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Title: An Account of Six Years Residence in Hudson's-Bay,
   From 1733 to 1736, and 1744 to 1747.
Author: Joseph Robson (fl. 1733-1763)
Date of first publication: 1752
Place and date of edition used as base for this ebook:
   London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752 (First Edition)
Date first posted: 29 January 2008
Date last updated: 29 January 2008
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #69

This ebook was produced by: David T. Jones, Carlo Traverso
& the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

The images for this project were generously provided by Canadiana Online.


[Illustration: PLATE No. I.

_A Draught of_

NELSON & HAYES's RIVERS

Lat'd. _57 deg_. 10'. North.

Var. 16 deg. 45'. Westerly.]




AN

ACCOUNT

OF

SIX YEARS RESIDENCE

IN

HUDSON's-BAY,

From 1733 to 1736, and 1744 to 1747.

_By_ JOSEPH ROBSON,

Late Surveyor and Supervisor of the Buildings to the Hudson's-bay
Company.

Containing a Variety of FACTS, OBSERVATIONS, and DISCOVERIES, tending
to shew,

I. The vast Importance of the Countries about HUDSON'S-BAY to
Great-Britain, on Account of the extensive Improvements that may be
made there in many beneficial Articles of Commerce, particularly in
the FURS and in the WHALE and SEAL FISHERIES. And,

II. The interested Views of the Hudson's bay Company; and the absolute
Necessity of laying open the Trade, and making it the Object of
NATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT, as the only Method of keeping it out of the
Hands of the French.

To which is added an _APPENDIX_; containing,

I. A short History of the Discovery of Hudson's-bay; and of the
Proceedings of the English there since the Grant of the Hudson's-bay
Charter: Together with Remarks upon the Papers and Evidence produced
by that Company before the Committee of the Honourable House of
Commons, in the Year 1749.

II. An Estimate of the Expence of building the Stone Fort, called
Prince of Wales's-fort, at the entrance of Churchill-river.

III. The Soundings of Nelson-river.

IV. A Survey of the Course of Nelson-river.

V. A Survey of Seal and Gillam's Islands. And,

VI. A Journal of the Winds and Tides at Churchill-river, for Part of
the Years 1746 and 1747.


The Whole illustrated,

By a Draught of NELSON and HAYES'S RIVERS; a Draught of
CHURCHILL-RIVER; and Plans of YORK-FORT, and PRINCE OF WALES'S FORT.


_LONDON:_

Printed for J. PAYNE and J. BOUQUET in Pater-Noster-Row; Mr. KINCAID,
at Edinburgh; Mr. BARRY, at Glasgow; and Mr. J. SMITH, at Dublin.

MDCCLII.

The reader is desired to correct the following Errata, occasioned by
the author's distance from the press.

Page 3. l. 12. 16. 17. for _Hay_ read _Hoy_.
    22. l. 21. for _eight_ read _six_.
    27. l. 17 and page 28. l. 19 for _Allen_ read _Alson_.
    29. l. 5 and 6 for _less by two thirds than_, read _less than
        two thirds of_.
    30. Note at the bottom, for fig. 3 read fig. 1.
    39. l. 21. delete _all_
    46. l. 11. for _them_, read _a frog_. l. 12 and 13. for _them_
        read _it_, and l. 14. for _they were_, read _it was_.
    50. l. 29 and 30. for _Cockapocko_, read _Cockacapo_.
    54. l. 19. for _Pocathusko_, read _Pockaracisco_.
    66. l. 24 and 25. delete, _of many tons_, and l. 27. for
        _seal-skin_ read _sea-horse skin_.
    67. l. 11. after _who_, add, _know the country, and_
    68. l. 10. for _great_, read _greater_.


APPENDIX.

Page 12. l. 35. for _steered_, read _sheered_.
     13. l. 7. delete _and_,
     15. l. 26 and 29. for _fort_ read _port_.


TO

The RIGHT HONOURABLE

GEORGE

Earl of _HALIFAX_,

First LORD COMMISSIONER

OF

TRADE and PLANTATIONS,

&c. &c.

MY LORD,

YOUR Lordship is the only person in the kingdom to whom I ought to
dedicate the following sheets. I was prompted to write them by a
strong desire to serve my native country; and I flatter myself that
your Lordship will look into them at a leisure hour, and find, at
least, some amusement from the facts, though represented in a homely
dress.

THE opening a new channel for trade to a vast country, abounding with
inhabitants, and with many beneficial articles of commerce, is a work
that highly merits the attention of our wisest and greatest men.

THERE are furs, my Lord, on this large tract of land, sufficient to
supply all Europe; which yet are locked up by a few men, from the
body of the people of Great Britain, though not from the French. The
poor inhabitants are clad in the skins of wild beasts, which they part
with freely for our woollen and iron manufactures, on such amazing low
terms, as will scarcely be credited by those who have not tasted of
the sweets of the Hudson's-bay monopoly.

WHALES and various other fish are so plenty in the Bay, and in the
inlets leading from thence to the western ocean, that the natives
catch more than are necessary for their subsistence, with their own
simple contrivances. The land abounds with mines and minerals, and is
also capable of great improvement by cultivation; and the climate
within the country is very habitable. If the able poor or the convicts
were sent thither, with suitable encouragement, they would very soon
become happy themselves and useful to the public.

YOUR Lordship's wise and steady conduct since you appeared at the head
of the board of trade, has drawn upon you the eyes of every trader in
the nation; even the lowest manufacturers now say, "They are happy,
since HALIFAX presides: He knows the true interest of the nation, that
it depends upon trade and manufactures; that we have now more rivals
than ever; that navigation is our bulwark, and colonies our chief
support; and that new channels of trade should be industriously
opened: therefore, he surveys the whole globe in search of fresh
inlets, where our ships may enter and traffic."

THESE are the sentiments that are universally entertained of your
Lordship, and I am abundantly convinced that they are just; which
makes me rejoice in the present opportunity of professing myself, with
the greatest possible respect,

MY LORD,

YOUR LORDSHIP'S

_Most obedient and_

_Most humble Servant_

London, April
15th, 1752.

JOSEPH ROBSON.




PREFACE.


AFTER having been six years in the countries adjoining to
Hudson's-Bay, upon my return to London I found that the mercantile
part of the nation thought it a matter of the utmost importance to put
the trade to that place upon a different footing, by laying it open to
all the British merchants, and setting aside a hurtful monopoly,
granted only by charter, and not confirmed by parliament but for seven
years, which expired above fifty years ago.

IT was evident, that notwithstanding the Hudson's-Bay Company had
enjoyed the benefits of an exclusive charter for near eighty years,
and had received no interruption to their possession since the peace
of Utrecht, they had not procured all the trade they might have done;
having dealt in nothing considerable but the Fur-trade, and thro'
their parsimony on one hand, and exorbitancy on the other, confined
even that to a very narrow channel; so that the trade to those vast
countries has been kept locked up, as if this kingdom wanted no new
vent for its manufactures, nor increase to its shipping. It was
evident also, that tho' the Company had thus neglected the
improvement of their own trade, and discouraged a more extensive one
by industriously preventing people from settling about the Bay, and
improving the lands and fisheries there, they had not taken care to
check the incroachments of the French, who are daily increasing and
extending their Fur-trade within land to the south-westward and
westward of the bay, among the lakes and near the sources of the
several rivers upon which the Company have made settlements. The chief
trading cities and towns of Great Britain, therefore, from a just
concern for their own interest and the interest of their country,
which are inseparably united, in the year 1749 petitioned the
parliament against the Company's charter.

TO support the allegations contained in these petitions, several
persons were examined before a committee of the honourable house of
commons _appointed to enquire into the state and condition of the
countries about Hudson's-Bay, and the trade carried on there_. Of
these I was one: but for want of confidence, and an ability to express
myself clearly, the account I then gave was far from being so exact
and full as that which I intended to have given. And, indeed, it is
impossible, from all the accounts united, to form a just idea, either
of the countries about Hudson's-Bay, or the Company's management of
the trade: I am acquainted with several of the witnesses, and know
that they omitted upon their examination many important circumstances
which I had before often heard them relate; which must be attributed,
either to their confusion upon appearing before so awful an assembly,
or to their having a dependance upon the Company, and an expectation
of being employed again in their service. I will beg leave to give one
instance of this deficiency:

ARTHUR SLATER mate of one of the Company's sloops in the Bay, being
with Christopher Banister, a witness, said, that "Longdon and Hay
ought to be hanged for laying down, in a draught of a discovery,
places in Hudson's-Bay which they never saw or knew anything of": and
Banister reprimanding Hay for laying down those places upon conjecture
without having seen them; Hay answered, "Peugh, it signifies nothing;
it will never be known": but Banister said nothing of this before the
committee. I could produce many more instances of the same failure in
point of evidence: but the reader will easily observe the difference
between that which was produced before the committee, as related in
their report; and the account contained in the following pages.

ON the other hand the Company's defence was made principally from
journals and letters, which could not lie under the same
disadvantages; and those produced, were only such as were calculated
to set their affairs and conduct in the most favourable light.

BEING sensible therefore, that the committee had been amused by
partial representations; that a much more extensive trade may be
established in Hudson's-Bay, both for pelts and furs; that there are
great appearances of valuable mines along the coast; and that a
profitable fishery for whales, seals, &c. might be carried on by means
of the natives at a small expence; considering also, the great spirit
for trade which appears in all the European nations, and the
obligations we are under upon that account to remove every thing that
obstructs our own trade and manufactures; and being at the same time
convinced, that the mismanagement of the Hudson's-Bay Company in
locking up these countries from Britain, in not settling them, and
sending up traders to the lakes and sources of the rivers in the Bay,
not only gives the French an opportunity of taking off the very best
commodities, but lays a foundation for their wresting the whole
country from us upon the first war; a truth acknowleged even by the
Company's principal officers: I say, taking all these things together,
I thought myself indispensably obliged to recover the truth out of
that thick darkness in which it had been designedly involved, and set
it in the fullest and clearest light I was able, by the publication of
the following sheets.

I KNOW it has been industriously propagated, by a set of
self-interested men, that the countries adjoining to the Bay are
incapable of any beneficial improvements; and that the severity of
the climate renders them unfit for human creatures to inhabit. The
same was once said of Siberia: but Siberia, which begins to be better
known than the most cultivated parts of Russia were a century ago, is
found to be watered with large navigable rivers, to have spacious and
fertile plains, and many rich mines of gold, silver, and other metals.
Yet this country, as it lies parallel with the more northerly part of
Hudson's-Bay, and is as it were the center of a much larger continent,
is several degrees colder than the countries westward of the Bay; for
the farther easterly all northern countries are, they are
proportionably colder, from the prevailing westerly winds, in the
higher latitudes, crossing over large tracts of land covered with
snow, whilst the winds which come from the ocean and open sea, are
milder and more temperate. Banishment to this country was at first
thought little better than immediate death: but by venturing to make
use of it for this purpose, it was found to be very habitable, its
immense treasures were discovered, and the power of the Russian empire
was greatly extended and increased. Let us make the same experiment
with the countries about Hudson's-Bay; either assign them as a place
of banishment for our convicts, or send thither properly furnished a
number of men of capacity and resolution, or do both; and the same, or
better, I am persuaded, will be the effects.

THE Company have for eighty years slept at the edge of a frozen sea;
they have shewn no curiosity to penetrate farther themselves, and have
exerted all their art and power to crush that spirit in others. They
have kept the language of the natives, and all that might be gained by
a familiar and friendly intercourse with them, as much as possible, a
secret to their own servants; and the invaluable treasures of this
extensive country a profound secret to Great Britain. But there are
not only bare symptoms, but confirmed accounts of many rich mines
here; there are fine rivers running from and leading to the southward
and south-westward, inviting the people to go up and see what the
countries afford: and interpreters have gathered from the natives,
that they have been in countries where the rivers run a contrary
course to the rivers in the Bay; that some have seen the sea and ships
on the other side of the land to the westward; that the people dwell
in towns; that little snow lies in that country[1]; and that the
French live and trade with them within the country at the heads of
those rivers that run down to the English factories.

[Footnote 1: Some of the Indians that come to York-fort have wondered
to see the snow-shoes; and upon being told to what use they were
applied, have answered, that as they had but little snow, they had no
occasion for such helps. And a trader informed me, that having one day
offered an Indian woman some prunes to make up the defects of a bad
commodity, she asked him how he could offer her fruit of which she had
plenty in her own country.]

I had an opportunity during my residence in Hudson's-Bay, to obtain
many accounts of the country, and the conduct of the Company; by
which, and my own observations, the following articles are confirmed
to me as matters of fact.

I. THAT the Hudson's-Bay Company have shewn no concern for the
improvement of their trade, extending it but partially to the Furs,
and totally neglecting the Mines and Fisheries.

II. THAT they believe a more extensive trade, and farther discoveries
inconsistent with their interest; as an exclusive trade and valuable
discoveries might alarm the people of Great Britain, and engage them
in schemes to lay the trade open and settle the countries.

III. THAT in consequence of this narrow spirit of self-interest, the
French have been encouraged to travel many hundred miles over land
from Canada, and up many rivers that have great water-falls, in order
to make trading settlements; and that they carry on a friendly
intercourse with the natives at the heads of most of our rivers
westward of the Bay, even as far as Churchill-river, and intercept the
Company's trade.

IV. THAT there are fine improveable lands up the rivers in the Bay;
and no British settlements, or colonies, made or attempted to be made
there.

V. THAT it is very practicable to navigate the rivers and lakes, and
settle colonies upon them, which might be comfortably subsisted by
tillage and pasturage, to the great improvement of the trade of the
country, and the consumption of British manufactures.

VI. THAT the several tribes of natives hinder each other, by their
wars, from hunting to advantage, and coming to the English factories:
whereas, if the English had settlements among them, and took pains to
civilize and endear them, they would apply themselves to hunting in
the proper seasons, and bring all their Furs to the English factories;
which would put an effectual stop to the incroachments of the French.

VII. THAT there are the strongest symptoms, and even confirmed
accounts of valuable mines about the Bay.

VIII. THAT a very profitable fishery might be established in the Bay
and Straits for Whales and Seals, by means of the Eskimaux and other
natives.

IX. THAT it is practicable in two summers, and with very little
expence, to determine the reality of a north-west passage. And,

X. THAT the laying open the trade of Hudson's-Bay, and making it the
object of national encouragement, is the only method left of keeping
both the trade and the country out of the hands of the French.

ALL these particulars I have endeavoured to set in the clearest light;
and I have to the best of my knowlege kept within the bounds of truth.

[Illustration: PLATE No.. II
_A Draught of_
CHURCHILL RIVER.
Lat'd. 59 deg. 00'. North,
Var. 16 deg. 40'. West.]




AN
ACCOUNT
OF
Six Years RESIDENCE
IN
_HUDSON's-BAY_.


IN the year 1733 I embarked on board the Mary frigate, commanded by
captain George Spurrell, bound for Churchill-river in Hudson's-Bay. We
sailed from Gravesend the 16th of May, put into Tinmouth the 24th,
touched at Carstown in the Orkneys the 7th of June, and arrived at
Churchill-river the 3d of August.

I was ordered directly to Eskimaux-point at the entrance of the river,
where I found several persons employed in laying the foundation of a
stone-fort. The principal workman was an old man, named Tuttie, who
had been a labourer to masons in London, and knew nothing of the
theory of building; and the person whom the governor had appointed
overseer, was one Thomas Giddins, formerly a common soldier, but
lately a hosier near London, who failing in his business, was taken
into the Company's service and sent to Churchill-river, not as a
tradesman, but as a common servant. Under such influence was the
building carried on, as if it had been the first attempted to be made
by the nation to whom it belonged.

IN these circumstances it was natural to conclude, that the governor
would be pleased to find a man capable of conducting the building
properly; and accordingly I ventured to interfere in the direction.
But upon the governor's first visit, who, as it was the season for the
coming in of the ship from England, was obliged to reside chiefly at
the old factory five miles distant, I found myself egregiously
mistaken. He shook his horsewhip at me, and asked, Who made me a
director over these men? But notwithstanding this discouraging check,
I still applied diligently to the work; for I was young and fond of
shewing my abilities, and was besides much grieved to see a building
of such consequence ruined thro' ignorance and want of care.

THE next time the governor came, he offered me a dram, and told me I
must do nothing without first acquainting him. But as he lived at so
great a distance, I thought it wrong to retard the work by sending to
him for instructions which I knew he was incapable of giving; for he
was an absolute stranger to the rules of building, having been brought
up from a boy in Hudson's-Bay, where nothing is to be learned but the
language and manners of the natives, and the methods of trading with
them.

THE stones we made use of being of the pebble kind, could only be
hammered into shape. The choosing out those which were most proper for
the purpose was the first step, the laying them near the place where
they would be wanted the next, and the fixing them to the best
advantage, and with least hammering, was the third and principal. The
second only was the province of our overseer, who in every thing else
acted under my direction as mason: and being piqued at receiving
orders from a stranger, who, perhaps, examined too narrowly and
reproved too freely for his interest, he took every opportunity of
secretly opposing my plan, and often ordered the labourers to lay the
stones down wrong. This retarded the work exceedingly; for I was
determined to rectify all mistakes, whether they proceeded from
ignorance or malice. Indeed after I left the country the building
proceeded in the old way, without any useful guidance or inspection;
and every error past uncorrected. This was evident upon my return in
1746; for part of that which they conducted had tumbled, and much more
of it bulged: and I am convinced that if the cannon upon the rampart
had been loaded and fired for service, much of it must have fallen
upon the first or second discharge.

WE left off building in the beginning of September, and repaired to
the old factory five miles up the river; and when winter set in, the
servants were ordered abroad to their several works, some to fish,
others to the woods, and some to hunt and trap. The fishers go up to
the lakes, as well as up the rivers. There are some particular places,
where fish are only to be caught when the river is frozen over, as at
the foot of a deep stream, or the mouth of a creek. They sometimes
make large openings in the ice, where they angle with a hook and line,
and catch salmon, pike, mothy, titemag, &c. Sometimes they cut several
small holes in a right line, at such distances as they can pass a line
at the end of a stick, from hole to hole, and hawl a net through under
the ice; but in the beginning of winter when the ice is not very
thick, they cut a larger opening, and set nets. By some of these
methods fish are taken 'till after Christmas.

THOSE that are sent to the woods, cut down trees, or square the timber
that was cut down the former winter, or saw it into planks; and after
Christmas hawl it upon sleds to the river side, setting it up near the
fire wood that is intended to be rafted to the factory in the summer.

