canoes; description and use of them--More Indians join us, to
the amount of some hundreds--Leave Clowey--Receive intelligence
that Keelshies was near us--Two young men dispatched for my
letters and goods--Arrive at Peshew Lake; cross part of it, and
make a large smoke--One of Matonabbee's wives elopes--Some
remarks on the natives--Keelshies joins us, and delivers my
letters, but the goods were all expended--A Northern Indian
wishes to take one of Matonabbee's wives from him; matters
compromised, but had like to have proved fatal to my
progress--Cross Peshew Lake, when I make proper arrangements for
the remainder of my journey--Many Indians join our party, in
order to make war on the Esquimaux at the Copper
River--Preparations made for that purpose while at
Clowey--Proceed on our journey to the North--Some remarks on the
way--Cross Cogead Lake on the ice--The sun did not set--Arrive
at Congecathawhachaga--Find several Copper Indians
there--Remarks and transactions during our stay at
Congecathawhachaga--Proceed on our journey--Weather very
bad--Arrive at the Stoney Mountains--Some account of them--Cross
part of Buffalo Lake on the ice--Saw many musk-oxen--Description
of them--Went with some Indians to view Grizzlebear Hill--Join a
strange Northern Indian Leader, called O'lye, in company with
some Copper Indians--Their behaviour to me--Arrive at the
Copper-mine River 133
CHAP. VI.
Transactions at the Copper-mine River, and till we joined all
the Women to the South of Cogead Lake.
Some Copper Indians join us--Indians send three spies down the
river--Begin my survey--Spies return, and give an account of
five tents of Esquimaux--Indians consult the best method to
steal on them in the night, and {xv} kill them while
asleep--Cross the river--Proceedings of the Indians as they
advance towards the Esquimaux tents--The Indians begin the
massacre while the poor Esquimaux are asleep, and slay them
all--Much affected at the sight of one young woman killed close
to my feet--The behaviour of the Indians on this occasion--Their
brutish treatment of the dead bodies--Seven more tents seen on
the opposite side of the river--The Indians harass them, till
they fly to a shoal in the river for safety--Behaviour of the
Indians after killing those Esquimaux--Cross the river, and
proceed to the tents on that side--Plunder their tents, and
destroy their utensils--Continue my survey to the river's
mouth--Remarks there--Set out on my return--Arrive at one of the
Copper-mines--Remarks on it--Many attempts made to induce the
Copper Indians to carry their own goods to market--Obstacles to
it--Villany and cruelty of Keelshies to some of those poor
Indians--Leave the Copper-mine, and walk at an amazing rate till
we join the women, by the side of Cogead Whoie--Much
foot-foundered--The appearance very alarming, but soon changes
for the better--Proceed to the southward, and join the remainder
of the women and children--Many other Indians arrive with them
173
CHAP. VII.
Remarks from the Time the Women joined us till our Arrival at
the Athapuscow Lake.
Several of the Indians sick--Methods used by the conjurors to
relieve one man, who recovers--Matonabbee and his crew proceed
to the South West--Most of the other Indians separate, and go
their respective ways--Pass by White Stone Lake--Many deer
killed merely for their skins--Remarks thereon, and on the deer,
respecting seasons and places--Arrive at Point Lake--One of the
Indian's wives being sick, is left behind to perish
above-ground--Weather very bad, but deer plenty--Stay some time
at Point Lake to dry meat, &c.--Winter set in--Superstitious
customs observed by my companions, after they had killed the
Esquimaux at Copper River--A violent gale of wind oversets my
tent and breaks my quadrant--Some Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians
join us--Indians propose to go to the Athapuscow Country to kill
moose--Leave Point Lake, and arrive at the wood's edge--Arrive
at Anawd Lake--Transactions there--Remarkable instance of a man
being cured of the palsey by the conjurors--Leave Anawd
Lake--Arrive at the great Athapuscow Lake 209
{xvi} CHAP. VIII.
Transactions and Remarks from our Arrival on the South Side of
the Athapuscow Lake, till our Arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort
on Churchill River.
