--Set our
fishing-nets--Method of setting nets under the ice--My guide
[xii] proposes to stay till the geese should begin to fly; his
reasons accepted--Pitch our tent in the best manner--Method of
pitching a tent in Winter--Fish plentiful for some time; grow
very scarce; in great want of provisions--Manner of employing my
time--My guide killed two deer--Move to the place they were
lying at; there kill several more deer, and three beavers--Soon
in want of provisions again--Many Indians join us from the
Westward--We begin to move towards the barren ground--Arrive at
She-than-nee, there suffer great distress for want of
provisions--Indians kill two swans and three geese--Geese and
other birds of passage plentiful--Leave She-than-nee, and arrive
at Beralzone--One of my companions guns bursts, and shatters his
left hand--Leave Beralzone, and get on the barren ground, clear
of all woods--Throw away our sledges and snow shoes--Each person
takes a load on his back; my part of the luggage--Exposed to
many hardships--Several days without victuals--Indians kill
three musk-oxen, but for want of fire are obliged to eat the
meat raw--Fine weather returns; make a fire; effects of long
fasting; stay a day or two to dry some meat in the Sun--Proceed
to the Northward, and arrive at Cathawhachaga; there find some
tents of Indians--A Northern Leader called Keelshies meets us;
send a letter by him to the Governor--Transactions at
Cathawhachaga; leave it and proceed to the Northward--Meet
several Indians--My guide not willing to proceed; his reasons
for it--Many more Indians join us--Arrive at Doobaunt Whoie
River--Manner of ferrying over rivers in the Northern Indian
canoes--No rivers in those parts in a useful direction for the
natives--Had nearly lost the quadrant and all the powder--Some
reflections on our situation, and conduct of the Indians--Find
the quadrant and part of the powder--Observe for the
latitude--Quadrant broke--Resolve to return again to the Factory
69
CHAP. III.
Transactions from the time the Quadrant was broken, till I
arrived at the Factory.
Several strange Indians join us from the Northward--They plunder
me of all I had; but did not plunder the Southern Indians--My
guide plundered--We begin our return to the Factory--Meet with
other Indians, who join our company--Collect deer-skins for
clothing, but could not get them {xiii} dressed--Suffer much
hardship from the want of tents and warm clothing--Most of the
Indians leave us--Meet with Matonabbee--Some account of him, and
his behaviour to me and the Southern Indians--We remain in his
company some time--His observations on my two unsuccessful
attempts--We leave him, and proceed to a place to which he
directed us, in order to make snow-shoes and sledges--Join
Matonabbee again, and proceed towards the Factory in his
company--Ammunition runs short--Myself and four Indians set off
post for the Factory--Much bewildered in a snow storm; my dog is
frozen to death; we lie in a bush of willows--Proceed on our
journey--Great difficulty in crossing a jumble of rocks--Arrive
at the Fort 96
CHAP. IV.
Transactions during our Stay at Prince of Wales's Fort, and the
former Part of our third Expedition, till our Arrival at Clowey,
where we built Canoes, in May 1771.
Preparations for our departure--Refuse to take any of the
home-guard Indians with me--By so doing, I offend the
Governor--Leave the Fort a third time--My instructions on this
expedition--Provisions of all kinds very scarce--Arrive at the
woods, where we kill some deer--Arrive at Island
Lake--Matonabbee taken ill--Some remarks thereon--Join the
remainder of the Indians' families--Leave Island
Lake--Description thereof--Deer plentiful--Meet a strange
Indian--Alter our course from West North West to West by
South--Cross Cathawhachaga River, Cossed Lake, Snow-Bird Lake,
and Pike Lake--Arrive at a tent of strangers, who are employed
in snaring deer in a pound--Description of a pound--Method of
proceeding--Remarks thereon--Proceed on our journey--Meet with
several parties of Indians; by one of whom I sent a letter to
the Governor at Prince of Wales's Fort--Arrive at
Thleweyazayeth--Employment there--Proceed to the North North
West and North--Arrive at Clowey--One of the Indian's wives
taken in labour--Remarks thereon--Customs observed by the
Northern Indians on those occasions 106
{xiv} CHAP. V.
Transactions at Clowey, and on our Journey, till our Arrival at
the Copper-mine River.