THE hunters and trappers shoot partridges, pheasants, and other game
for the subsistence of the factory; and set traps in their walks made
of small stakes, and a pretty large log, that falls upon ermines,
martins, foxes, or any beast that happens to take the bait. They are
obliged to carry all the furs they get to the factory, to be sent home
in the Company's cargo, for which they are allowed the half of what
they produce at the Company's sale; but I know by experience, that
this of late has turned to very little account. In this manner we
spend the autumn and winter. We had brought over in the ship a bull,
four heifers, two oxen, and a horse; there was an Orkney bull and cow
there before: some of the heifers afterwards calved, and I think with
care they would have increased and done well; tho' this place is in 59
deg. and the most northerly settlement in the Bay.

IN the spring 1734, all hands were employed to hawl down necessaries
on a large sled upon the ice, and to prepare materials for the
building against the weather would permit us to work. By this time I
discovered in what manner affairs were managed in the Bay, having
contracted an intimacy with the surgeon, who had lived in the country
three years.

AS the wind suffered very little snow to lie on the hill where the
fort was to be erected, upon the first thaw I began to examine whether
it was laid out conformably to the plan; but finding it very ill
executed, I altered the piquets, and had the foundation dug afresh;
and the governor seemed pleased, and secretly offered me such trifling
favours as they bestow upon the Indians. We contended, however, about
many points; and with some difficulty I obtained mortar, which tho'
not very good was yet better than none. I was sollicitous for the
perfection of the building, and therefore opposed every step which I
thought not calculated to answer the end; while he, on the contrary,
seemed more desirous to have much work done, than to have it well
done.

AS soon as the second summer was over, and we were settled again in
our winter quarters at the old factory, the governor sent for me to
instruct him in dialling. I had the preceding winter taught him
numbers and drawing, for which he paid me at the rate they pay the
Indians for their furs, with a dram now and then, which I refused
almost as often as it was offered. But the indignity he put upon me at
my first arrival, the disputes that continually subsisted between us
in relation to the building, the tyranny of his temper, and the
poverty of his understanding, had at length created in me such a
dislike of the man and his conversation, that I now refused to be with
him. This he resented highly, and ordered me out to hawl the sled, and
do other drudgeries of a common servant. I obeyed his capricious
commands with seeming chearfulness, because I would not give him any
pretence for complaining to the Company: but my mind was so embittered
and depressed by this treatment, that in the summer 1735, I was unable
to carry on the building with any spirit. This he perceived; and being
bent upon a voyage to England when the ships returned, and so well
convinced of the incapacity of the other workmen, as not to be willing
to leave the building to their management, he endeavoured to sooth me
by promises of favour, which, as I knew the man, I did not rely on;
however, as he made some concessions which I thought I had a right to
expect, I assured him I would exert all my skill and care in directing
the building while I staid, but that I was determined to go home at
the expiration of the time specified in my contract. And accordingly I
gave notice of my resolution to the Company by a letter in which I
could not help complaining of the governor's behaviour to me, and
remonstrating that the fort would be spoiled if it was left to his
management. Soon after this he embarked for England; and at his return
next year, 1736, we learnt that he had given the Company such a
favourable representation of his conduct as to procure very high
commendations, closed with a promise of an advanced salary of 20_l.
per ann._ for five years, if he would use all his application to
expedite the building of the fort. The bringing this to a speedy
conclusion, was the point that engrossed all their attention, and the
encouragement was well adapted to that end; but, taking the governor's
want of skill into the account, it was no less calculated to render
the building totally useless. What was the real effect, the reader
will see in the course of this work, for whose satisfaction I have
inserted in the appendix an estimate of the expence the Company have
been at in ruining this fort.

AFTER three years of vexation and almost ineffectual labour, I left
the people at the Bay to pursue their own measures, and set sail for
London; where I had no sooner arrived than I went to pay my respects
to the Company. But instead of taking notice of my services, they did
not even ask me a single question about the fort, but treated me as a
troublesome and refractory fellow. For this I am sensible I was
indebted to the governor, who had so grosly imposed upon them in
every respect, that they asked a mason who was going over in their
service whether a wall built with or without mortar was the strongest;
and by the event they were made to believe the latter, as no mortar
was used for the fort after I left the country.

THOUGH every intelligent man in the Bay believed that the Company was
averse to the making discoveries, I could not for some time help
controverting an opinion that charged them with so much weakness and
inattention to their interest; but I was obliged at last to submit to
the evidence of facts, among a variety of which they told me the
following:

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. When they returned to England,
therefore, they importuned the Company to fit them out a ship and
sloop to go in quest of these mines; but meeting with no
encouragement, they told the Company, with a becoming spirit, that _if
they did not chuse to equip them for this service, they would apply to
those that would do it chearfully_. Upon this the Company complied;
and they set out upon the expedition, but were unhappily lost in the
Bay. Those who told me this assured me, that some of the Company said
upon this occasion, that _they did not value the loss of the ship and
sloop as long as they were rid of those troublesome men_; and that it
was some time after, that they sent Scraggs to the northward to
discover if they or any of the crew were alive. My informants could
not mention this circumstance without indignation; and justly
observed, that as it was possible these unhappy sufferers might have
got safely to land, where they could have supported themselves with
the ship's provisions, the sending a sloop directly in search of them
might have saved their lives.

THE settlements which the French had made about the Bay were also a
subject of discourse among the servants: but as no notice was then
taken of the French being at the head of Nelson-river, as there is
now, it is probable, that they have pushed on to Nelson-river since
that time; and they will extend their settlements 'till we have not
the power of dislodging them, if some speedy methods are not taken to
prevent it. The Company had done many things, they observed,
particularly the sending a sloop to Whale-cove, to quiet the
importunities of a gentleman in London who had charged the Company
with being _asleep_. Sir Biby Lake indeed, they added, had closetted
this gentleman, and endeavoured to remove the charge; but they were of
opinion it was too justly founded, or they would not tamely suffer the
French to make such dangerous incroachments.

IT was then the general opinion of the servants at the Bay, that the
Company thought the discovery of a north-west passage inconsistent
with their interest; and accordingly all who have attempted the making
this discovery are considered by the servants as the Company's worst
enemies. While I was in the Bay, the Churchill-sloop went twice or
thrice to York-fort, and I heard much about Whale-cove and the sloop's
having been there; particularly, that the sloop having once a hawser
fastened round a large stone on the shore at low-water mark, about
high water a black whale got foul of the hawser, forced it from the
stones, and towed the sloop to sea. Many things were also told about
the natives at Whale-cove, and of Scragg's sloop that was sent after
Knight and Barlow: but in all the discourses about these and other
expeditions, there was no mention of the Company's inclination to
discover a north-west passage, nor of any attempt that they had ever
made for that purpose.

TO converse with an Indian is a great crime, but to trade with him for
a skin is capital, and punished by a forfeiture of all wages. If a
servant is guilty of theft, or any act that would be deemed gross
felony by the laws of England, and subject him to capital punishment,
the governor only whips him, and afterwards sends him home to be
prosecuted by the Company: but from a mistaken lenity, or for some
secret reasons, they proceed no farther than a quiet dismission from
their service. There are instances of this within my own knowlege, and
I never heard of a single one to the contrary. But men are generally
tenacious of their own interests, and if they are worthy members of
the community, must shrink at admitting into it one whom they know to
be a villain, and suffering him to live at large when the law has put
it in their power to cut him off, or at least to stigmatize him with
marks of public infamy. The natural conclusion, therefore, is, that
the Company are unwilling to try the issue of a legal process, lest by
any accidental mention of their transactions in the Bay, their whole
conduct should be too nicely scrutinized, and their right to an
exclusive trade examined and set aside.

MANY other important observations were made by me during my first
abode in this country, and many well-attested accounts given me by the
Company's servants: but as they will be more suitably connected with
what happened to me in the time of my second residence there, I have
chosen to incorporate them with the relation of those events which I
shall enter upon immediately.

IN the year 1744 I embarked aboard the Prince Rupert, George Spurrel
commander, bound first to Churchill-river, and afterwards to
York-fort. I lived with the captain upon very good terms, and
conversed freely with him about the affairs of the Hudson's-Bay
Company. Speaking one day of the new association for sending ships to
the Bay for the discovery of a north-west passage, he told me, that it
was his opinion the Company would not have entertained me a second
time, if it had not been to keep me from Mr. Dobbs. I replied, I was
not sensible that I could be of any service to those gentlemen. Yes,
rejoined he, you know the nature of the country, and how to lay down a
fort.

THE French settlements were also a subject of our conversation; upon
which occasion I expressed my surprize, that the Company did not send
Englishmen up the rivers to encourage and endear the natives, and by
that means put a stop to the progress of the French. The captain
admitted the expediency of such a step, but urged the hazards an
Englishman was exposed to, and the hardships he must suffer, in going
up the rivers with goods. To this I answered, that the French came
many hundred miles over land from Canada, carrying goods at their
backs, and surmounting every difficulty, 'till they penetrated to the
very sources of those rivers upon which we might carry up all the
conveniences both for subsistence and traffic with little hazard and
less toil. So far from controverting this, he said, that he believed
the French would have all the country in another century: To which I
could not help immediately replying, that such an alienation could
only be effected thro' the remissness of the English. In all that
passed between us upon this subject, I did not hear a single reason
that in any tolerable manner accounted for the Company's conduct.

THE stone-fort at Churchill-river was once mentioned; and the captain
informed me, that it was very badly executed after I left it; for some
parts had fallen, which were obliged to be rebuilt; and others were
ready to fall: but that which I had conducted, he said, stood firm,
and he believed would continue to stand. I was willing to discover the
true cause of this mismanagement, and, therefore, said, that I greatly
wondered the Company did not take more care of a building of such
importance. But I soon perceived that the subject was too tender to
dwell upon; for the captain answered me with great reserve. He said
enough, however, to convince me, that the Company had not the
well-building of the fort at heart, but desired the name more than the
thing itself, which they might surely have purchased at a much cheaper
rate. I hope I shall not lose the good opinion of the reader, by
mentioning these things, which would not have escaped me, if I did not
think that the making known every testimony I could procure in
confirmation of these facts tended to the good of my country, my
obligations to promote which supersede the rights of private
conversation, if they are not made sacred by a promise of secrecy.

OFF Cape-farewell we discovered several sail of ships, and gave chace
to a vessel larger than the rest, (for we were four in company) which
afterwards proved to be a Dutchman. When we were got near the
Savage-Islands in Hudson's-straits, the Eskimaux for several days came
off to us in great numbers, and gave us, in exchange for whatever we
thought fit to offer them, whalebone, sea-horse-teeth, seal-skins,
furs, and even the apparel they had on. A few days after we thought we
had discovered a commodious harbour, and a consultation was proposed
about sending off boats to examine it; but I heard our captain
declare, that they were not permitted to send a boat ashore in the
straits upon any account. At Cape-Diggs the captain expected more
Eskimaux; but none appearing, he conjectured that the Indians from the
east-main had cut them off. Here two boats were ordered ashore to look
for a harbour, and found a good one. When we had run almost across the
Bay, and were got near some banks to the northward of Churchill-river,
the captain expressed his regret that they were not tried for cod; for
it seemed highly probable to him, he said, that there was almost as
many to be taken there as at Newfoundland. However, he did not stay to
make the experiment, but made the best of his way for Churchill-river,
where we arrived soon after.

I went ashore immediately, for I was impatient to see the fort; and at
the first view the effects of the extraordinary salary allowed the
governor for expedition, were easily perceived. Instead of a
defensible fort capable of resisting the force of an enemy, it had in
many places yielded to its own weakness and the attacks of wind and
weather; and was not only unworthy of the name by which it was
distinguished, but even of the persons at whose cost it was built. I
hastened back to the ship, grieved to see so excellent a plan spoiled;
and convinced, that for the same money as was expended upon this fort,
though far short of the sum of thirty or forty thousand pounds, at
which it was rated by a gentleman before the house of commons, upon a
very wrong information given him by some of the Company, who could
have expended no more than eight thousand pounds[2]; I say, that even
for so small a sum, a good fort might have been erected, capable of
securing the subjects and the trade of Britain from the attacks and
incroachments of her worst enemies.

[Footnote 2: See the estimate, APPENDIX, No. II.]

WE sailed out of Churchill-river, and soon arrived at York-fort upon
Hayes's-river, where the ship was to deliver her cargo and take in
another. After her departure for England, I applied myself to the
setting up beacons in order to make a chart of the river. The
governor, who had resided in the country twenty years, was perfect
master of the traditional history of it, even from the first
settlement of the English; and being a free and communicative man, he
used frequently to entertain us with a regular account of all the
principal events and discoveries; to which the linguists seldom failed
to add the information they had gathered from the natives. By their
means I soon obtained a general knowlege of the country, as well
inland as upon the coasts.

WHEN the season approached for going abroad, I mentioned to the
governor a design I had long entertained of travelling up the country,
not only to confirm what I had heard, but to make new discoveries.
This brought on dismal tales of the difficulties to be encountered in
such an expedition: and when I talked of going up the rivers, I was
told of stupendous heaps of ice and dreadful water-falls, which would
not only obstruct my passage, but endanger my life. To confirm this he
said, that governor Maclish, in company with him and one or two more,
once attempted to go a little way up Nelson-river to look for timber,
in order to build a factory: that when they had crossed the island,
they found such heaps of ice in the river, that they were discouraged
from proceeding any higher: the governor, therefore, returned, saying
it was so fatiguing and dangerous, that he would venture no farther;
and that if they went as high as he intended, they might perhaps meet
with no timber. He added other accounts to intimidate me, and drive me
from my purpose; and the rest of the people also, of whom I did not
fail to enquire, related exactly the same stories: but I could not
find that a single man among them told these things from his own
experience, but only from the reports of others, which, as they might
have a weaker foundation the higher they were traced, I resolved not
to credit, but to be determined solely by the evidence of my own
senses. Accordingly, I acquainted the governor, that with his
permission I would set out immediately for Nelson-river, which I had a
strong inclination to go up. He gave me his consent indeed, but with
such evident marks of displeasure, that tho' a guide is always sent
out with a stranger even to the most trifling distance, lest by the
weather's proving hazy he should be lost; and tho' it was eight miles
from York-fort to Nelson-river, thro' woods and plains where I had
never been; I was suffered to go alone exposed to all hazards: however
I found the way, and got home again safe and well.

THAT part of the river where I took my first view appeared to be about
four miles broad. The ice was then driving about in great quantities,
and the weather was very thick and snowy. This formed a dreadful
prospect, and had such an effect upon me, that I could not help
feeling some impression from the stories I had heard; which perhaps my
being alone and a stranger, did not a little contribute to strengthen:
I therefore relinquished my first design, and contented myself the
remainder of that winter with making a chart of Hayes's-river. During
this employment, I learnt that Nelson and Hayes's-rivers were but
different branches of the same river, which divided about one hundred
miles above York-fort, forming an island betwixt them. The greater
part of the natives that trade at York-fort, I was told, came down the
branch called Hayes's-river; it being reckoned by them much the
shorter way, and not so wide and dangerous as Nelson-branch. But upon
examining the interpreters more closely, they could not make it
appear, that the natives found much greater difficulties in coming
down or going up the one than the other; and the only substantial
reason I could find for the preference, was, that as York-fort lay
upon Hayes's-river, and Nelson-river was very broad below, they could
not bring their furs round by sea below the point of the island which
divides the branches, without great danger, nor conveniently carry
them by land across the island. But with regard to the difficulties of
navigating the different branches, which were so magnified on the
Nelson side, I argued thus: They both proceed from the same level of
water at the head of the island, one hundred miles above the factory;
and at the sea are again upon an equal level; if then there were
greater falls or sharps upon Nelson-river (as they allow it was longer
in its course) than upon Hayes's-river, there must be more upon
Hayes's-river; and the distances betwixt fall and fall upon Nelson,
must be greater and the waters more level, than upon Hayes's-river; as
a fall of three feet in ten, must be twice as sharp as a fall of three
feet in twenty: therefore I concluded, that there was as good going up
and down Nelson-river as Hayes's-river; which upon examination I
afterwards found true.

IN the year 1744, on occasion of a French war, the Company thought it
expedient to winter the Sea-horse frigate, captain Fowler, in the Bay.
He accordingly wintered in Churchill-river; but as soon as the river
was open, and the ice was cleared from the shore, he sailed from
thence to Hayes's-river, to be ready upon the approach of any of the
enemy's ships, to take up the buoys and beacons, and run up abreast
of the factory. In this interval of leisure, captain Fowler prevailed
with the governor to lend him the factory's long boat, that he and I
might sound Nelson-river; for it was then totally unknown to the
Company's servants, whether a ship could go in or out: a point surely
well worth determining, as the ships, which always lie in
five-fathom-hole, the entrance of which is very bad, might be secure
of a retreat in case of danger from storms or an enemy. Accordingly,
on the 15th July, 1745, we left the ship in five-fathom-hole to go
upon this expedition; and a journal of the soundings and the courses
of the river is added in the appendix.

WHEN we entered the river's mouth, it blew a fresh gale; and soon
after there came on so thick a fog, that we could not see the shore on
either side. We had now a rough sea, and only three feet water, and if
the boat had struck and filled here we must inevitably have perished;
for in two casts more of the line, which the man cast as quick as he
could, we found ourselves in eight fathom water. When the fog blew off
sufficiently to let us see the shore on both sides, we steered up the
river along the north shore, and passed Seal island, beyond which we
met a strong stream, but having a fair wind we sailed up 'till we
found smooth water. Soon after we returned and pitched our tent upon a
fine gravelly point of Gillam's island, where our boat lay very safely
all night.

THE next day we made our observations upon the islands, and along the
banks; but in all our searches no signs could be discovered of their
having ever been a settlement upon this river. I went up much higher
than the Company would have fixed a factory, if one may judge from
their factories upon other rivers; and the trees all the way were of
full size and growing near the edge on both sides, without a single
stump among them, or the least token of any having ever been cut down:
but where there is a settlement, a great quantity of wood is cut down
in one year's time, and that is taken which is nearest and to be got
with least labour. Indeed when I was up this river in the winter, I
found in a creek on the north side, a little way above Gillam's
island, two or three stumps of large trees; but I immediately
conjectured, that they must have been cut down many years ago by
persons who had accidentally tented in that creek; for the stumps were
very old and decayed, and they do not decay fast in this country.
Besides, if any of the Company's ships had ever gone up this river,
the entrance of it could not have been unknown in 1745: neither would
they have left it to settle upon Hayes's-river, where they had a
settlement above sixty years ago when the French took possession of
it, and gave the name of Fort Bourbon to what the Company at first
called Port Nelson from the master of Sir Thomas Button's ship, but
afterwards York-fort in compliment to the duke of York; nor would they
have had two factories so near each other. Indeed, either thro'
ignorance or design, the old name of Port Nelson has been since
restored; the Company's letters in 1688, 1690, and 1691 being
addressed to governor Geyer and council at Port Nelson; yet the
answers to these very letters are all of them dated from York-fort.
From the whole therefore it is evident, that no settlement has ever
been made upon the branch called Nelson-river, since the date of the
Company's charter.