Cross the Athapuscow Lake--Description of it and its
productions, as far as could be discovered in Winter, when the
snow was on the ground--Fish found in the lake--Description of
the buffalo; of the moose or elk, and the method of dressing
their skins--Find a woman alone that had not seen a human face
for more than seven months--Her account how she came to be in
that situation; and her curious method of procuring a
livelihood--Many of my Indians wrestled for her--Arrive at the
Great Athapuscow River--Walk along the side of the River for
several days, and then strike off to the Eastward--Difficulty in
getting through the woods in many places--Meet with some strange
Northern Indians on their return from the Fort--Meet more
strangers, whom my companions plundered, and from whom they took
one of their young women--Curious manner of life which those
strangers lead, and the reason they gave for roving so far from
their usual residence--Leave the fine level country of the
Athapuscows, and arrive at the Stony Hills of the Northern
Indian Country--Meet some strange Northern Indians, one of whom
carried a letter for me to Prince of Wales's Fort, in March one
thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, and now gave me an
answer to it, dated twentieth of June following--Indians begin
preparing wood-work and birch-rind for canoes--The equinoctial
gale very severe--Indian method of running the moose deer down
by speed of foot--Arrival at Theeleyaza River--See some
strangers--The brutality of my companions--A tremendous gale and
snow-drift--Meet with more strangers; remarks on it--Leave all
the elderly people and children, and proceed directly to the
Fort--Stop to build canoes, and then advance--Several of the
Indians die through hunger, and many others are obliged to
decline the journey for want of ammunition--A violent storm and
inundation, that forced us to the top of a high hill, where we
suffered great distress for more than two days--Kill several
deer--The Indians' method of preserving the flesh without the
assistance of salt--See several Indians that were going to
Knapp's Bay--Game of all kinds remarkably plentiful--Arrive at
the Factory 252
{xvii} CHAP. IX.
A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther
Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.
An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern
Indians--They possess a great deal of art and cunning--Are very
guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more
for their furs than any other tribe of Indians--Always
dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities--The men in general
jealous of their wives--Their marriages--Girls always betrothed
when children, and their reasons for it--Great care and
confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine
years--Divorces common among those people--The women are less
prolific than in warmer countries--Remarkable piece of
superstition observed by the women at particular periods--Their
art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their
husbands on any little quarrel--Reckoned very unclean on those
occasions--The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of
firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw--Some through
necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the
birch-tree--A remarkable dish among those people--The young
animals always cut out of their dams, eaten, and accounted a
great delicacy--The parts of generation of all animals eat by
the men and boys--Manner of passing their time, and method of
killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows--Their tents, dogs,
sledges, &c.--Snow-shoes--Their partiality to domestic
vermin--Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country--Face of
the country--Species of fish--A peculiar kind of moss useful
for the support of man--Northern Indian method of catching fish,
either with hooks or nets--Ceremony observed when two parties of
those people meet--Diversions in common use--A singular disorder
which attacks some of those people--Their superstition with
respect to the death of their friends--Ceremony observed on
those occasions--Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the
world--No form of religion among them--Remarks on that
circumstance--The extreme misery to which old age is
exposed--Their opinion of the _Aurora Borealis_, &c.--Some
account of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well
as to the Hudson's Bay Company 297
{xviii} CHAP. X.
An Account of the principal Quadrupeds found in the Northern
Parts of Hudson's Bay: The Buffalo, Moose, Musk-ox, Deer, and
Beaver--A capital Mistake cleared up respecting the We-was-kish.
Animals with Canine Teeth: The Wolf--Foxes of various
colours--Lynx, or Wild Cat--Polar, or White Bear--Black
Bear--Brown Bear--Wolverene--Otter--Jackash--Wejack--Skunk--Pine
Martin--Ermine, or Stote.
Animals with cutting Teeth: The Musk Beaver--Porcupine--Varying
Hare--American Hare--Common Squirrel--Ground Squirrel--Mice of
various kinds--and the Castor Beaver.