AS we walked along the river side we saw many stones in shape and
colour like a cannon ball; and upon breaking them against larger
stones we found that the inside also looked like iron. Up another
river, called Ship-river, a few miles eastward along shore from
York-fort, there is a bank abounding with these round stones. When we
had repassed the mouth of the river and were got near the ship, it
being then young flood and a fine afternoon, the white whales appeared
upon the surface in such shoals, that we could look no way round
without seeing a company of thirty or forty going into the river with
the flood. I had seen many at Churchill-river, but here the number was
much greater. We got aboard about seven o'clock.

AT the close of this year I took a second survey of Nelson-river from
Flamborough-head upwards, and also of Seal and Gillam's islands; it
being my opinion that if ever the trade of these countries is
improved, Seal-island is the properest place for the principal factory
and settlement. It was about the end of January 1745 when I completed
this perambulation. The river was frozen fast every where except at
Flamborough-head, and where captain Fowler and I attempted to sail up,
which I now found we had almost effected when we turned back. However,
as these streams were not frozen, it was evident that here were the
sharpest falls I had met with. I saw many rabbet-tracks on both sides
the river, in the creeks, and on the island. I shot a pheasant also
and some partridges; and had not the weather been exceedingly severe,
I should have attempted to fish. But the few days I was out, the cold
happened to be more intense than it was at any other time throughout
the season, and I had no more cloathing upon me than what I usually
wore in the warmest days in winter: this consisted of breeches made of
thin deer-skin not lined, a cloth waistcoat, and Elk-skin coat, and a
pretty thick covering upon my head, hands, legs and feet. I suffered
only in my thighs, which were ready to freeze whenever I walked
against the wind, and would have frozen if I had not rubbed them very
frequently.

I met with the same opposition, and heard the same common-place
stories, upon proposing this second visit to Nelson-river as I did on
occasion of the first: but I had now acquired more experience, and was
therefore less likely to forego an expedition upon which my heart was
bent. I shall here relate a few particulars of it, chiefly to give the
reader an idea of the method of travelling thro' this country, and to
enable him to account for the long journies which it is pretended the
natives take whenever they come down to our factories.

I set out from the fort in company with one William Allen, and went to
a tent fifteen miles up Hayes's-river, where we lay that night. Next
morning it snowed much, and the weather was foggy: but having a
draught of the island and rivers thus far up, and both the tent places
being marked, I thought we might safely venture to beat a path across
the island, which would enable our dog to go with us more easily the
next day. This dog hawled a sled with near three quarters of a hundred
weight upon it; but the snow being deep, he had no hold for his feet
but sunk at every step. Accordingly we set out, steering by the
compass; for the weather still continued very thick, and the snow fell
plentifully. We made but small progress in our snow-shoes, which were
three feet and a half long, and one foot and a quarter broad, beating
a path of the breadth of two feet. When we had travelled about three
hours my mate began to fear that we were lost. He said he was sure we
had gone more than seven miles (for I had told him in the morning that
it was above seven miles to Nelson-river) and it was his opinion that
we were travelling directly into the inland country. I comforted him
by the most earnest assurances that we were right, and repeating
frequently that as the snow was deep we advanced but slowly, having
gone not half so far as he imagined: and upon the strength of this we
went forward an hour longer. It was now my own opinion that we were
near the river, and the weather clearing up, I climbed a tall tree to
look for it, but could observe nothing by which to form a judgment of
our situation. It therefore occurred to me that some accident had
occasioned a variation of the needle, and that we had indeed wandered
out of the way. However I took no notice of this to my comrade, but
endeavoured to keep up his spirits by chearful conversation. The
weather thickened again more than ever, the snow fell in greater
quantities, and the day was far spent. Having no mind to take up my
residence where we were, I told Allen that we would only light a small
fire in order to make some bumbo with melted snow, and return
immediately to the tent. He complied, tho' with many asseverations
that we should not reach the tent before dark; and after having
cleared away the snow, made a fire, and refreshed ourselves, we turned
back in our beaten path, and arrived at the tent in a little more than
an hour and a half. We found every thing safe; and the next morning,
the weather proving very fine and clear, we got all our necessaries
together, and set out with the dog, who now travelled with great ease.
We had good walking till we got to the extent of our path, but then
found the same obstructions we had met with the preceding day.
Nevertheless we kept on our course for many hours, till my poor mate
was a second time driven almost to despair. I bade him climb the next
tree we came to, and before he was half way up he discovered the
river. I then climbed it myself, and saw plainly that we were
steering right for the tent, where we arrived a little before dark.
This difficulty of walking thro' the country renders the computed
distances very inaccurate: I measured some of them, and found them
less by two thirds than what they were rated at.

THE natives talk of two moons as the shortest time in which they
perform their journies to the factories: but it is to be considered,
that they are an improvident and lazy people, having no concern but
for the subsistence of the present day; and that they are perpetually
wandering out of the way to hunt for provisions, and loitering when
they have procured them. This, together with the obstructions they
must unavoidably meet with in travelling a pathless country, will
easily account for the length of time they mention, without supposing
that they come from places at several hundred miles distance, and that
the continent is of such a prodigious extent to the westward. My mate
and I travelled very hard; and yet if we had crossed the island in one
uninterrupted journey, though the distance between tent and tent is
not eight miles, it would have required near eight hours to have
performed it in: and even when but little snow had fallen, and it was
very good walking without snow-shoes, I have not been able to
accomplish the same journey in less than six hours. If the reader is
still doubtful of the fact, let him make the experiment himself in any
pathless piece of coppice, marsh, or heath: let him also carry sixty
or seventy pounds weight, (for the natives always come laden to the
factories;) and let him travel in this manner for several days
together; and then see how many miles he will be able to go in eight
hours, day after day. And yet this would not be equal to the taking
long journies in snow-shoes, and through light snow, where he must
lift his foot at every step as if he was ascending steep stairs. I
was now ordered to a different station; but before I leave York-fort,
I will give some account of its situation and strength.

YORK-FORT[3] stands above high-water-mark, about eighty yards from
Hayes's-river, and four miles from the sea. It is built with logs of
white fir eight or nine inches square, which are laid one upon
another. In the summer the water beats between the logs, keeping the
timber continually damp; and in the winter the white frost gets
through, which being thawed by the heat of the stoves, has the same
effect: so that with the water above and the damp below, the timber
both of the foundation and superstructure rots so fast, that in
twenty-five or thirty years the whole fort must be rebuilt with fresh
timber, which with the great quantity used for firing, will occasion a
scarcity there in a few years.

[Footnote 3: See the plate No. III. Fig. 3.]

IT has four bastions, but not fit for cannon: the distance between the
salient angle of each bastion is ninety feet. On each curtain there
are three pateraroes, or swivel-guns, and loop-holes for small arms:
it is also surrounded by two rows of pallisadoes, some three inches
thick, and the largest seven inches; but there is no ditch. The wall
is of wood, eight or nine inches thick. The magazine is in the west
bastion; its wall is of the same thickness as the fort-wall, its floor
is raised two feet and a half or three feet above the level of the
fort, and its sides are lined with slit-deal plaistered. Upon the
banks of the river are planted two batteries from twelve to six
pounders, one of four guns, the other of ten. A guard of thirty men
was kept in the fort during the late war, and while the sea-horse
wintered in the Bay it consisted of thirty-six.

[Illustration: PLATE No.. III.
PLANS of YORK and PRINCE of WALES's FORTS
Fig. I - YORK FORT.
Fig. II - PRINCE OF WALES's FORT.
Fig. III - SNOW SHOES.]

FROM this description it is plain, that York-fort has not strength
enough to resist a vigorous attack: the bringing only one six-pounder
against it on the land-side, where the batteries on the river could be
of no service, would be sufficient to make the men surrender or
abandon it; a six-pounder planted behind the fort, at such a distance
that no gun upon the fort could answer it, would pierce it through and
through: and surely a prudent man would not stay to defend it in such
circumstances, when the first ball might blow up the magazine, and
fort, and all that were near it: the only thing left for resolute
courage to do, would be to meet the enemy in the field, tho' twice
superior in number.

WHEN I had been here two or three months, and the whole mess were
together in the governor's apartment, I said, that it was usual in
such buildings as the fort, to have a foundation of brick or stone;
which would preserve the superstructure from decaying much longer
than if it was raised only upon logs of wood laid level in the ground.
The governor replied, that they would have taken this method if bricks
could have been procured; and every one present acknowleged the
superior advantages of such a foundation. I then rejoined, that since
bricks could not be got, stones would answer the purpose equally, if
not better; and there was great plenty of them upon the flats on
Hayes's-river. The governor answered peevishly, that those stones
would not make a foundation; and the carpenter supported the
assertion, by alleging the difficulty of levelling the stones fit for
the logs to lie upon (which in fact could be done as easily here as at
Churchill-river;) and adding another assertion, that the driving
spikes into the logs would shake such a foundation to pieces; as if a
brick of five or six pounds could bear more force than a stone of ten
times the weight. The stones upon the flats are hard and white; and
not only fit for a foundation, but for strong walls: I have seen very
good walls built with much worse. But notwithstanding this abundant
plenty of good stone, they have persisted in building their forts with
wood, and upon no other foundation than logs laid level in the ground;
the consequence of which is, that they are reduced to rebuild them
every twenty-five or thirty years: whereas if they had laid down a
stone-foundation, the forts would have lasted three times as long, and
saved the Company two thirds of the expence.

IN the year 1745 I wrote a letter to the Company upon the comparative
advantages of building their foundations at least, with stone rather
than wood; in which I represented,

"THAT the evil of being obliged to rebuild their forts every
twenty-five or thirty years, could not be remedied but by laying their
foundations in a different manner, or making them of different
materials. Logs laid in the ground, tho' of the very best oak, must be
subject to unavoidable decay from the wet that continually surrounds
them; and it was well known, that the timber in the upper works of
every building will endure many years longer than the timber at the
bottom, if it be not raised high enough to preserve it from the damps
of the earth.

"THAT in those parts of England where stone and brick are scarce, they
drive pieces of oak into the ground two or three feet deep, whose
upper ends are tenanted into the under side of the sill or bottom of
the timber house, supporting it a foot or more above the ground, and
the spaces between these piles are filled up with flints and pebbles,
or whatever can be got. These piles, when decayed, may be taken out;
and new ones may be fixed in their places, without injuring the
superstructure.

"THAT if the expence of building stone-foundations be compared with
the advantages, it will be found to be very inconsiderable. Suppose
that a wooden fort was to be built in any place in the Bay where
stones are to be got: a mason in England would get stones, and lay a
foundation for such a building as York-fort, for less than twenty
pounds; but allowing for the difference of the price of labour in
Hudson's-Bay, a stone-bottom raised a foot or more above the ground
would not exceed fifty pounds. Upon this the fort might be erected;
round which I would have pieces two or three inches square fastened
perpendicularly against the log-wall about a foot asunder, their ends
resting upon the stone-bottom: these should be well lathed and
rough-cast with good mortar; by which means the log-wall would be kept
secure from wet, and would last as long as the beams or any of the
timber within: it is evident upon inspecting any old building, that
timber carefully kept from wet will remain sound and serviceable sixty
or eighty years. Now if the expence of keeping a fort strong and fit
for service sixty or eighty years, be compared with that of rebuilding
it twice within the same time, there surely can be no room for
hesitating which method to take; especially if it be considered, of
what importance it is to keep the woods near the settlements from
being cut away, and how great a saving of timber a stone-foundation
would make every time the fort was rebuilt. I remember to have seen
rough-cast about the old fort upon Hayes's-river: but it was laid on
in such a manner that the wet got in behind, and kept there in spite
of sun or wind; so that the timber rotted as fast, as if it had lain
against a bank of wet earth.

"THAT there is a method to make under-settings to buildings of wood,
much less expensive than an entire stone or brick foundation. A fort
of the dimensions of York-fort may be supported by forty-eight stone
or brick piers, one at each salient and re-entring angle; with a pier
or two under each face and curtain. The interstices between these
piers may be made of any stuff that can be got, and repaired at any
time without disturbing the superstructure. If lime cannot easily be
got for these purposes, stones might be prepared in the Orknies or
elsewhere, each large enough to make a pier, and not exceed five
hundred weight. Forty-eight of these stones would sustain such a fort
as York-fort, and the whole would not cost above six pounds in the
Orknies: fifty of them would be about twelve or thirteen tons. Stone
or brick piers may be put under a building of timber after it is
erected, which would make it endure many years long then it would
without them." The Company took not the least notice of these
remonstrances.

IN the summer, 1746, I received the following letter:

Hudson's-Bay house, London April 30th, 1746.

Mr. Joseph Robson,

Sir,

"WE received your letter of the 5th of August, and observe the
contents; and also the several draughts you mentioned; and have paid
your wife's bill for ten pounds, as you desired. We have thought
proper to remove you to Prince of Wales's-fort, where you are to act
in the same station as surveyor and supervisor of the buildings: and
we expect that you exert yourself in the _repairs_, and whatever may
be necessary in _strengthening the fort_; and that you send us a
draught of the river, &c. We remain your loving friends."

Signed by the governor, deputy governor, and six of the committee.

IN obedience to this order I embarked aboard the
Churchill-sloop,--Horner master, which happened to come to York-fort,
and arrived at Churchill-river the 18th of August. After two or three
days I began to correct the erroneous method the men were then taking
in building the stone parapet; which brought on the resentment of the
governor, who renewed the customary opposition against me,
notwithstanding the unlimited powers given me by the Company. There
was among them a man who had been lately sent over under the character
of engineer, in the exercise of which office he had just before I
arrived passed his approbation upon the only two embrassures that were
finished: but when I examined them and pointed out their errors and
defects, he retracted his former opinion, and was as peremptory in his
disapprobation. By this and other proofs, I was soon convinced, that
he knew very little of the theory of military architecture, and less
of the practice: however, I made a point of having his concurrence for
the sake of order, and he very complaisantly acquiesced in every thing
I proposed. I laid down the lines of an embrassure upon a floor in
full proportion according to the best modern rules, and he resolutely
supported the propriety of them against the outrageous cavils of the
governor, telling him that my method would bear demonstration, and he
would take upon himself to answer for the event. Thus I hoped I should
be enabled to keep that part of the parapet which we were to be
employed upon that season, out of the power of ignorance and
precipitation. When the frost became so severe that we could no longer
lay any mortar, I employed myself in making coins for the embrassures,
but without offering to consult the opinion of the governor about
them, who I was certain would not fail to be on the contrary side: and
finding by this, that the authority of his office would avail him but
little against such united opposition, before Christmas he estranged
himself from four of the mess, the surgeon, the master of the sloop,
the titular engineer, and myself. The engineer, however, beginning to
reflect that he had hitherto sacrificed his interest to his
complaisance, and that nothing was to be produced by siding with us
but the displeasure and ill offices of the governor, left us very
soon, and lived by himself for several weeks, waiting, as we could
easily perceive, to be restored to favour. He succeeded at last by
disavowing all our proceedings; and the governor finding his party
strengthened, ordered all the coins I had made before winter to be
altered to his own method: in consequence of which, the following
spring was lost to the building, and the parapet was entirely spoiled.

WHEN I came to England I sollicited a long time for an opportunity of
laying a true state of this affair before the Company: at length they
sent for me from Portsmouth by the following letter;

London, 19th December, 1747.

Mr. Robson,

"THE gentlemen have received your letter, and cannot pay your bill
until they have had some discourse with you touching your draughts,
and some other things that lie before them; therefore they desire you
to attend on Wednesday the 13th of January next at ten o'clock in the
morning."

Your humble servant,

Charles Hay secretary.

I attended accordingly, and demonstrated by the models in the
committee room, that my method of conducting the building was right,
and the governor's wrong. The committee acknowleged it to be so: yet
such is their partiality for their principal officers, that all
present, except Sir Atwell Lake, treated me with great rigour and
disrespect: and governor Knap in particular said, "That they found
their fort was spoiled and good for nothing, and that I had a great
hand in building it." This ungenerous speech shocked me, as it
retracted the acknowlegement they had just before unanimously made,
and seemed calculated to withdraw the attention of the rest from the
demonstrative evidence I had given, that my skill and care had been
usefully exerted. In vain I urged the integrity of my conduct, and
remonstrated that by my invariable attention to the Company's
interest, I had exposed myself to the resentment and cruelty of the
governor, whose behaviour to me rendered my manner of life almost
intolerable, and that not for a day or a week, but for years; my
arguments produced no effect: nor was the least notice taken of any
of the representations I had made them, since my first arrival in the
Bay; but I was dismissed their service as a man who had constantly
neglected his duty.

THE reader will from hence see the uncontrolable influence which the
governors in the Bay maintain over the Company; an influence which
neither omissions of duty, positive injuries with regard to their
interest, oppression of their servants, nor the worst of crimes, is
capable of diminishing. The governor at Churchill-river had a thousand
times rendered himself unworthy of society: the surgeon, soon after my
arrival there, told me of his cruelties to the servants with tears in
his eyes; and the account he gave me was then attested by every other
intelligent man, and afterwards abundantly confirmed by my own
experience. The surgeon laid before the Company a full and clear
representation of this man's crimes; and it was expected that he would
be ordered to England, the year I came away: but he was continued in
his office without any diminution either of honour or profit, and the
surgeon treated with unparalleled neglect.

IT is not very difficult to assign the true reason of this
extraordinary policy in the Company with regard to their superior
officers, and I may hereafter take an opportunity of explaining it:
nor is the ground of the oppressive and cruel behaviour of the
governors and captains towards the inferior servants a more
impenetrable secret. These men have generally sea-officers principles,
and exert the same arbitrary command, and expect the same slavish
obedience here, as is done on board a ship. But as this sort of
government is not necessary, so it will not be submitted to: and the
extreme rigour on one hand, and the impatient sense of it on the
other, are a perpetual source of personal disgust; which discovers
itself in ineffectual complaints and murmurings from the servants, and
in the most malicious cruelties and oppressions from the officers. But
farther, as they have positive instructions in what manner they are to
treat those servants, who happen to be too active and inquisitive for
the Compay's interest; they go a step higher, and use the same methods
of security with regards to their own inteest; and either treat with
great severity, or find a pretence for sending home laden with faults,
any man whom they suspect has sense enough to detect, and spirit
enough to expose any of their unjust gains, particularly those of the
over-plus-trade.

THIS over-plus trade is big with iniquity; and is no less inconsistent
with the Company's true interest, than it is injurious to the natives,
who by means of it became more and more alienated from us, and are
either discouraged from hunting at all, or induced to carry all their
furs to the French. The Company have fixed a standard for trade, as
the rule by which the governors are to deal with the natives.
According to this they raise upon some of the goods, which they know
the natives must or will take, a gain of near £2000 _per cent_,
computing by the value of a beaver-skin, which is made the measure of
every thing else: so that a beaver-skin which is often sold for eight
shillings, is purchased at the low rate of four-pence or six-pence.
This extravagant gain discourages the natives, considerably lessens
the consumption of British manufactures, and gives the French an
opportunity of underselling the Company, and carrying off the best and
lightest furs to Canada. Yet not content with this, the governors add
to the price of their goods, exact many more furs from the natives
than is required by the standard, and sometimes pay them not equally
for furs of the same value; and I wish it could not be said, that
taking advantage of the necessities of this abused people, who as they
have no other market to go to are obliged to submit to any terms that
are imposed upon them, they derive some gains also from weights and
measures. This they call the profit of the over-plus trade; part of
which they always add to the Company's stock for the sake of enhancing
the merit of their services, and apply the remainder to their own use,
which is often expended in bribes to skreen their faults and continue
them in their command. It is this trade that is the great bond of
union between the governors and captains, who are so extremely
watchful over their strange privileges, that, as I said before, if
there is the least suspicion of a man's having understanding enough to
discover their iniquities, and honesty enough to detest and expose
them, he is sure to be undermined in the Company's esteem; he is kept
as ignorant of the trade and nature of the country as possible; and
when his time is expired, if not before, is sent home with such a
character as will effectually hinder his return.

IT is certain that the cruel and oppressive behaviour of the governors
and captains towards the inferior servants, not only deters useful
people from engaging in the Company's service, a circumstance which
they ought to attend to for their own interest; but furnishes one
pretence for the bad character that is given of the country. Those men
that are driven from it by ill usage, come home with minds embittered
and full of resentment; and finding no redress from the Company, they
make a point of discouraging others from going thither, by magnifying
the distresses they have undergone, without mentioning a single
circumstance to counter-balance them. But there are others, that from
very different motives, give an impression of the country not at all
to its advantage; who rather than not establish a character for
capacity and resolution, do it at the expence of truth; and they
think they safely do it, as it is not likely that they will be soon
detected. A man in Hudson's-Bay has not much opportunity for
signalizing himself: his sphere of action is confined within the very
narrow limits of carrying large logs of wood, walking in snow-shoes,
setting traps, hunting and fowling. The being a dextrous hunter, and
travelling well in show-shoes, are esteemed the chief points of
honour: they, therefore give the most romantic account of their
journies, magnify every little difficulty into a more than Herculean
labour, and endeavour to convince their hearers, that nothing could
have carried them through, less than the most consummate strength of
mind and body: hence people have imagined, that it must be the last
distress that can drive a man to a country, where he has so few
chances not only for comfortable subsistance but for life itself. It
must be acknowleged indeed, that upon his first arrival in the Bay, an
Englishman makes a very disadvantageous comparison between the
appearance of that country and his own; and it may be a year or two
before he is thoroughly reconciled to the climate and the manner of
living; but it is an indisputable fact, that those who have staid
there their full time, and have lived tolerably under the governor,
had rather go back again than enjoy the same advantages in their
native country: I myself am an instance of this; and I have heard the
captains frequently attest the same of others. This inclination,
therefore, to return to Hudson's-Bay, when thus founded upon an
experimental knowlege of the country, is surely a much stronger proof
of its being very habitable, than all the stories which have been
propagated by the idle or the interested are of the contrary. For my
own part, if I had paid the least credit to the frightful tales I
heard upon my arrival, I should not have ventured six miles from my
place of residence. But that the reader may have a more perfect
knowlege of the country, I will give some account of the soil and
climate at York-fort and Churchill-river.

IT is not to be imagined, that the most northerly settlements in the
Bay, should have as good a climate as the southerly settlements, there
being so great a difference of latitude as from 59 deg. to 51 deg. 30
min. I was no farther up Churchill-river than eight or nine miles; but
those who have been up thirty miles say, that there are pleasant
meadows and good grass, that the soil is very good, and that there are
gooseberries and black and red currants growing near the sea, upon
points that appear almost barren. Those that I have seen grow so low
that the grass covers them. The marshes and low grounds are full of
good grass; and there is a patch of ground near the fort on
Eskimaux-point which, though exposed to the north and north-east
winds, produces good radishes, coleworts, turnips, small carrots, and
lettices and other sallading: black-berries also grow upon the heath.
Upon clearing away the snow in the spring, we generally found the
under part of it congealed to ice three or four inches thick, lying
hollow from the ground. Whether this was caused by the snow's melting
and thawing downwards, and then congealing from the coldness of the
earth; or by the sun's drawing up thawing vapours from the earth, and
moistening the snow which was afterwards congealed again, I am not
able to determine. I am inclined to believe the latter, because the
top of the snow was formed into a hard icy crust, and within it was
heavy tho' soft. However, beneath this arch of ice we found green
vegetables growing up an inch or two above the ground. The cattle here
would live and do well, if the same care was taken of them as is
generally taken in England. The horses I found among them had been
kept several years, and were constantly employed in drawing stones and
other materials for the use of the fort. And if they can subsist and
be fit for service at Churchill-river in 59 deg. they would surely
subsist and increase also at the bottom of the Bay, in 51 deg. 30 min.
and in all the southerly settlements.

THE soil about York-fort, which is in 57 deg. 10 min. is much better
than that at Churchill-river. Most kinds of garden-stuff grow here to
perfection, particularly pease and beans. I have seen a small pea
growing without any culture; and am of opinion that barley would
flourish here, and consequently in much greater perfection at Moose
and Albany-rivers, which are in 51 deg. 30 min. and 52 deg.
Gooseberries and red and black currants are found in the woods growing
upon such bushes as in England. Up the river are patches of very good
ground; and battones under banks, so defended from the north and
north-west winds, that there is a fine thaw below when the top is
freezing: here whole families might procure a comfortable subsistence,
if they were as industrious as they are in their own country. Upon
Hayes's-river, fifteen miles from the fort, is such a bank as I have
just mentioned, near which I pitched my tent: after paling in some
ground, for a coney-warren, and for oxen, sheep, goats, _&c._ I should
expect by no more labour than would be proper for my health, to
procure a desirable livelihood; not at all doubting of my being able
to raise pease and beans, barley and probably other kinds of grain.
The island on which York-fort stands, is more capable of improvement
than can be imagined in such a latitude, and so near the Bay. It is
narrow twenty miles up from the sea; so that drains might be cut to
very useful purpose. I cut a drain near the fort, to dry a piece of
ground for a battery of four cannon, which afterwards wore quite a
new face; the snow did not lie upon it near so long as before, and the
grass flourished with new vigor. I observed also, that before the snow
was thoroughly thawed, several vegetables were springing up beneath
it; and by the time it had left only a very thin shell of ice, these
vegetables were grown up three or four inches.

IN September 1745 I tried the frost in the ground, by digging in a
plain near the fort. I dug three feet and a half before I came to the
frost, which was eight inches thick. I then struck an iron bar
eighteen inches below the frozen vein, and found the earth very dry,
the frost having stopped the passage of the water for nine months; and
it might be a month longer before the thaw would enable it to get so
low: it must thaw every year, or no water would ever penetrate so
deep. This, however, is not necessary to vegetation; since three feet
and a half of soil is sufficient, not only for all kinds of grain, but
also for timber, which seldom strikes its roots so deep, unless it be
in the crevices of rocks. As the frost does not penetrate four feet
and a half, the water has full three months to thaw it in, and is
certainly able to effect it in that time; though perhaps the frost may
return again above, before the thaw is thoroughly completed below; and
this, probably, is the case with all level and moist grounds: but in
dry grounds, or in moist grounds with southern declivities, it may be
otherwise. It is the moisture that communicates the freezing quality,
and where that fails the frost can proceed no farther: in swamps or
wet plains, therefore, or in northern declivities where the sun is
weak, the frost enters as far as there is any moisture, is very long
in thawing, and sometimes continues in the ground the whole year; but
in dry ground it has but little power, and even in wet grounds that
have a southern declivity, the frost does not keep possession so long;
for the moisture acquires from the sun in the day, a warmth that it
retains all night, and it may be a thaw under ground while the surface
is freezing. Cultivated land also thaws much sooner than barren. I
perceived that the garden-ground at York-fort and Churchill-river
thawed much sooner and deeper in the space of one month, than the
waste that lies contiguous to it; and the same is to be observed in
England. By the heat therefore which the earth here would acquire from
a general and careful cultivation, the frost might be so soon
overcome, that the people might expect regular returns of seed-time
and harvest.

THE natural produce of Hudson's-Bay grows very fast, and comes to
perfection much sooner than that of England. The alteration of the
weather is very sudden and great: the wind veering perpetually between
north and south, occasions a perpetual alternate change of summer and
winter, which should prevail upon those who go abroad to provide
against the worst that can happen; a stranger to the climate ought
never to venture out alone. These sudden alterations, however, make me
conjecture that the climate differs much in a little way, especially
in going from north to south; at York-fort the difference is less
perceptible than at Churchill-river. In summer, when the wind is about
west-south-west, it becomes sultry; and if it happens to blow fresh,
it comes in hot gusts as if it blew from a fire, and the hardest gusts
bring the greatest heat: but this is not the case when the wind blows
from any other point. In winter, the sky west of the fort generally
looks with a more thawing aspect, than in any other quarter except
towards the east. I noted this in my journal, and concluded that these
black watry clouds must be generated in places where the waters are
not frozen; for when I observed them at west-by-south, I turned
immediately to the east, where I knew was an open sea, and found that
the clouds in that point had exactly the same appearance. The former
is the point where the natives say is a deep strait, and the
copper-mine. Frogs and some kinds of fish are found here frozen in
solid pieces of ice, which upon the thaw recover their activity, and
appear to have as much life as before. This was confirmed by laying
them near a gentle fire: but upon exposing them afterwards to the
frost, and bringing them to the fire a second time, they were always
found dead.

I MIGHT here give a particular description of all the animals peculiar
to this country; but as it does not enter into the nature of my
design, and besides, has been already done by other writers about
Hudson's-Bay, sufficiently enough to give a complete idea both of the
benefits and evils that arise from them; I shall only relate an event
or two with regard to the white bear, and then proceed to an account
of the natives.

GOVERNOR White of York-fort told me that he and another being abroad
together one winter, as they walked up the river, they discovered an
opening in the bank, and upon looking into it found a white bear,
which they killed. The beast in making this den had thrown up the
earth behind her as she went in, with a design, they thought, of
obliging herself to continue there the whole season of the frost,
which had so hardened the earth, that a complete thaw only could
deliver her: it was difficult even with hatchets and ice-chizzels to
cut the mouth of the den wide enough to let the body through. Having
at length accomplished this, they cut off the skin and fat, and left
them with the carcase in the hole secure enough as they imagined from
any beast that might happen to come that way: but before morning a
quiquihatch or wolverine, a very strong, cunning and rapacious
creature, had broke through the fence and devoured all but the bones.
The governor communicated this story to an old Indian, and asked him,
if it was common for the white bears that are big with young, as this
proved to be, to bury themselves during the frost: he said no; but
that when they do, it is with a design to stay in their holes till the
frost is over, and they have brought forth their young; that they will
live a long time without food; and that the black bear generally lies
in his den as long as he finds any moisture in his paws to subsist on,
but when that is gone he is forced abroad again: tho' it is more
probable that he passes the winter-months in sleep.

WHILE I was at Churchill-river, I went out one afternoon with my gun
towards Eskimaux-point, and among some large stones that lie
thereabouts, discovered an enormous bear. Not being above a quarter of
a mile distant from the house, I was not much alarmed at the sight of
this animal, but crept forwards with a design to shoot him. By this
time he had winded me, and was making towards me I suppose in the
expectation of meeting with a good prey: for presently after, when I
raised myself behind a stone to look for him, he was reared on the
other side to look for me. The surprize was mutual, depriving us both
of the power of hurting each other: for he, turning suddenly upon his
hind-feet, made off with great precipitation; and I, having lost my
recollection, did not think of firing till he was far out of my reach.
Indeed I never heard, that a bear will seize upon a man before he is
attacked and wounded himself. I have been present at the killing of
several white bears, and never saw an instance of their turning upon
a man but once. We had hunted the creature many hours first on land
and afterwards at sea: being almost spent with the loss of blood, and
forced to quit the water, he made one bold effort to come ashore; but
finding himself surrounded, so that he could make no way up the
country, he ran with open mouth at one Richard Walton, in order to
force a passage. The man had the presence of mind to fire his piece,
and the bear being wounded by it took to the sea again; and tho'
pursued for several hours more, made his escape at last under shelter
of the night. There is no beast truly dangerous but the grizzled bear;
and he always keeps up the country in a warmer climate, where indeed
he makes dreadful ravages, devouring whole families in a short time.

THE natives are a white people, without any thing peculiar in their
shape and size to distinguish them from the rest of mankind. They are
less hairy, indeed, than the Europeans, the men having little or no
beard; and those who have conversed with the women say, that they have
no hair but upon their heads. Every master of a family of any eminence
keeps by him a small parcel, for which he has a most superstitious
reverence. This he calls his father's head, and is highly provoked if
any one offers to look into it; but upon examination it has proved to
be nothing more than a bundle of feathers tied round with a piece of
leather. They have a religious apprehension of some malevolent and
capricious being, whom they are frequently afraid of; for when they
eat, they throw a piece of flesh into the fire as a kind of offering
to him, and when they go out in their canoes, they cast something
ashore to render him propitious. At other times, as capricious
themselves as the god they worship, they go out in parties with guns
and hatchets to kill him; and at their return will boast that they
have killed him, telling where they have set up the painted stick in
testimony of their success. A tradition prevails among them, that all
the people of the country were drowned except eight, who were saved in
a canoe.

THEY make pretensions to divination; for the exercise of which they
form a square close tent, by laying skins upon four sticks cut green
from the tree, peeled, and fixed perpendicularly in the ground. Into
this they enter, staying two or three hours; in which time many future
events, they say, are made known to them. Some of our people are weak
enough to give credit to this prophetic spirit. In the year 1735 the
ship was so late in coming from England, that the governor very
seriously applied to an Indian to inform him what was become of her;
and after her arrival he assured us that the man had told him the
exact truth. This power of divination, it seems, is checked, if an
Englishman approaches the tent.

THEY have a generous sense of property, and a disdain of oppression:
the largest beasts and fowls, they say, are their own; and they call
all the Company's servants, except the governor, slaves. They are
exemplary in their affection to the orphans of the same family; for
upon the death of the parents the children are divided among the
nearest of kin, who feed and take care of them preferably to their
own.

WHEN an Indian dies, they usually bury all he possesses with him,
because, they think he will want it in the other country, where, they
say, their friends are making merry as often as they see an
Aurora-borealis. The corpse being placed upon its hams, the grave is
filled up and covered over with brush-wood, in which they put some
tobacco; and near the grave is fixed a pole with a deer skin, or some
other skin, at the top. This method of placing the corpse is no longer
observed by the people who resort to the English factories; but the
upland Indians still retain their ancient customs. I have heard that
the superannuated and helpless among them are strangled at their own
request; which ceremony is always performed by the nearest relations,
who, after placing these voluntary victims in a grave, finish the
horrid task after the manner of the Turkish bow-string.

THEY describe days by the times of sleeping, years by winters, and
different parts of the year by moons; as the frog-moon, or the season
when the frogs spawn, which is in May or June; the geese-moon, when
the geese fly across the country to breed; and other moons,
distinguished by some stated appearance.

THEY are fond of the taste of brandy, and of being intoxicated with
it; esteeming it an honour to be drunk, and striving who shall
continue so longest: indeed this is a corruption not of their own
growth, but introduced among them by the folly and villainy of
Europeans. Instead of using water, they cleanse themselves with grease
and oil; and when they have a mind to be ornamented, they paint their
faces with a kind of red and yellow oaker, which with a string of
beads hanging at the nose, and a piece of greasy red cloth fixed on
one side of the head, makes an Indian as fine as he desires to be.

THEY use for an emetic a herb called cockapocko, and after the
operation another herb called woshapocko; and their method of sweating
themselves is to sit in a close tent by a heap of heated stones.
Before the use of kettles was introduced among them, they dressed
their meat in a wooden or birch-rind dish, heating the water, and
keeping it boiling by constantly putting in these hot stones. They eat
as much flesh at a time as will serve three or four Europeans; but
then they can fast three or four times as long: and these habits of
voraciousness and abstinence seem to be determined by their natural
temper, and their taste of life; for they are lazy and improvident,
lying in their tents and feasting upon their stock till they have not
a day's provision left; and if they are unfortunate enough to fail of
a supply before their power of fasting is gone, they perish with
hunger. This has given birth to many stories of their being reduced to
eat the skins that cover them, and sometimes their children. Many
families in their journey to the factories have been so near starving,
that they have fainted by the way, and must have perished, if some
among them had not been strong enough to come to the governors for
relief.

UPON going out to hunt, and at the death, they sing two songs, the
latter at the head of the beast; a practice that prevails among more
refined, but less innocent sportsmen here. If several different
parties of hunters happen to meet in the pursuit, they do not regard
who kills the beast, but share the prey in common. The chief of a
family has an appropriated part, which, by way of distinction, he
dresses himself: a woman is not suffered to touch it, nor to perform
the least part of the culinary office, nor even to be present at the
feast. When he thinks it is boiled enough, he takes it out of the
kettle, and gives the first piece to the man he respects most,
proceeding in this manner through the whole company. They have a maxim
very prejudicial to the country, which is, that the more beasts they
kill, the more they increase; and in consequence of this they destroy
great numbers for the sake of the tongues, leaving the carcases to
rot.

THE families take down their tents in the morning, and the chief
orders where they shall be pitched at night. In winter when they can
follow his tract in the snow, he leaves the women to strike the tent,
and come after him with the baggage; and where they find a long white
stick fixed in the ground, they pitch the tent again till the next
morning. At night the man comes home and sits down, but without
speaking, while his wife pulls off his wet cloaths, and cleanses his
face with grease or oil: he then takes the chief seat, and begins to
talk.

IN marrying they have the eastern custom of a plurality of wives;
though they generally content themselves with two, which are as many
as they can well maintain by hunting. They are not very susceptible of
the tender passions; for an Indian will gladly lend his wife to an
Englishman for a bottle of brandy. It is customary for the man upon
his marriage to leave his own friends, and live with his wife's
father, to whose defence and subsistence he devotes himself for the
remainder of his life, which makes the having daughters a much more
desirable part of their possessions than sons. A woman once in her
life separates herself from all kind of converse, and lives three
weeks alone; in which time, those who administer to her, leave her
food in a certain place, and return immediately without speaking. I
employed a man who understood the language, and was intimate with
several of the people of both sexes, to enquire into the nature and
end of this ceremony: but with all his art and address he was never
able to obtain more than a general knowlege of the fact.