The Pinnated Quadrupeds with finlike Feet, found in Hudson's
Bay, are but three in number, viz.: The Walrus, or
Sea-Horse--Seal--and Sea-Unicorn.
* * * * *
The Species of Fish found in the Salt Water of Hudson's Bay are
also few in number: being the Black Whale--White
Whale--Salmon--and Kepling.
Shell-fish, and empty Shells of several kinds, found on the Sea
Coast near Churchill River.
* * * * *
Frogs of various sizes and colours; also a great variety of
Grubbs, and other Insects, always found in a frozen state during
Winter, but when exposed to the heat of a slow fire, are soon
re-animated.
* * * * *
An account of some of the principal Birds found in the Northern
Parts of Hudson's Bay; as well those that only migrate there in
Summer, as those that are known to brave the coldest Winters:
Eagles of various kinds--Hawks of various sizes and
plumage--White or Snowy Owl--Grey or mottled
Owl--Cob-a-dee-cooch--Raven--Cinerious Crow--Wood Pecker--Ruffed
Grouse--Pheasant--Wood Partridge--Willow Partridge--Rock
Partridge--Pigeon--Red-breasted Thrush--Grosbeak--Snow
Bunting--White-crowned Bunting--Lapland Finch, two
sorts--Lark--Titmouse--Swallow--Martin--Hopping Crane--Brown
Crane--Bitron--Carlow, two sorts--Jack Snipe--Red
Godwart--Plover--Black Gullemet--Northern Diver--Black-throated
Diver--Red-throated Diver--White Gull--Grey
Gull--Black-head--Pelican--Goosander--Swans of two
species--Common {xix} Grey Goose--Canada Goose--White or Snow
Goose--Blue Goose--Horned Wavy--Laughing Goose--Barren
Goose--Brent Goose--Dunter Goose--Bean Goose.
The species of Water-Fowl usually called Duck, that resort to
those Parts annually, are in great variety; but those that are
most esteemed are, the Mallard Duck--Long-tailed Duck--Wigeon,
and Teal.
* * * * *
Of the Vegetable Productions as far North as Churchill River,
particularly the most useful; such as the Berry-bearing Bushes,
&c.: Gooseberry--Cranberry--Heathberry--Dewater-berry--Black
Currans--Juniper-berry--Partridge-berry--Strawberry--Eye-berry--
Blue-berry--and a small species of Hips.
Burridge--Coltsfoot--Sorrel--Dandelion.
Wish-a-capucca--Jackashey-puck--Moss of various sorts--Grass of
several kinds--and Vetches.
The Trees found so far North near the Sea, consist only of
Pines--Juniper--Small Poplar--Bush-willows--and Creeping Birch
335
INTRODUCTION.
For many years it was the opinion of all ranks of people, that the
Hudson's Bay Company were averse to making discoveries of every kind;
and being content with the profits of their small capital, as it was
then called, did not want to increase their trade. What might have been
the ideas of former members of the Company respecting the first part of
these charges I cannot say, but I am well assured that they, as well as
the present members, have always been ready to embrace every plausible
plan for extending the trade. As a proof of this assertion, I need only
mention the vast sums of money which they have expended at different
times in endeavouring to establish fisheries, though without success:
and the following Journey, together with the various attempts made by
Bean, Christopher, Johnston, and Duncan,[13] to find a North West
passage, are recent proofs that the present members are as desirous of
making discoveries, as they are of extending their trade.