AT their feasts and merry meetings, when they are disposed to dance,
the company join hands and shuffle round the musician, who sits upon
the ground, and beats a kind of drum, the dismal sound of which he
accompanies with a more dismal tone of voice. They smoke
brazil-tobacco mixed with a peculiar herb, of which both sexes and all
ages are fond to excess. They have even stated entertainments of
smoaking; on which occasion a pipe is produced, ornamented with
feathers of various kinds. This pipe is two feet long, the bowl being
made of stone, and the barrel of wood: the principal man has always
the privilege of lighting it, who after taking his share of whiffs,
gives it to the second in eminence; proceeding through the whole
company with such equitable management, that the last man, who
constantly finishes, has very seldom a larger or smaller share than
the first. When the business of traffic is over at the factory, they
smoak after the same manner in the governor's room, always depositing
the pipe with him as a kind of pledge for their return the following
year. This ornamented pipe is what I suppose the French call the
calumet of peace. The Indians generally travel with one, which they
offer to any party of a different nation that they happen to meet
with; and their accepting it, and smoaking with them, are considered
as an exchange of peace and friendship.

THE governors make titular officers of those who are accounted the
best huntsmen and warriors, and most esteemed for their understanding
by the rest of the party. To each of these they give a coat, a pair of
breeches and a hat, appointing him captain of a river. It is the
opinion of those who live at great distance from the factories, that
the English are a kind of creators of all the goods they sell; and
when we first appeared in the Bay, the people on the coast believed us
to be inhabitants of the water, because they saw us come from the sea,
and return thither again.

THE true character of the inland natives is, that they are plain and
ignorant, but very gentle, and disposed to receive any impression.
Their chief vice is laziness: but all they have of ill may in a great
measure be removed, and all they want of good be supplied, by a proper
and generous cultivation. They behave well to the English, but better
to the French, because the French have taken more pains to civilize
their manners, and engage their esteem.

THE Indians upon the coasts and in the islands have customs peculiar
to themselves, very different from those of the uplanders on the
continent. Of these I may possibly speak hereafter; but shall now
proceed with an account of the many oportunities that still remain for
enlarging discoveries by sea and land, and for improving many
beneficial articles of trade, particularly the fisheries. And first,
there are several reasons to support a belief, that the land which
separates Hudson's-Bay from the western-ocean, must be narrow to the
northward of Churchill-river, if it should prove to be continuous, and
without a navigable passage.

THE rivers north of Churchill, that have yet been discovered, are very
inconsiderable. Seal and Pocathusko are the only ones; the latter in
59: 30, small but well wooded; the former in 60, somewhat larger,
running a considerable way from the south-west. Knapp's-Bay is only a
deep inlet; and nothing but inlets have appeared upon the coasts,
discovered by the ships sent out in search of a north-west-passage.
There are no rivers near Whale-cove nor Rankin's-inlet; nor on the
coast from thence to Wager's-inlet, which terminates in a small stream
running from an inland fordable lake. Chesterfield-inlet has no more
title to the character of a fresh river than Wager-inlet. It is a
continued channel at least four leagues wide; the water is salt and
brackish; it ebbs eight or nine hours at the rate of five or six miles
an hour, and flows two hours at the rate only of one mile an hour; and
yet it does not seem to contract even at more than thirty leagues up.
The known rivers to the northward, therefore, will not bear a
comparison with Churchill-river; nor even with our Thames, Humber,
Tweed, or Tyne. Seal-river, which is the larger, and which, by the
bye, flows from the west and not from the south-west, does not vent so
much water as the second-rate rivers in England. There are also fewer
within the same distance along shore than in England; and tho' many
runs of water generally fall into them, they decrease as much in a
course of twenty miles as our rivers. If then we may compute the
breadth of a country, by the length of the course of its rivers, and
the quantity of water which they discharge; it may be fairly presumed,
that as the courses of the above rivers are not so long, nor their
discharge so great, as some rivers in England, the land where they are
situated is not so broad. But as it is urged that rivers are larger or
smaller, in proportion to the rains that fall on the adjacent land, it
may be proper to compare the quantity of rain that falls in a year in
Hudson's-Bay, with the quantity that falls in England. From the
beginning of May to the end of September, the proportion of rain is
pretty equal; and from the beginning of October to the end of April,
the quantity of snow in the Bay, which covers the surface about two
feet and a half thick, and perhaps more, does not greatly exceed. The
inference, therefore, of the breadth of the land from the size of the
rivers still holds good. But this is farther confirmed, as in or near
the bottom of the Bay, where the continent is known to be broad, the
rivers are larger in proportion, and more in number within the same
distance, than to the northward; and when the snow melts, the Indians
to the southward of York-fort, who are near or within forty miles of
the sea, keep their canoes always in readiness, that they may escape
the torrent that pours down from the inland country, overflowing the
adjacent plains, and bearing down the trees. But these annual floods
are not known to the northward of Churchill-river; and it is easy in
the summer to discern which rivers are subject to them, from the deep
hollows which the ice constantly plows up on both sides. The
inference, therefore, still remains just and natural, that the lands
northward of Churchill-river, are much narrower than those southward,
and cannot be far from the western ocean.

THIS is farther confirmed in point of testimony, from the evidence of
the Indians dwelling upon Nelson and Churchill-rivers, who say, that
they have been upon rivers that run a contrary course to those in the
Bay; and at the western sea on the other side of the land, where they
have seen ships.

BUT another natural evidence of there being a sea-coast to the
westward not far from Churchill, is that the flights of wild-geese in
the spring are seen to the northward of Churchill, before those which
come along the Bay from the southward are seen at York-fort. It is
received as an established and confirmed fact among the people at the
Bay, that those flocks of wild-geese which appear in the spring, come
from the southward according as the snow melts, and the marshes and
rivers are thawed sufficiently to afford them subsistence in their
flight northward, whither they repair to seek for unfrequented places
to hatch and breed their young. But if it happens to freeze again,
they fly back southward to get food, and do not renew their flight
northward till the thaw is renewed. It is also said, that their course
is generally parallel to the coast of the Bay, near the mouths of
rivers and along the marshes; and that they do not come from the
inland country west to east, but from south to north, being always
first seen at the most southerly factories. But at Churchill, long
before the ice is broken up southward, there are always flights of
geese to be seen to the northward, hovering about for a convenient
place to feed upon; which not finding on account of the continuance of
the frost, they fly back again inland to the westward. It is,
therefore, pretty certain, that these flights are made from another
country, and are not the same that come from the southward, which do
not appear till a considerable time after. Some probably come along
the coast of the western ocean from the southward, as these in the
Bay; and some along the east coast of America, and the west coast of
Europe; all making northward to Spitzburg and Greenland, where they
breed: while those, which I suppose come from the western coast of
America, take their flight by California and the coast northward of
it, where there is a great difference of climate at a small distance
from the Bay; and being earlier upon the wing, and flying at the rate
of sixty miles an hour, they shoot into a frozen climate upon the Bay,
before they are aware; but finding no food, retreat back to the warmer
climate they came from.

IF it should be urged, that those geese which are seen so early to the
northward, may fly from the inland northward, and happen to light upon
the shore north of Churchill, and so be first seen there; I answer,
that if it must be left to accident, they might as easily light upon
the shore to the southward, and so be first seen at Churchill or
York-fort, which has never yet been done. Besides, the flight is
always observed to be made along shore; and never from the inland
country directly to the shore. Since, therefore, all other flights of
geese are seen coming from the southward in the spring, and returning
to the northward in autumn; and this flight, which is seen first to
the northward of Churchill, is on a direct contrary course; the
conclusion is very natural, that it must come from a different
country, and a different sea-coast, most probably to the westward;
which is having a much warmer climate on account of an open sea, the
flight is taken early, but obstructed by coming too suddenly into a
frozen climate. This flight may possibly be made along the shore of
the north-west passage: however, the first supposition stands very
strongly supported, that the continent to the northward of Churchill
is very narrow, and the western sea not far distant from the Bay.

I SHALL next endeavour to shew the probability of entering
Hudson's-Bay much earlier than is done annually by the Company's
ships. The ice from the north part of the Bay drives through
Hudson's-straits into the ocean; and the Company's ships generally
enter the straits in the beginning of July. At York-fort and
Churchill-river I have observed that the ice did not break off close
at the shore, but gradually; the first field leaving the shore-ice two
or three miles broad, the second less, and so on till it was cleared
away. These several fields of ice drive through the straits; but as
they go off at intervals, one field may be driven through before the
next enters from the Bay: consequently the strait is sometimes pretty
clear of ice.

AS the straits then are never frozen over, nor always unnavigable,
even when there is much ice in the Bay; I imagine that a safe passage
may be often found in the beginning of June: for as the ice enters the
strait at intervals, according as it breaks off, and as the wind and
current drive it out of the Bay; so the wind may keep the ice back at
this season as well as any other. Besides, the ice at the bottom of
the Bay, and the north and west ice, will not have had time to reach
the strait; but after June all the Bay-ice commonly reaches it. The
beginning of June therefore seems to be the likeliest time in which to
expect a free passage. If ships should get through by this time, and
yet the Bay prove too full of ice to proceed, harbours might be
found; and as they would have smooth water and light nights, small
boats might be sent out upon discovery. These boats should be made of
strong leather, with the ribs and other timber moveable at pleasure.
They would not then be liable to be broken by the ice; they would row
swiftly; and might be let out or contracted, and so made fit for shoal
or deep water. And that the ships may not lose the first opportunity
of a clear passage, by waiting for the return of the boats; a common
place of rendezvous should be appointed, from whence they might pursue
their discoveries in concert; and either return to England, or winter
as they found encouragement. All the evil arising from this
experiment, if it fails, would be only the expence of having taken the
voyage one month earlier; but if it should succeed, it would save the
much greater charge of wintering in the Bay, and be attended with all
the advantages that can be wished for towards enlarging our
discoveries.

I KNOW that but a few years ago this voyage was thought very difficult
and tedious; that the Company's ships almost always wintered in the
Bay; and that they were well satisfied with that captain who wintered
safely, and returned the following year, allowing him a gratuity of
fifty guineas. But of late this gratuity is with-held from him, and
given only to those who go out and return the same year: so that what
was once represented as absolutely impracticable, is now very easily
and speedily preformed; and it is with great reluctance that any
captain winters in the Bay. If the discovery of a north-west passage
was pursued with the same ardour and encouragement, the same
expedition would take place; and the reality of such a passage be
speedily determined.

THE great means of settling this is a knowlege of the tides; and
therefore proper persons should try it in 66 deg. north-east of
Cary-swan's-nest, and ascertain Middleton's frozen strait, and the
tide and current there, which he says is so great as to fill the
Welcome. Others should be sent at the same time and for the same
purpose to Whale-cove, Rankin's-inlet, Chesterfield-inlet, Wager-bay,
and Repulse-Bay; in one of which the passage, if there is any, must
exist. In all these places they should be ordered to stay a limited
time, and make repeated experiments upon the tides and currents: and
if in any of the inlets the tides do not flow into the Bay, but meet
in the middle of the strait; or if the ebb into the Bay exceeds the
flood from the Bay, and yet the water continues salt or brackish; or
if the tide of flood lasts fewer hours than the tide of ebb, and the
water still proves brackish; such symptoms of a fresh river would
afford the strongest evidence of a clear passage. These first steps to
a discovery being thus deliberately and accurately made, the people,
if they had time, might venture to proceed; but if the season should
be too far elapsed, they might at worst winter in the Bay, and renew
the search the following summer.

BUT still much less expence would be incurred, more expedition would
be used, and more certainty obtained, by making the experiment over
land. And I greatly wonder it has not yet been attempted, considering
the repeated testimonies of the natives that come to York-fort, who
say that they have been at rivers which run a contrary course to those
in the Bay, and have seen the sea on the other side of the country.

A MAN resolved upon the expedition, might very easily engage a select
number of the Copper-Indians, who come to Churchill-factory, to
conduct him up the country, upon the offer of some inconsiderable
reward, and making one of their chiefs captain of the undertaking. Nor
is it necessary that he should understand the language, as the
linguist, who might be of the party, could communicate every thing to
the Indians that it was proper for them to know. By this means the
copper-mine at least would be discovered, and probably the distance of
the western ocean, and the reality of a passage between that and the
Bay.

THE same advantages might be as effectually obtained, tho' not perhaps
so immediately, if the Company was to issue a general order, that the
children of all those natives who would give their consent, should be
brought up at the factories, and instructed in every part of learning
that was necessary to fit them for useful service; and if at the same
time also they would send over from England a number of indigent
children to be educated with them. By such connection and intercourse
these boys would learn each others language, be accustomed to each
others tempers and manners, be soon able to travel together up the
country, and soon capable of understanding as much of the mathematics
as would qualify them to observe the latitudes and keep a journal. And
if, in aid of their endeavours, rewards were proposed for those who
made the most important discoveries, all the parts of the countries
adjoining to the Bay, would in a few years be intimately known.

EXPEDIENTS like these must occur to every man who has the least
reflexion, and the least knowlege of the country; but as the
Hudson's-Bay Company have not yet made any trial of them, it is to be
questioned whether any trial will ever be made, till the trade and
management become the business of the nation. The Company have had
apprentices in the Bay, both able and willing to do in part what has
been just now proposed. I have myself heard many of their servants
say, that they would gladly undertake a journey with the natives, if
the Company would give them any encouragement; and one of them in
particular told me, that he once offered voluntarily to do this
without soliciting a reward, but was rebuked by the governor for his
officiousness and treated ill the remainder of his time: yet this
method of making discoveries would not only be less expensive, than
any the Company have hitherto taken, but far more certain, and more
successful; of which they have a melancholy proof from the very
formidable incroachments which the French, by the same means, are
continually making upon them.

IT is universally believed among the servants, that the French travel
many hundred miles over land from Canada to the heads of our rivers in
the Bay, and that they have erected huts and settled a considerable
factory upon a lake at the head of Nelson-river; trading with the
natives for the lightest and most valuable furs, which they carry a
long way before they find a conveyance by water: and this general
opinion is not taken up at random, but supported by particular
incontestable evidences of the fact. I have seen French guns among the
natives that come to York-fort; and once heard Mr. Brady, the surgeon,
converse with one of them in the French language. I have also
frequently seen in the governor's hand, a letter addressed to him from
the chief factor at the French settlement on Nelson-river. It was
written in French and Indian; and the purport of it was to establish a
trade between them and the English at York-fort, for those heavy goods
which the French stood in great need of, but could not bring from
Canada, such as guns, kettles, tobacco, &c. and the English were
desired to say, how much beaver they expected in exchange for these
articles. The governor told us, that he had sent a copy of the letter
to England; and added, that if the Company consented to such a treaty,
we should get no furs but what came through the hands of the French,
who would soon have huts all the way down Nelson-river.

THE linguists informed me, that they have had a description of the
French factory at the head of Nelson-river from different Indians, who
all agreed in the principal circumstances, and remarkably in this,
that the French have a large boat or sloop upon the lake. These people
formerly would have been glad to have had the English accompany them
up the rivers; and were once very sollicitous to engage us to go up,
that we might head them against the French Indians: but they are now
very easy and silent upon that subject: the French by kind offices and
a liberality in dealing, which we think of no consequence, have
obtained so much influence over almost all the natives, that many of
them are actually turned factors for the French at our settlements for
heavy goods. This the Indians openly acknowleged to the linguist in
the year 1746, just before I left York-fort.

BUT it is now time to say something of the fisheries; the wretched
condition of which is not owing to any natural defect, but merely to
negligence or design in those who pretend a right to the country and
its productions.

THE Eskimaux, who are the professed fishers, used to inhabit the
country on the east-main between the straits and the bottom of the
Bay: but they are since driven away to the northward by the other
Indians, who are rendered much superior to them, on account of the
supply of arms and ammunition which they receive from the English: so
that a tract of land of more than three hundred miles extent from
north to south, lies almost waste, without trade and without
inhabitants. Churchill-river was much frequented by the Eskimaux
before we settled there, the point on which the fort is built being
called Eskimaux-point. Upon digging for the fort many traces were
discovered of their abode here, such as the pit in which they secured
their provisions, pieces of stone-pots, spears, arrows, &c. This point
they kept some time after they were driven from the adjacent country,
because as it lies far in the open sea, they could discover the
distant approaches of their enemies, and repair in time to their
canoes, in the management of which they are peculiarly dexterous: but
they were at length forced to go farther northward, to Cape-Eskimaux
and Whale-cove; and are now totally dispossessed of this retreat, by
our making a settlement here, and drawing down the northern upland
Indians to trade, whom also we have supplied with arms.

THUS have we consented to the depopulation of both the east and west
coasts of the Bay, by suffering the inhabitants, perhaps the most
useful of all the natives, to be banished to Hudson's-straits on one
side, and to Whale-cove on the other. But a people do not easily lose
their characteristic virtues: that art and industry for which the
Eskimaux are distinguished, they still retain even in a state of
flight and dispersion; and those that are scattered about the straits,
kill whales, sea horses, seals, bears, &c. not only for common
subsistence, but for trade, which they are very eager to carry on with
our ships, as often as they go by in their passage to the Bay. But our
ships give them little encouragement; nor is it the design of the
Company that the fisheries should be improved.

A SLOOP is indeed sometimes sent to Whale-cove for a few days in a
season, and sometimes not sent at all. The people, therefore, having
no dependance upon our coming to trade with them, take very little
care to provide a supply larger than is necessary for their own
subsistence.

IN those years in which the sloop was not sent to Whale-cove, viz.
1745, 1746, and 1747, all the whale-finn that the Company brought to
England was procured in the straits: the first year 303 pounds, the
second 1314 pounds, and the third 226 pounds; in all 1843 pounds, as
appears from the account of their public sales. But in the seven
preceeding years, when the sloop was sent to Whale-cove, the account
of their sales stands thus; 1738, finn 207 pounds; 1739, finn 518
pounds; 1740, finn 630 pounds, oil 123 gallons; 1741, finn 149 pounds;
1742, finn 679 pounds, oil one ton at £18: 13: 0; 1743, finn 496
pounds, oil and blubber 5 tons 234 gallons at £14: 8: 0 _per ton_;
1744, finn 302 pounds, oil and blubber 3 tons 218 gallons at £10: 1:
0 _per ton_. So that upon an average the trade in finn those years in
which the sloop was sent to Whale-cove, does not equal the trade when
the sloop was not sent: therefore the greater part must have been
procured in the straits, which, as I said before, is done cursorily as
the ships pass into the Bay. But if so much can be gained without any
efforts, what must the produce be from a professed design and vigorous
endeavour to bring these fisheries to perfection?