That air of mystery, and affectation of secrecy, perhaps, which formerly
attended some of the Company's proceedings in the Bay, might give rise
to those conjectures; and the unfounded assertions and unjust aspersions
of Dobbs, {xxii} Ellis, Robson, Dragge, and the American Traveller,[14]
the only Authors that have written on Hudson's Bay, and who have all,
from motives of interest or revenge, taken a particular pleasure in
arraigning the conduct of the Company, without having any real knowledge
of their proceedings, or any experience in their service, on which to
found their charges, must have contributed to confirm the public in that
opinion. Most of those Writers, however, advance such notorious
absurdities, that none except those who are already prejudiced against
the Company can give them credit.[B]
Robson, from his six years' residence in Hudson's Bay and in the
Company's service, might naturally have been supposed to know something
of the climate and soil immediately round the Factories at which he
resided; but the whole of his book is evidently written with prejudice,
and dictated by a spirit of revenge, because his romantic and
inconsistent schemes were rejected by the Company. Besides, it is well
known that Robson was no more than a tool in the hand of Mr. Dobbs.
The American Traveller, though a more elegant writer, has still less
claim to our indulgence, as his assertions are {xxiii} a greater tax on
our credulity. His saying that he discovered several large lumps of the
finest virgin copper[C] is such a palpable falsehood that it needs no
refutation. No man, either English or Indian, ever found a bit of copper
in that country to the South of the seventy-first degree of
latitude,[16] unless it had been accidentally dropped by some of the far
Northern Indians in their way to the Company's Factory.
The natives who range over, rather than inhabit, the large tract of land
which lies to the North of Churchill River, having repeatedly brought
samples of copper to the Company's Factory, many of our people
conjectured that it was found not far from our settlements; and as the
Indians informed them that the mines were not very distant from a large
river, it was generally supposed that this river must empty itself into
Hudson's Bay; as they could by no means think that any set of people,
however wandering their manner of life might be, could ever traverse so
large a tract of country as to pass the Northern boundary of that Bay,
and particularly without the assistance of water-carriage. The following
Journal, however, will show how much those people have been mistaken,
and prove also the improbability of putting their favourite scheme of
mining into practice.
{xxiv} The accounts of this grand River, which some have turned into a
Strait, together with the samples of copper, were brought to the
Company's Factory at Churchill River immediately after its first
establishment, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifteen; and
it does not appear that any attempts were made to discover either the
river or mines till the year one thousand seven hundred and nineteen,
when the Company fitted out a ship, called the _Albany Frigate_, Captain
George Barlow,[D] and a sloop {xxv} called the _Discovery_, Captain
David Vaughan. The sole command of this expedition, however, was given
to Mr. James Knight, a man of great experience in the Company's service,
who had been many years Governor at the different Factories in the Bay,
and who had made the first settlement at Churchill River.
Notwithstanding the experience Mr. Knight might have had of the
Company's business, and his knowledge of those parts of the Bay where he
had resided, it cannot be supposed he was well acquainted with the
nature of the business in which he then engaged, having nothing to
direct him but the slender and imperfect accounts which he had received
from the Indians, who at that time were little known, and less
understood.
{xxvi} Those disadvantages, added to his advanced age, he being then
near eighty, by no means discouraged this bold adventurer; who was so
prepossessed of his success, and of the great advantage that would arise
from his discoveries, that he procured, and took with him, some large
iron-bound chests, to hold gold dust and other valuables, which he
fondly flattered himself were to be found in those parts.
The first paragraph of the Company's Orders to Mr. Knight on this
occasion appears to be as follows:
"_To_ CAPTAIN JAMES KNIGHT.
"_4th June, 1719._
"SIR,
"From the experience we have had of your abilities in the
management of our affairs, we have, upon your application to us,
fitted out the _Albany_ frigate, Captain George Barlow, and the
_Discovery_, Captain David Vaughan, Commander, upon a discovery
to the Northward; and to that end have given you power and
authority to act and do all things relating to the said voyage,
the navigation of the said ship and sloop only excepted; and
have given orders and instructions to our said Commanders for
that purpose.
"You are, with the first opportunity of wind and weather, to
depart from Gravesend on your intended {xxvii} voyage, and by
God's permission, to find out the Straits of Anian, in order to
discover gold and other valuable commodities to the Northward,
&c. &c."