THE previous step to this, is the re-establishment of the Eskimaux in
the quiet possession of their properties and lives; suffering them to
extend at pleasure towards the bottom of the Bay, where they would
find a milder climate and better country: and this appears very easy
to be effected, by making a settlement to the southward of the
straits, which abounds with wood and good harbours; and taking care to
inform the Indians upon the east-main, that the Eskimaux are desirous
to live at peace with them, that they will not interfere in their
furr-trade, and that they are friends to the English and under their
protection, who, if hostilities are continued, will supply them with
arms and ammunition for their defence: which impartial distribution of
kindness and good offices would effectually dissipate that malignity
we have given birth to by the opposite conduct, to the destruction of
both people, and the ruin of the trade. And if the same pacific
measures were taken also on the western-coast, and settlements made
southward of Whale-cove, for the protection and encouragement of those
Eskimaux who lie scattered thereabout, the foundation of a most
extensive fishery would be effectually laid.

THESE last Eskimaux subsist in winter upon the stock they raise in
summer, which is supposed to be oil, blubber, and the like: and yet
the season of the whale-fishery seldom lasts above nine weeks; in
which time they must kill a prodigious quantity to be able not only to
lay up a store for a long winter, but to make a reserve of many tons
of oil for the Company's annual sloop. And if this poor people can in
their one-man seal-skin canoes, with such tackling as their little
skill enables them to make of ivory, wood, and leather, kill so many
whales in so short a time, and in so small a part of the Bay; there is
no fixing bounds to the profusion, if a fishery was carried on at all
the rivers under proper direction and encouragement, and the natives
furnished with harpoons, nets, hooks, and other tackling made in
England, and prompted besides to exert their utmost art and industry
by a kind and generous treatment.

THE circumference of the Bay is at least 2500 miles, with so many
rivers and inlets all round, that a considerable river or inlet may be
allowed to every hundred miles. In the three rivers where I resided,
as much oil etc. might be procured as would be sufficient to load 150
tons of shipping annually: consequently, by the same computation, the
whole Bay would employ 1250 tons; and in a short time, I dare say,
many hundred more. But the first trial must be made by those who are
possessed of judgment, spirit, and integrity, or no plan, however
excellent, would insure success.

I HAVE attempted to form a plan as well for the improvement of the
inland-trade as of the fisheries, and would have inserted them in this
account, if some prudential reasons did not restrain me; one is that
the Company might possibly be tempted to shut up those avenues which I
should point out: but I am ready to give all the private information
in my power to any, who I am convinced are willing to send out ships,
and take other sincere steps for the advancement of the trade of this
country; and I think I can demonstrate, that ships need not return the
second voyage from Hudson's-Bay with a small or unprofitable cargo.

IF it should be objected, that since the westerly rivers in the Bay
are not clear of ice till the beginning of June, and the fishery is
over by the middle of August, the season would last only ten weeks,
which would be too short to kill whales enough to defray the expence;
I answer first, that the fisheries of Greenland and Davy's-straits do
not last longer; and secondly, that the expence in a great measure
might be saved, if as the Bay-fishery does not begin till the
Davy's-straits fishery is over, the same ships were employed in both.
If it be farther objected, that ships cannot get into the Bay by the
beginning of June, and therefore a great expence would be incurred, by
so many Englishmen being obliged to winter there; I answer farther,
that few Englishmen need be kept in the Bay, since the natives may be
hired upon very reasonable terms to attend the whole time of the
fishery. The home Indians even now, kill geese for the Company for
very low wages, and a much great number offer themselves for this
service than can be employed, and the season of killing geese is over
a week before the fishery-season comes on. Indeed these home Indians
are tender, dull and inactive; but they need only be employed in the
fishery while in its infant state; for upon making peace between them
and the Eskimaux, those native fishers would carry on the whole
business alone, without any assistance from the home Indians, or even
from the English who need only act as supervisors. But should it be at
last objected, that the Company long before this would have set such a
fishery on foot, if it was near so beneficial as is now represented;
the answer may be easily drawn from their whole conduct for many years
past, and the mean and ungenerous motives that have influenced it.

INDEED it is to be feared, that all remonstrances, intreaties and
persuasions for the opening a passage to this extensive field of
trade, will prove ineffectual, till they are addressed to the
Legislature, who by purchasing the right the Company pretend to have
to the Bay and all the countries round it, would soon see how well
they have acted under the faith of their allegiance to the crown, who
granted them a charter only as trustees for the public. Such a
purchase, made even upon the Company's own estimation of their
profits, would I think be as beneficial a one as ever was made by a
British parliament: for besides the fisheries and fur-trade, and their
being capable of inconceivable improvement, there are the strongest
appearances of rich mines in various parts of the country. I have seen
pieces of shining ore which were brought from Knight's-hill about
thirty miles east-by-south from Churchill-river. And it appeared upon
the evidence before the Committee, that ore has been brought to the
southern factories, of which buckles were made; that there is a
valuable lead-mine upon the east-main, the ore of which was produced;
and that native cinnabar was found upon the coast between Churchill
and Nelson-rivers, from which quicksilver was extracted and a specimen
of it sent over to the Company. There are also the strongest
probabilities of there being a rich copper-mine north-west of
Churchill-river; I have seen several pieces of this ore; the Indians
of those parts wear them by way of ornament about their necks and
wrists; and a man who was present at making the settlement upon
Churchill-river informed me, that the Indians had ice-chizzels, and
other implements made of this copper, and that the people of the
factory called them the Copper-Indians by way of distinction, as by
their own account they came from that part of the country where the
mine is situated. But notwithstanding the cogency of such a variety of
proofs, the Company have set it at defiance, and made not the least
sincere and effectual effort to push the discovery of these mines.
Nay, for the sake of invalidating the evidences for the copper-mine,
their friends have even ventured to assert, that the copper brought
down by the Indians was not the produce of a mine, but broken pieces
of _brass_ guns belonging to a Danish wreck which they found upon some
coast; not considering that tho' the brass of which cannon is made be
indeed copper compounded with lapis calaminaris, all the hammering, or
any other method that the Indians were capable of taking, could never
reduce it again to pure copper.

THE circumstances mentioned in the papers produced by the Company
before the Committee of the honourable house of Commons in the year
1749, come next to be considered: but as those papers are minutely
stated and examined in the Appendix, I shall here only make a few
cursory and general remarks, and then conclude with a short review of
the Company's whole conduct.

IN looking over the list of the Company's papers and letters prefixed
to the report of the Committee, I was surprized to find that of all
the letters written while I was in the country, one only was inserted,
dated 1733. The inserting others, I imagine, would have exposed some
parts of their management that are not fit for the public eye; the
dread of which it is likely forced them to plead hard against
producing either original papers or original entries, and to beg that
their secretary might be permitted to extract and copy such as they
should select for that purpose.

THE addressing their orders to the governor and council is a matter of
mere form, for the council is seldom consulted; being named chiefly
for the sake of distinguishing those who belong to the governor's
mess. The governor is absolute, and not to be diverted from following
the dictates of his own will, for which he has the sanction of the
Company: I have myself heard the surgeon, who is one of the council,
charge him with not standing by the general letter and order; when he
replied, with the utmost contempt, "Do you think I have no other
orders but what are there?"

IN one of their letters to John Bridgar, dated May 15th, 1682, they
order him to make a settlement on the river of _Port-Nelson_; they
also address several letters to the governor and council at
_Port-Nelson_; but the answers to these letters are all dated from
_York-fort_, which is erected not upon _Nelson-river_ but upon
_Hayes_'s. The Company could not be ignorant of its situation; and
therefore by talking so affectedly of Port-Nelson it is probable they
hoped to lead the Committee into a belief, that they had built a fort
upon Nelson-river. I am the more confirmed in this, as, after my
return to London, I found in the print-shops a newly-published chart
of Hayes's and Nelson-rivers, with a fort half way between them, named
_Port-Nelson_ fort; and to support this disposition, the Company, upon
being charged with criminal negligence in not securing the possession
of so fine a river as Nelson, said in their vindication, that
Port-Nelson fort (_i.e._ York-fort) defended[4] _both_ rivers, which
however was not in their power to prove. About the same time there was
hanging up in the Royal-exchange a paper annexed to a draught done by
captain Smith, in which it was asserted, that it was false that
north-west winds made the highest tides at Churchill-river: this also
was an imposition; for I had kept a journal of the winds and tides,
and know that to be a fact which the author of the paper has the
confidence to deny. These things would almost justify a suspicion,
that none of the papers produced by the Company are genuine; that
there is a private intercourse between them and the Bay-governors; and
that they give plausible instructions to amuse the public, but send
orders directly the reverse to prevent the execution.

[Footnote 4: See the Draught of Nelson and Hayes's-rivers, PLATE No..
I.]

THE papers relating to Henry Kelsey, are thoroughly examined in the
Appendix; but it is worth observing here, that by the account of this
man, which has been invariably handed down and confidently believed
among the servants in the Bay[5], it appears that either Geyer, who
was governor in his time, has grossly imposed upon the Company, or the
Company upon the public. Geyer pretends, that he sent out Kelsey to
make discoveries; and a journal of his is produced, dated July 1691,
before he had even the common requisites of paper pens and ink to make
one; for it is not till the September following, that Geyer says he
had received, not a _journal_, but a letter from him, (which letter we
may fairly suppose to be that written with _charcoal_ upon a piece of
birch-rind) and in return sent him _a new commission_ and _a supply of
those things he wrote for_; including among them, no doubt, the
necessary materials for writing, which enabled him to keep the _same
identical journal of 1691_, under the date of the _following year_.
But referring the reader to the Appendix, I shall only add, that, from
many circumstances mentioned in this journal, I no more believe that
it is Kelsey's than it is mine. There is one particular, that with any
man who knows enough of the appearances of the ground in Hudson's-Bay
to have made them a rule to travel by, must be sufficient to discredit
the whole. It is said, 20th July.--_Setting forward again, had not
gone above_ nine miles, _but_ came on _the track of_ Indians, _which
had passed_ four days _before, having seen their old tents_. And
again, 11th September--_Now setting forward, about noon came up with
the track, and followed it, and, in the evening, came to with them.
Distance 16 miles._ From hence the writer of the journal would have it
believed, that it is a very easy and common thing, even in summer when
no help can be gained from the snow, to discover the track of a
particular set of people, at many miles distance, and after the lapse
of three or four days. In the first instance, the difficulty is
attempted to be solved by adding, _having seen their tents_: but in
the other, the way is left naked, with not a single token to guide
them; yet _after travelling from morn till noon they came_ by instinct
_upon the track, and followed it_. Now would any one in his senses
believe that man who should say, that, after spending six hours in a
long pursuit, he had found out a _particular track_, where scarcely
any track is to be discerned? Admitting that the grass was long, and
continued so for many miles together, which it does not here, would he
be able to follow this track from _noon till evening_, unless it was
much beaten? and if it was much beaten, how should he know that _his_
friend had lately passed it? But Kelsey knew the Indians track, and
that they only had made it; computing, I suppose, the number of men,
the weight of their bodies, the size of their feet, and the angle of
each step; tho' the appearances would have been exactly the same, and
his opinion the same, if a herd of deer or buffaloes had gone that
way. In winter, indeed, when the snow lies thick upon the ground, such
an assertion as this might gain some little credit; yet often as I
have traversed the ground in Hudson's-bay, I would not undertake to
follow any track but a beaten one, as the least wind is able
effectually to dissipate all traces of the first foot-steps.

[Footnote 5: THE account I received of Henry Kelsey from the servants
in the Bay, is in general this: Henry Kelsey, a little boy, used to
take great delight in the Company of the natives, and in learning
their language, for which, and some unlucky tricks that boys of spirit
are always guilty of, the governor would often correct him with great
severity. He resented this deeply; and when he was advanced a little
in years and strength, he took an opportunity of going off with some
distant Indians, to whom he had endeared himself by a long
acquaintance and many little offices of kindness.

A YEAR or two after, the governor received by an Indian a piece of
birch-rind folded up, and written upon with charcoal. This was a
letter from Kelsey; in which he intreated the governor to pardon him
for running away, and to suffer him to return with favour and
encouragement. Accordingly he came down with a party of Indians,
dressed after their manner, and attended by a wife, who wanted to
follow him into the factory. The governor opposed this; but upon
Kelsey's telling him in English, that he would not go in himself if
his wife was not suffered to go in, he knew him, and let them both
enter. Many circumstances of his travels were related: that the
Indians once left him asleep; and while he slept, his gun was burnt by
the fire's spreading in the moss, which he afterwards stocked again
with his knife: that he and an Indian were one day surprized by two
grizzled bears, having but just time to take shelter, the Indian in a
tree, and Kelsey among some high willows; the bears making directly to
the tree, Kelsey fired and killed one of them; the other, observing
from whence the fire came, ran towards the place; but not finding his
prey, returned to the tree, which he had just reached when he dropped
by Kelsey's second fire. This action obtained him the name of
Miss-top-ashish, or Little Giant.

WHEN Kelsey was afterwards made governor of York-fort, I was told that
he wrote a vocabulary of the Indian language, and that the Company had
ordered it to be suppressed.]

THE Company find the profits arising from that inconsiderable part of
the produce of this country which they have monopolized, so enormous,
that, while they are resolved to be undisturbed in the possession,
they can have no motive to increase them, but are rather induced to
prevent this, as an evil that would endanger the loss of the whole.

FROM hence, perhaps, proceeds that vigorous exertion of their art and
power to keep all their servants, except the chief factors and the
captains of their ships, totally ignorant both of the country and
trade: hence their treatment of the natives; which so far from aiming
at instructing their minds, and reforming their manners, is made up of
cruelty to their persons, impositions upon their ignorance or their
necessity, and a fomentation of a spirit of discord among them that in
time must destroy them all: hence also their aversion to all
discoveries and improvements, cloaked under the specious pretence,
that they have already done all that men could do, for the advantage
of so barren a soil, and so bad a climate: and hence their stupid
inattention, not only to the interest of Britain, but even of their
own immediate successors; silently and tamely suffering the French to
make such incroachments, as must speedily end in the total alienation
of this vast source of wealth and power.

THE absolute authority over all other servants, which is invested in
the governor, who is indulged in the most malicious gratification of
his own private resentments, and directed to exercise the severest
cruelties upon every man who seems desirous to pry into the Company's
affairs, to cultivate a friendship with the natives, or to discover
the country; and the silent allowance also of his gross impositions
upon the natives, particularly in that iniquitous species of traffic
the over-plus trade, could only take place from the necessity of
trusting somebody, and the dangerous evidence which these men, when
trusted, are capable of giving upon any inquiry into the Company's
management. A bricklayer at York-fort, with whom I was well
acquainted, being desirous to perfect himself in writing, once
inadvertently took down from the place where it was fixed, a
well-written bill of orders, in order to copy it. This was deemed so
heinous an offence, that the poor bricklayer was immediately sent
home incapacitated for all future employment in the Company's service;
and the captain who had charge of him, took care in their passage to
England, to get him pressed on board a man of war.

THE instances of neglect and abuse of the natives are so gross, that
they would scarcely gain credit, even among civilized barbarians, who
never heard of the mild precepts of Christianity. Besides the facts
already mentioned, the following one was well attested by the servants
in the Bay, and was also produced in evidence before the Committee: An
Indian boy at Moose-factory, being taught to read and write, through
the humanity and indulgence of a governor there, wrote over to the
Company for leave to come to England, in order that he might be
baptized; but upon the receipt of this request, which any men who had
the least sense of religion, and the least regard for the spiritual
happiness of a fellow creature, would with joy have complied with; an
order was sent to the governor to take the boy's books from him, and
turn him out of the factory, with an express prohibition against any
Indians being instructed for the future. This was the source of much
affliction to the poor boy, who died soon after, with a penitence and
devotion that would have done honour to his masters. But from whence
can such preposterous and unnatural behaviour take its rise, unless
from the apprehension, that if the natives were properly instructed
and made converts to Christianity, they would all claim the privileges
of British subjects, and apply to Britain to be supported in them? The
Company, therefore, to prevent their suffering a remote evil as
traders, have violated their indispensible duty as men and Christians;
have even sacrificed their own servants to their fear, and lest the
natives should be instructed and reformed, have hitherto neglected the
sending over a clergyman to keep up a sense of religion at any of
their factories. Why are the Eskimaux suffered to be driven from their
native residence, and the shore of the Bay to be left desolate, but
for the sake of discouraging all attempts to establish a fishery? Or
why are animosities and divisions cherished among the upland Indians,
but to keep the fur-trade within a certain value, that none may be
tempted to engage in it to the Company's disadvantage? They have made
it plain from their own account of Kelsey, that an Englishman can
travel the country as well as a Frenchman; and that an Englishman has
it in his power to reconcile the differences among the natives, and
engage them in a mutual endeavour, to encrease the number of pelts and
furs for the supply of the factories. And there can be no plausible
objection to the taking the same measures now, except the distance of
the factories, and the interruptions from the French: but the first
may be removed by making a settlement at the head of Nelson-river, and
other rivers fit for the purpose; and the second, by dealing with the
natives only upon the same equitable terms, that the French deal with
them. The Company have advantages of traffic superior to the French,
being able to supply the natives with many heavy goods, which the
French, on account of their distance and the want of a water-carriage,
cannot supply them with; the same generous and friendly behaviour
towards them, therefore, which the French shew, must give the Company
a superiority of advantage upon the whole.

THROUGH this abuse, and neglect of the natives, the source of all
important and useful discoveries is effectually stopped. But the
Company proceeding upon the same selfish principle, have constantly
discouraged all discoveries and improvements; have used their servants
ill for shewing the least distant inclination to become acquainted
with the country and the people; and have looked with an evil eye upon
every design formed in Britain for this purpose, and exerted their
utmost efforts to defeat it. Is it not astonishing and past credit,
that tho' they had a factory before the year 1688 within six miles of
the mouth of Nelson-river, which is the finest river in the country
for trade, and have been in constant possession ever since the peace
of Utrecht, they had not in the year 1744 discovered whether a ship
could go in and out with safety. As it is the custom in the Bay to
represent every thing in the worst light, it was confidently asserted,
that there was no safe entrance, till captain Fowler and I made the
attempt in 1745, and found a very fine one. It is not thirty years ago
that a ship was lost off Hayes's-river, for want of knowing that there
was a good harbour and safe entrance at Nelson; yet, necessary as this
discovery was, if captain Fowler had not been in the country, I
question whether I should have had interest enough with the governor
to borrow a boat, and obtain leave to make it. It was also confidently
asserted, that there was no timber upon Nelson-river; but when I went
up and viewed the banks and creeks, I found timber in great
quantities, and very good.

AMONG the many obstructions that they pretend lie in the way of all
attempts of this kind, they never fail to urge the severity of the
climate, and the danger that life itself is exposed to from it at
certain seasons. But in the coldest part of winter, I have lain many a
night in the open air, with only a fence to the windward made with
branches of trees, and a fire upon the ground; and sometimes by the
veering of the wind, both fence and fire have been rendered totally
useless: and yet I can honestly say, that I was never ill half an hour
all the time I staid in the country. If it be said, that resolution
only is wanting in the people at the Bay, let them be shamed out of so
much effeminacy by a neighbouring example: the Danes have been
indefatigable in settling the country in Davys's straits, which though
it lies in a much higher latitude than the most northerly part of
Hudson's-bay, they think well worth possessing and improving. But of
how much greater value would they esteem the possession of the country
which we abandon through weakness, or something worse.

THIS plea, however, of severity of climate, the Company would be
deprived of, if they were obliged to account for their not settling
Moose and Albany-rivers, and others to the southward of the Bay; for
they cannot pretend that the climate here, which is but in 51:28 is
not very habitable; or that the land is not fertile enough to yield to
the industrious a comfortable subsistence. In this instance, they must
be reduced to acknowlege, at least every intelligent man will be ready
to do it for them, that a private company has no motive to make
settlements, since an exclusive trade and monopoly with no more
settlements than are barely necessary, must be infinitely more
profitable to the possessors, than settling the whole country, and
enjoying the produce in common with people who would claim the
privileges of British subjects.

THE Company not only sit down contented at the edge of a frozen sea,
when they have it in their power to settle in a warm climate and
fertile country, but suffer the French to come behind them, and carry
off the best of the trade: yet with a fourth part of the trouble and
expence that the French are at in making these incroachments, it is in
the power of the Company, from the many fine rivers of which they have
the absolute possession, to stop their progress and recover to Britain
all that is lost of the trade and country.

BUT these rivers, for eighty years past, have only been made use of,
for catching a few fish for occasional subsistence, floating down
timber for fire-wood, and bringing a few Indians once a year with
those furs that are too heavy or too bad to be carried to Canada, and
some intelligence of the dangerous expeditions of the French. It is
universally believed at the [6] Bay, and I myself believe it, as much
as I do that there is a King of France, that the French will soon be
in possession of our rivers, and claim the whole country and trade as
their property: and then, surely, it will appear, how very
conscientiously the Company have made use of a royal grant to answer
the valuable ends for which it was granted.

[Footnote 6: ON the 28th of this last February, 1752, one Dominic
Manners, a German, who came from Hudson's-bay with the last ships,
informed me, that the French had got to such a head, that they were
coming down to attack Prince of Wales's-fort, and were actually within
a few days journey of it, when the Indians persuaded them to return by
the account they gave of the strength of the place. This, he said, was
confidently believed at all the forts.]

HOW dangerous is security when built upon the conduct of selfish men!
The act for confirming the Company's charter expired above fifty years
ago[7]; they have not had the assurance to apply for a renewal, and
yet have been mean enough to keep the absolute possession of what they
knew was become the property of the nation. This could only be done by
little artifices unworthy the character of men; and accordingly, the
trade has been contracted, the country not only unsettled and
concealed, but industriously vilified, and charts have been prohibited
lest the navigation should be found safe and easy. In the mean time
the French are quietly permitted to extend their trade and factories
within land to such a length, as must end in the total alienation of
this country, if the Legislature does not quickly interpose to save
it.

[Footnote 7: IT being alleged in the Committee, that the Company's
charter was confirmed by act of parliament, the Lords and Commons
journals were inspected; in which it appeared, that in 1690 the
Company, sensible that they had no legal title to their monopoly,
petitioned the Commons for a bill to confirm their charter, upon
account of the great losses they had sustained from the French, and
their having no right to restrain English interlopers. Accordingly a
bill for a perpetual confirmation was brought into the house; but upon
a petition against the bill from the furriers, and afterwards from the
northern colonies of America, some of which came too late to be heard,
at the third reading a rider was proposed to make it temporary; and
upon a division, whether for seven or ten years, it was carried for
the latter; but the Lords returning it amended, by inserting seven
years instead of ten, the Commons agreed to the amendment and passed
the bill. The Commons, however, to prevent their being surprized into
such an act for the future, came to a resolution, which was made a
standing order of the House, that no petition should be received for
confirming any charter, unless the charter itself was annexed to the
petition.]

UPON the whole: The countries surrounding Hudson's-bay and straits
have a sea-coast of above two thousand miles extent, from 52 deg. 30,
to more than 65 deg. north latitude; great part of which is in the
same latitude as Britain. Upon this sea-coast are many broad and deep
rivers, the sources of which are at several hundred miles distance
south, south-east, and south-west of the Bay. Some of these rivers are
navigable as far to the southward as 45 deg. thro' many spacious lakes
encompassed by populous nations. The country abounds with beaver,
martins, foxes, and other animals, whose furs are of great price; and
with elks, and moose, and innumerable herds of deer and buffaloes: the
soil is fertile and the climate temperate, fit for the produce of all
kinds of grain, and for raising stocks of tame cattle: and the coast
abounds with black and white whales, seals, sea-horses, and various
kinds of small fish: there are also many valuable mines and minerals,
and a vast track of land to the south-west still to be discovered and
improved.

THE trade of these extensive countries, equal almost to a fourth part
of Europe, is monopolized by the Hudson's-bay Company under the
pretended sanction of a charter, and confined to a small capital and
an annual export of less than five thousand pounds. The Company have
only four small factories and two small houses, in which they do not
employ one hundred and fifty Europeans; and but three or four vessels,
under two hundred tons burden each. The factories are situated at the
mouths of rivers upon a frozen sea; whilst the inland countries, which
are pleasant, fruitful, and temperate, are suffered to lie a useless
and unprofitable waste. The trade consists only of those furs which
the natives bring down in their birch-canoes, scarce large enough to
contain two men with an inconsiderable cargo: and as this abused
people receive little or nothing in exchange for their furs on account
of the extravagant standard by which British goods are rated, they
bring down no more than will purchase them common necessaries, and now
and then a few trifling toys; being either restrained from taking many
furs, or induced to leave them to rot at home, from the want of a sure
and advantageous market.

DURING the long time in which the Company have been in possession,
they have not once attempted to civilize the manners or inform the
understandings of the natives; neither instructed them in the great
principles and duties of piety, nor in the common arts of secular
life, how to navigate the rivers and lakes with better vessels, how
to improve their hunting and fishing, how to raise and propagate tame
cattle, or draw sleds in winter as is practised in Russia. Nor have
they ever encouraged their own servants to navigate the rivers, and
carry up goods for the supply of the natives at home; nor allowed any
British subjects to settle, plant, and trade here, as is usual in
other proprietary colonies. On the contrary, so very insensible are
the Company to the welfare of Britain, that they not only connive at
the trade which the French are carrying on about the Bay, but use
every artifice to prevent the knowlege of the fact. Indeed the French
support this trade at great labour and expence; yet, on account of the
exorbitant price which the Company fix upon their goods, they are able
to undersell them, and, in consequence, to carry off the choicest and
most valuable furs. And having thus an undisturbed and improving
possession, they will soon claim a right to the whole country and its
productions, as they have already done at Penobscot, St. Croix, and
Chignecto.

ARE these countries and seas then perpetually to be locked up from
Britain by a charter which is no longer supported by act of
parliament? Is this vast continent, the due improvement of which would
bring immense wealth to the nation, to lie uncultivated and unknown;
or to be discovered, settled, and improved, only by the French? This,
indeed, seems to be the alternative chosen by the Company, who either
will keep to themselves an inconsiderable part, or suffer the French
to be in possession of the whole. But as an extended commerce and a
formidable marine, are now the great points aimed at by all the
kingdoms and states in the neighbourhood of Britain, it is more than
ever become her wisdom and her duty, not only to secure the
possessions she already has, but to lay hold of every opportunity to
multiply and enlarge them. This and this alone, will enable her to
maintain the balance of Europe, and to preserve herself from becoming
one day a tributary dependent upon some more active and vigilant
power.

IF what I have suggested in these sheets proves in the least degree
instrumental towards securing the possession, and bringing on the
universal settlement and culture of the countries about Hudson's-bay,
it will gratify my highest expectations. With this view alone I have
laid these facts and observations before the public, hoping that the
eyes of my country will be opened, before so large a proportion of her
best interests as a trading nation are for ever buried from her sight.

_FINIS._




APPENDIX. NUMB. I.


A SHORT
ACCOUNT
OF THE
DISCOVERY
OF
_HUDSON's BAY_;

AND

Of the BRITISH PROCEEDINGS there since
the Grant of the _Hudson_'s-_Bay_ CHARTER.

TOGETHER

With REMARKS upon the PAPERS and EVIDENCE produced by that COMPANY, in
the Year 1749, before a COMMITTEE of the Honourable HOUSE of COMMONS,
appointed to enquire into the State and Condition of the Countries
about _HUDSON's-BAY_, and the Trade carried on there.


APPENDIX.

NUMBER I.

_Containing a short Account of the Discovery of_ Hudson's-Bay, _and of
the_ British _Proceedings there since the Grant of the_ Hudson's-Bay
_Charter_, &c.


JOHN and Sebastian Cabot sailed from Bristol, and discovered
Newfoundland, or Prima Vista, in 1494; and Sebastian sailed again, at
the expence of King Henry VII, in May 1497, in quest of a north-west
passage to India. He proceeded as far north as 67 deg. 30 min.
returned to 56 deg. and sailed along the coast from thence to 38 deg.
being the first who discovered the continent of America; Columbus at
that time having only discovered the West-India islands.

CAPTAIN DAVYS in the years 1585, 1586, and 1587, discovered the strait
which is called after him, as far as 73 deg. north; and the coast from
thence along the entrance of Hudson's-strait, which made way for
Hudson's discovery; and from thence the coast to 55 deg. meeting with
a fine harbour and inlet in 56 deg. two leagues wide, with a strong
tide, where he expected a passage, and where he also saw and caught a
great number of fine fish.

HUDSON sailed in April 1610, and discovered all the strait, and the
east and south coast of the Bay called after him, and wintered there:
but upon his return he was set adrift by his men, and never heard of
afterwards. Sir Thomas Button sailed in 1612, wintering in a river in
57 deg. 20 min. which he named Nelson-river, after his master who died
there: he discovered all the west-side of that, and Button's-Bay, from
Nelson-river to Ne Ultra in 65 deg. and Cary's Swan's-nest. Bylot and
Baffine, who had been in both the former voyages, in 1615 discovered
the north-west part of the straits, to Cape-comfort in 65 deg. and
Baffine in 1616 sailed to the bay in 78 deg. which is called after
him. The captains James and Fox sailed in 1631. James discovered all
the south-east, south, and south-west sides of the Bay, from
Nelson-river southward, and wintered in Charleton island; and Fox
discovered all the west of the Bay, from Cape Henrietta Maria in 55
deg. to the Welcome in 64 deg. 30 min. and the east of Cary's
Swan's-nest, beyond Cape Comfort, to lord Weston's Portland in 66 deg.
47 min. where the coast rounded away to the south-east, ending in a
bay. So that the whole Strait, Bay, and Labrador coast, were
discovered by the English, without any competitors, except Munck, who
was sent by the King of Denmark in 1619, when he wintered in
Churchill, or Seal-river; but I rather think in Churchill-river, a
brass gun being taken up there some years after Hudson and Button had
discovered the Strait and Bay.

NO farther discovery was made by sea, of which there is any journal or
record, except De Fonte's account of the Boston ship under Shapley in
1640; till captain Gillam's, who sailed with Rattisson and De
Groiseleiz, in 1668. These Frenchmen, being in Canada, in the country
of the Outaouas, near the upper lake, and hearing of Hudson's-Bay,
formed a scheme to possess it: but meeting with no encouragement in
Canada, where a company was formed, who had got a monopoly of the
fur-trade; and having no fund of their own to carry on the project,
they went to Boston, and from thence to London, where they were
listened to with pleasure, and several persons of rank, and wealth,
joined in fitting out the Nonsuch ketch, under the command of captain
Zechariah Gillam, who lived in New-England, and probably had sailed
northwards from thence, and was acquainted with those northern seas;
and Rattisson and De Groiseleiz accompanied him.

BY Gillam's journal, he sailed from Gravesend the 3d of June 1668; on
the 4th of August he saw Resolution isle, at the entrance of the
Strait; by the 19th he got to Diggs's isle, at the entrance of the
Bay, without mentioning any difficulty from the ice; on the 31st
anchored at an island in the Bay, near the east-main, in 57 deg. 49
min.; on the 4th of September got in with the east-main, in 55 deg. 30
min. and by the 25th, to a bay near 51 deg. 20 min., and by the 29th
to a river then called Nemisco, as running from Nemisco-lake, but
called by them Rupert's river, where they wintered; it had eight foot
water on the bar, and two fathom and a half within, and was about a
mile broad; they were frozen up the 9th of December, and the cold was
almost over in April; in June it was very hot, when they prepared to
sail for England.

I HAVE been the more particular in abridging this journal, because it
has been said in some printed accounts of the Hudson's-Bay affairs,
that after entering and sailing thro' the Straits, he had sailed up to
78 deg. in Baffine's-bay, and then returned and wintered in
Rupert's-river; which is a false state of the fact. But from these
false accounts, several charts, since published, have traced an
opening north of Nottingham and Salisbury isles, and east of Cary's
Swan's-nest, into Baffine's-bay; and captain Middleton adopts this,
having inserted it in his new chart, as an undiscovered strait, to
support his frozen strait; which has no other foundation but those
false accounts given of Gillam's voyage.

THE adventurers, upon their return in 1669, with Prince Rupert and
several other great men at their head, applied and obtained an
unlimited charter for ever, of all the land around and beyond the Bay,
which was to be called Rupert's land; together with an exclusive
trade, in order to make settlements, as in other American colonies;
and to extend the British trade, and find out a passage to the western
ocean; which charter bears date the 2d of May 1670; and Charles Bayly,
Esq; was sent over governor that year, in order to begin a settlement,
and fix a factory, which accordingly was fixed at Rupert's-river in 51
deg. 20 min. where Rattisson, De Groiseleiz and Gillam, who went with
Bayly, wintered before. A little to the northward is a river called
Petre-river, and to the southward another called Frenchman's-river,
and more to the southward a third and large river, called
Nodway-river, which was five miles over to the falls. In 1674, after
consultation, they proposed removing to Monsebi, or Moose-river, in 51
deg. 28 min. where, as it was farther from Canada, they expected a
better trade; accordingly the governor sailed to discover it, and from
thence sailed to Schatawam, afterwards called Albany river in 52 deg.
and from thence also by Viner's island to Cape Henrietta Maria, in 55
deg. going ashore at the river Equam, in about 53 deg. In 1673, a
jesuit, a native of England, was sent from Canada over land to
discover the country, and our situation, under pretence of friendship;
bringing with him some letters to captain De Groiseleiz from his
friends there, which gave the governor a suspicion of his
corresponding with the French, to our prejudice.

BY the printed account of the proceedings in the Bay, William Lyddal
arrived from England, as governor the 17th of September 1674, in the
Prince Rupert, accompanied by the Shaftsbury captain Shepherd. But by
the papers produced by the Company, before the Committee of the
honourable house of commons in 1749, it appears, that Bayly was
governor in 1676, at which time they wrote to him to send up men into
the country to make discoveries; and by a letter from him to the
Company in 1678, he was then also a governor; but whether he was
appointed at Moose or Albany, when Lyddal was governor at
Rupert's-river, doth not appear, as no place is mentioned in the
letters. Lyddal was afterwards succeeded by Nixon; in whose time they
thought of moving to Albany-river, and made Charleton island the
rendezvous of their ships, and a kind of storehouse for their goods.
Some time after the Company dismissed Rattisson and De Groiseleiz from
their service, upon which they returned to the French in Canada.

MONSIEUR de la Poterie, in his history of New France, says, that Jean
Bourdon, who was out in the year 1656, was the first Frenchman who was
in Hudson's-Bay; having sailed round from Canada, in a bark of 30
tons, by the Labrador-coast, and Hudson's Straits, 7 or 800 leagues;
altho' it was only 130 leagues by land from Quebec: that he then made
an alliance with the natives, and they hearing of a strange nation in
their neighbourhood, sent to Quebec in 1661, to begin a trade, and to
desire a missionary might be sent to them; and accordingly one was
ordered, but the Indians, upon their return, repenting of what they
had done, refused to conduct them, so they went back to Canada: yet he
says they sent again in 1663, and prayed the governor to send them
some French, and he sent one Couture, who proceeded to the Bay, and
erected a cross upon an eminence, and set up the French arms engraven
in copper, taking possession of these countries for the king of
France. This is the foundation of all the claim the French pretend to
have to the Bay, which had so long and so often before been
discovered, and possessed for whole winters together by the subjects
of Britain; and hence Rattisson and De Groiseleiz thought of going to
England to take possession of the Bay for the English: but when these
men were dismissed the Company's service, he says they repented of
having engaged in it, and obtained their pardon in France; and upon
their return to Canada, they prevailed with the French Company there
to join them, and to fit out a bark to take possession of
Nelson-river, which the English Company had not at that time settled.

WHILST De Groiseleiz and Rattisson were sailing round in their bark in
1682, the English Company at the same time resolved to possess
Nelson-river, and appointed John Bridgar governor, who was to fix a
factory there by the advice of captain Gillam; which letter, as given
in to the Committee, was dated the 15th of May 1682. But before either
of them got there, Benjamin Gillam, son to captain Gillam, had from
New-England made a lodgment there; but was not left by the ship above
fourteen days, before Rattisson and De Groiseleiz arrived. The English
had fixed at the mouth of Nelson-river; and the French had entered St.
Theresa, or Hayes's-river, the other branch of Nelson, on the south
side of the island; and ten days after Bridgar arrived, but was
ordered away by De Groiseleiz, who had got possession of the river:
however Bridgar stayed, and made a settlement on the Nelson branch,
seven leagues from the entrance of the river. The French and he
continued good friends till February, when the French surprized them,
and put the men on board a rotten ship, and sent them down to the
bottom of the Bay; but carried Bridgar and Gillam prisoners to Canada;
leaving De Groiseleiz's son, Chouart, and five men, to keep possession
of Fort Bourbon. This is the account given by the English: but there
are two more accounts given by the French, different from each other,
and from this; one by monsieur Jeremie, who afterwards was governor of
Fort Bourbon; and the other by De la Poterie; both which I shall give
in their own words.