Mr. Knight soon left Gravesend, and proceeded on his voyage; but the
ship not returning to England that year, as was expected, it was judged
that she had wintered in Hudson's Bay; and having on board a good stock
of provisions, a house in frame, together with all necessary mechanics,
and a great assortment of trading goods, little or no thoughts were
entertained of their not being in safety; but as neither ship nor sloop
returned to England in the following year, (one thousand seven hundred
and twenty), the Company were much alarmed for their welfare; and, by
their ship which went to Churchill in the year one thousand seven
hundred and twenty-one, they sent orders for a sloop called the
_Whale-Bone_, John Scroggs Master, to go in search of them; but the ship
not arriving in Churchill till late in the year, those orders could not
be put in execution till the Summer following (one thousand seven
hundred and twenty-two).
The North West coast of Hudson's Bay being little known in those days,
and Mr. Scroggs finding himself greatly embarrassed with shoals and
rocks, returned to Prince of Wales's Fort without making any certain
discovery respecting the above ship or sloop; for all the marks he saw
among the Esquimaux at Whale Cove scarcely {xxviii} amounted to the
spoils which might have been made from a trifling accident, and
consequently could not be considered as signs of a total shipwreck.
The strong opinion which then prevailed in Europe respecting the
probability of a North West passage by the way of Hudson's Bay, made
many conjecture that Messrs. Knight and Barlow had found that passage,
and had gone through it into the South Sea, by the way of California.
Many years elapsed without any other convincing proof occurring to the
contrary, except that Middleton, Ellis, Bean, Christopher, and Johnston,
had not been able to find any such passage. And notwithstanding a sloop
was annually sent to the Northward on discovery, and to trade with the
Esquimaux, it was the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and
sixty-seven, before we had positive proofs that poor Mr. Knight and
Captain Barlow had been lost in Hudson's Bay.
The Company were now carrying on a black whale fishery, and Marble
Island was made the place of rendezvous, not only on account of the
commodiousness of the harbour, but because it had been observed that the
whales were more plentiful about that island than on any other part of
the coast. This being the case, the boats, when on the look-out for
fish, had frequent occasion to row close to the island, by which means
they discovered a new harbour near the East end of it, at the head
{xxix} of which they found guns, anchors, cables, bricks, a smith's
anvil, and many other articles, which the hand of time had not defaced,
and which being of no use to the natives, or too heavy to be removed by
them, had not been taken from the place in which they were originally
laid. The remains of the house, though pulled to pieces by the Esquimaux
for the wood and iron, are yet very plain to be seen, as also the hulls,
or more properly speaking, the bottoms of the ship and sloop, which lie
sunk in about five fathoms water, toward the head of the harbour. The
figure-head of the ship, and also the guns, &c. were sent home to the
Company, and are certain proofs that Messrs. Knight and Barlow had been
lost on that inhospitable island, where neither stick nor stump was to
be seen, and which lies near sixteen miles from the main land. Indeed
the main is little better, being a jumble of barren hills and rocks,
destitute of every kind of herbage except moss and grass; and at that
part, the woods are several hundreds of miles from the sea-side.
In the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, while we
were prosecuting the fishery, we saw several Esquimaux at this new
harbour; and perceiving that one or two of them were greatly advanced in
years, our curiosity was excited to ask them some questions concerning
the above ship and sloop, which we were the better enabled to do by the
assistance of an Esquimaux, who was then in the Company's service as a
linguist, and annually sailed in one of their vessels in that character.
The {xxx} account which we received from them was full, clear, and
unreserved, and the sum of it was to the following purport:
When the vessels arrived at this place (Marble Island) it was very late
in the Fall, and in getting them into the harbour, the largest received
much damage; but on being fairly in, the English began to build the
house, their number at that time seeming to be about fifty. As soon as
the ice permitted, in the following Summer, (one thousand seven hundred
and twenty), the Esquimaux paid them another visit, by which time the
number of the English was greatly reduced, and those that were living
seemed very unhealthy. According to the account given by the Esquimaux
they were then very busily employed, but about what they could not
easily describe, probably in lengthening the long-boat; for at a little
distance from the house there is now lying a great quantity of oak
chips, which have been most assuredly made by carpenters.