MONSIEUR Jeremie says, that De Groiseleiz hearing of Hudson's-Bay from
the Outaouas, upon his return to Canada, engaged some merchants, and
fitted out a bark, and sailed to St. Theresa, or Hayes's-river where
he wintered. During the winter some of his people hunting upon the
ice, found that there were some Europeans at the entrance of
Nelson-river, and informing the governor, he went and found six
Englishmen almost starved with hunger, who submitted to him, telling
him they were left by a Boston ship, which had been forced to sea.
After this some savages told him, that there were other Englishmen
fixed seven leagues up Nelson-river, upon which he went one feasting
night, when they had been drinking freely, and surprized and took
eighty, tho' he had but fourteen with him. The following year he left
his son Chouart, with five men, to keep the fort, and returned to
Canada: but being disgusted, at his employers, who had charged him
with concealing part of his cargo, he sent his brother-in-law,
Rattisson, into France to complain; but his remonstrances not being
regarded, he reconciled himself to the English, and went to England,
from whence he returned to the Bay, to relieve his nephew, and give up
the possession.

MONSIEUR De la Poterie says, that De Groiseleiz and Rattisson having
formed a scheme to possess Hudson's-Bay, went to Boston, and from
thence to London; and afterwards, by the aid of the English Company,
erected factories on Rupert's, Moose, and Albany-rivers. By the time
that this was known in France, and Mr. Colbert was sent to Descheneau,
intendant of Canada, in May 1678, to contest the possession with the
English, De Groiseleiz and Rattisson had repented of the expedition,
and having obtained their pardon from the French court, returned to
Canada, where the French formed a Company for the Bay, and fitted out
two small vessels under their command, who went to St. Theresa-river,
and built a little fort: a vessel from Boston came three days after
with ten men, which they received as friends, permitting them to go to
Bourbon, or Nelson-river: and four days after that a ship arrived from
London, the crew of whom offering to land, were opposed by the fort,
and in the contest, the ice cutting the cables, the ship was lost with
fourteen of the men; the rest implored the succour of the fort, which
they in pity granted, and gave them a bark to carry them to the bottom
of the Bay. De Groiseleiz and Rattisson, leaving eight men in the
fort, took the interlopers to Quebec, who were released by the
governor; and they being disgusted with their associates returned to
France, when lord Preston was there embassador from England, who
engaged Rattisson to go again to London, and give up the fort his
nephew Chouart commanded to the English Company, which he accordingly
did. At the same time the French Company had sent from Canada two
little ships under Montignie, who when he came to St. Theresa, was
surprized to find it in possession of the English; he was therefore
obliged to winter in a little river near it called Gargousse, and
return next year with a bad trade to Quebec. The Company having
suffered the loss of 100,000 livres, petitioned the French King to
redress them, who on the 20th of May 1684, gave them St. Theresa, &
Hayes's-river, in property. Which of these three accounts is genuine,
is left to the reader to determine.

IN this period of time the English Company sent captain John Abraham
with stores, who finding Bridgar gone, stayed there, and was made
governor in 1684. In 1683 governor Nixon was recalled, and Henry
Sargeant was made governor of Albany: they then had a factory on
Hayes's-island, near Moose-river, and had found a river on the east
main, which they called Ison-glass-river, where they also fixed a
factory, expecting great riches from a mine they had discovered, but
it turned to no account. In 1685 they had five factories, Albany,
Hayes, Rupert, Nelson, and Severn, and were in a flourishing
condition; but in 1686, the chevalier De Troyes in time of peace, went
from Canada by land, and took Rupert's, Hayes's, and Albany factories;
at which time Thomas Phipps was made governor at Nelson-river.
Monsieur D'Iberville in 1690 attempted to take York fort, when Geyer
was governor, but failed of success; however he obliged the English to
desert New-Severn factory. In 1693, the Company, by the assistance of
the Crown, retook Albany, Moose, and Rupert factories, and Knight was
appointed governor of Albany. In 1694 the French again recovered
them; but in 1695, by the assistance of two of the King's ships, the
Bonaventure and Seaford, they were again recovered from the French,
and Knight again restored to his government. In the year 1694, when
Geyer was still governor, D'Iberville took York-fort: he set sail with
two ships the Polí and Charente, carrying with him 120 men from
Canada: he arrived at the fort the 24th of September, and took it the
14th of October, and wintered there, leaving Mr. Forest governor, the
20th of July 1695. The next year, 1696, it was retaken by the English,
with four ships, and the garrison carried prisoners to England, among
whom was Monsieur Jeremie, where they remained four months. After
their return to France, a squadron of five ships was fitted out,
consisting of the Pelican of 50 guns, the Palmier of 40, the Wasp, the
Profound, and the Violant: these were put under the command of
D'Iberville, at Newfoundland; and in Hudson's-straits were met by the
Hampshire, and two Hudson's-Bay ships, the Deering and Hudson's-Bay,
which De la Poterie says were of 56, 36, and 32 guns. An engagement
ensued with the Profound, but without any effect, being separated by
the ice. Four of the French afterwards took shelter in Danish, or
Churchill-river, the Palmier having lost her rudder in hard weather;
but the Pelican, commanded by Monsieur D'Iberville, arrived at the
entrance of Hayes's-river the 3d of September, and next morning the
three English ships arrived. The Pelican had sent her shallop on
shore, but weighed and fought the three ships, and by some unlucky
accident the Hampshire overset, upon which the two other ships steered
off; but he came up with, and took the Hudson's-Bay: all on board the
Hampshire perished, as the Pelican had no boat to relieve them. A
storm succeeding that night, the Pelican was driven ashore, and lost,
with part of her crew; as was also the Hudson's-Bay: but D'Iberville,
with the greater part of his crew, getting safe to shore, upon the
arrival of the other ships from Danish-river, besieged and took
York-fort; and after wintering, returned in the Profound: and as there
was no timber upon the river fit to make a rudder for the Palmier,
before his departure, he appointed Mr. Serigny governor, and Mr.
Jeremie lieutenant, who was afterwards made governor in 1708; the
French possessing it from that time to the peace of Utrecht, when
Jeremie delivered it up to the Company in 1714. Baily was governor,
and Henry Kelsey deputy in 1697, when York fort was taken by the
French: so that from that time to 1714, the Company had only
Albany-fort, carrying on an inconsiderable trade, until they were
restored to York-fort by the treaty of Utrecht.

AFTER they had regained the possession of York fort, in the year 1718
they built a wooden fort at Churchill-river, which they called Prince
of Wales's fort; and in 1730 built another at Moose-river; and about
the same time a small house, to contain eight or ten men, at
Slude-river on the east main; and about eight or ten years ago
Henley-house, 150 miles up Albany-river, for eight men, as a check to
the Indians who carried on a trade with the French.

THE merchants of Great-Britain, in the beginning of the year 1749,
having petitioned the House of Commons to enquire into the state and
condition of the trade and countries adjoining to Hudson's-Bay, and
the right the Hudson's-Bay Company had by their charter to an
exclusive trade; and also, in what manner the trade to that place
might be best extended and improved; the matter of the petition was
referred to a Committee, who required the Company to lay several
books and papers before them, and particularly to inform them what
encouragement they had given for the making discoveries of the country
up the rivers about the Bay, and what discoveries had been made; as
also what ships they had sent, and encouragement given, for finding
out a passage to the western and southern American ocean. In
compliance with this, the Company produced several copies of
paragraphs of letters and instructions, to shew what they had done
since the grant of their charter, as well by sea as by land, in order
to discover the north-west passage, which they said was all the steps
they had taken for making the discovery; to which copies they
referred.

IN order to state the conduct of the Company from the beginning, and
shew the spirit that has prevailed among them at different periods for
promoting trade and discoveries by sea and land, I shall take notice
of their papers in the order of time, and not according to their own
numerical disposition observed in the list prefixed to the report.

THE Company's first instruction is to governor Bayly, dated May 9,
1676, No.. XXVII. At this time, which was soon after the grant of their
charter, the Company was in good hands; the noblemen and gentlemen of
fortune, who had procured the charter, and promoted the trade to the
Bay, still continued proprietors, and were consulted in the
management, which was made subservient to the national interest as
well as their own.

THE paragraph of the letter referred to stands thus: _You are to use
your utmost diligence to make discoveries, both of the coast and
country, of mines, and of all sorts of commodities which the country
doth produce; giving us notice thereof, and of all the discoveries you
shall make, by the first opportunity._ The answer from Charles Bayly,
dated September 1678, is as follows: William Bond, Thomas Moon, _and_
George Geyer, _have been with me now about six years in a constant
discovery of these parts; yea, in very dangerous places, where I am
sure no stranger, yet come into the country, is capable of going to
the said places, without much danger and peril, notwithstanding the
best directions, I am capable of giving them; and I will assure your
honours, that any one miscarriage in such a case, will prove very
disadvantageous to your interest._ Tho' the above cited instructions
were very good, and probably some useful discoveries had been made
along the sea coast at the bottom of the Bay, yet the Company did not
produce any particulars of such discoveries; and indeed as no
factories were established but Rupert's, they being only preparing to
fix at Moose and Albany, very few useful discoveries could be made
within land at that time, except such as related to the soil and
climate, when the Nodways were their enemies upon the east-main, and
the French were spiriting up the savages near Canada against them in
that corner of the Bay.

THE next article produced, is a paragraph of a letter to John Bridgar,
upon appointing him governor at Fort Nelson, dated May 15, 1682;
wherein after saying, that on account of his abilities they had
thought fit to chuse him to make a settlement in Fort Nelson-river,
they add; _In the first place, upon your arrival there, you are, with
the advice of captain_ Gillam, _to chuse out the most convenient place
for building a house and fort, for your safety and accommodation;
which when you have well done, you are to use your diligence to
penetrate into the country, to make what discoveries you can; and to
get an acquaintance and commerce with the Indians thereabouts, which
we hope in time may turn to account, and answer the great charge we
shall and may be at in making this settlement._ But Bridgar was taken
prisoner by the French under De Groiseleiz, and carried away with
Gillam; therefore nothing could then be done towards making
discoveries.

THE next paragraph produced (for the Company would not trust the
Committee with whole letters, for fear of discovering the secrets of
their management) is addressed to Henry Sargeant, whom they had
appointed governor of Albany, then their prime factory, dated April
27th, 1683. _You are to chuse out from amongst our servants such as
are best qualified with strength of body, and the country language, to
travel and to penetrate into the country, to draw down the Indians by
fair and gentle means to trade with us._ The Company had not yet given
themselves up to selfish views: prerogative also ran high at this
time, exclusive monopolies were not enquired into, and the charter was
deemed a sufficient title to their trade; they could therefore safely
venture to encourage their servants to learn the several Indian
languages, and to cultivate an acquaintance, and make friendships with
the people. But this policy has been exploded since the peace of
Utrecht; the Indian tongue being now confined to an interpreter, and
all familiarity and intercourse with the natives forbidden, under the
penalty of forfeiture of wages, and bodily correction. Mr. Sargeant
answers this from Charleton-island, 13th of September, 1683, that
island being the place then appointed for the rendezvous of their
ships and trade: _I shall not be neglectful as soon as I find any man
capable and willing for to send up the country with the Indians, to
endeavour to penetrate into what the country will and may produce, and
in doing their utmost in bringing down the Indians to our factory; but
your honours should give good encouragement to those who undertake
such extraordinary service, or else I fear there will he but few that
will embrace such employment._

THE next abstract is to Mr. Sargeant, dated May 22, 1685, twenty
months after the receipt of his. _We perceive our servants are
unwilling to travel up into the country by reason of danger, and want
of encouragement. The danger we judge is not more now than formerly;
and for their encouragement we shall plentifully reward them, when we
find they deserve it, by bringing down Indians to our factories, of
which you may assure them._ And then they name four persons whom they
think qualified to go up into the country. Sargeant answers this from
Charleton-island, August 24, 1685. _Mr._ Sandford _does not accept the
terms your honours propose, but rather chuses to go home: neither he,
nor any of your servants, will travel up the country, altho' your
honours have greatly desired it, and I pressed it upon those proposals
you have hinted._ At this time the French in Canada had received
orders from France to dispossess us of our factories in the Bay, which
they were preparing to effect. But for the four or five preceding
years they had been paving the way to this, by gaining over the
Indians, and promoting divisions betwixt them and the English: this
was sufficient to deter the servants from travelling up the country,
where they would endanger their lives without any prospect of
advantage, but what depended upon bare promises of rewarding them when
they brought down Indians to trade. But considering the little chance
there was for this, and that they were not permitted to trade upon
their own account, the encouragement proposed was not equivalent to
the hazard. Yet how different are these instructions from those which
the policy of the Company has induced them to issue since. Then their
servants were invited, pressed, and encouraged to go up the rivers
into the inland country, in order to make discoveries, establish a
friendship with the Indians, and bring them down to trade with us. But
now if a servant betrays the least inclination to do this, he is
discouraged, ill treated, and often sent home as a dangerous man, more
busy and inquisitive than is consistent with the interest of the
Company, and of their governors in the Bay. The year following, 1686,
the French took all our factories at the bottom of the Bay, and kept
them till 1693, when they were retaken by the English, who lost them
again in 1694, and recovered them a second time in 1695: in this
interval the Company held nothing but York-fort and New-Severn, to
which two factories only they could send instructions, till they were
dispossessed by D'Iberville of New-Severn in 1690, and of York-fort in
1694.

THE next paragraph produced by the Company is addressed to governor
Geyer and Council at Port Nelson, 2d of June 1688. _We direct that the
boy_, Henry Kelsey, _be sent to Churchill-river, with_ Thomas Savage;
_because we are informed he is a very active lad, delighting much in
Indians company, being never better pleased than when he is travelling
amongst them, nevertheless would not have him too soon trusted amongst
those unknown natives, without a pledge from the Indians; cautioning
our men likewise that they be not too secure when they shall come to a
treaty with any number of these people, who have a distinguishing
character of being more treacherous than any other Indians in the
country._ It does not appear that this was executed. Nelson-factory
had been only fixed in 1684, after Bridgar was carried off, and
Chouart had given it up to the Company; and Churchill or Danish-river
was not then settled: how it came therefore by the name of
Churchill-river is only to be guessed at, as Lord Churchill in 1688
had made no great figure, tho' he and his sister were favourites with
King James. However, as the Company have produced no answer to this
letter, I shall drop all farther observation upon it.

THEIR next instruction is also to governor Geyer and Council at Port
Nelson, dated 22d of May, 1690. _If any two or three of our servants
shall shew their forwardness to go upon new discoveries, we require
you to encourage the undertaking, and upon their good success, to
allow them such advance of wages or gratuity for their pains, as you
in your discretion shall find convenient; which we will, upon your
intimation of it to us, allow and approve of._ Tho' the Company yet
kept up the spirit for making discoveries, it is to be observed, that
the encouragement which they here propose is very trifling; nothing
was to be given the men before they went, and nothing when they
returned, unless they were successful, and then it was left in the
power of the governor. Geyer answers this letter from York-fort the
8th of September, the same year 1690, immediately after he received
it. _This summer I sent up_ Henry Kelsey _(who chearfully undertook
the journey) up into the country of the Assinæ-poets, with the captain
of that nation, to call, encourage, and invite the remoter Indians to
a trade with us, and am in great hopes of a plentiful increase of
trade from that nation._ By the Company's letter in 1688, only two
years before, Kelsey was then deemed but a boy, and ordered to be sent
to Churchill, which was not complied with, though without any reason
given for that neglect by the governor, or for his sending him a quite
contrary way without orders from the Company. In two years, however,
he could not be much altered from a boy; and therefore, as I shall
afterwards have occasion to take particular notice of Kelsey's
journal, I shall only now observe, that the account of his first
going, as handed down by the Company's servants in the Bay ever
since, is most probably the truth; namely, that Geyer did not send him
up, but that having severely corrected him for some misbehaviour, the
boy resented it, and being very intimate with the Indians, took the
opportunity of running away along with them: so that Geyer, finding
the Company desirous of sending up upon discoveries, made a merit of
Kelsey's going up; saying that _he had sent him up_, before he
received their orders: and this will be farther confirmed from the
other letters and the answers about it, and from Kelsey's journal. The
Company in their answer to this, dated the 21st of May 1691 to Geyer
and Council, say, _Are glad you prevailed with_ Henry Kelsey _to
undertake a journey with the Indians to those remote parts, hoping the
encouragement you have given him, in the advance of his salary, will
instigate other young men in the factory to follow his example_. The
Company we see still keep up the spirit of discovering the inland
countries. Geyer answers this from York-fort, the 12th of September
1691. _I have received a letter from_ Henry Kelsey, _the young man I
sent up last year with the Assinæ-poets, which gives me to understand
that the Indians are continually at war within land, but have promised
to get what beaver they can against next year; others not before the
next summer come twelvemonths, when they promise to come down; but_
Kelsey _I have ordered to return next year, with as many Indians as he
can, that being informed of the humour and nature of these strange
people, I may know the better how to manage them at their arrival. I
have sent the said young man a new commission, and necessary
instructions, with a supply of those things he wrote for, that he
might the better accomplish the end I sent him for, and gave him
charge to search diligently for mines, minerals, or drugs of what kind
soever, and to bring samples of them down with him; and for other
young men qualified to undertake such a journey, when I see their
willingness, and find it convenient, I will not fail to give them by
his example all suitable encouragement._

GEYER again writes from York-fort September 9, 1692. Henry Kelsey
_came down with a good fleet of Indians; and hath travelled and
endeavoured to keep the peace among them according to my orders._ The
Company answer the 17th of June 1693, _We are glad that_ Henry Kelsey
_is safe returned, and brought a good fleet of Indians down with him,
and hope he has effected that which he was sent about, in keeping the
Indians from warring one with another, that they may have more time to
look after their trade, and bring a larger quantity of furs and other
trade with them to the factory; which you also may dissuade them from,
when they are with you, by telling them what advantages they may make;
that the more furs they bring, the more goods they will be able to
purchase of us, which will enable them to live more comfortably, and
keep them from want in time of scarcity; and that you inculcate into
them better morals, than they yet understand; that it doth advantage
them nothing to kill and destroy one another; that thereby they may so
weaken themselves, that the wild ravenous beasts may grow too numerous
for them, and destroy those that survive; besides, if fair means will
not prevail, you may tell them, if they war and destroy one another,
those that are the occasion of it, whoever they are, you will not sell
them any more guns, powder, or shot, which will expose them to their
enemies, who will have the master of them, and quite destroy them from
the earth, them and their wives and children, which must work some
terror in them; and that you are sent thither to make peace amongst
them; and that on the other side, if they do live peaceably and
quietly without war, you will let them have any thing you have for
their support, and be kind to them all, and supply them with all
necessaries, let their number be ever so great. These and other
arguments you may use to them, as they occur to your mind and memory._

THIS letter is written with a truly christian and British spirit. But
there was no opportunity for executing these generous purposes till
after the peace of Utrecht; the French having taken York-fort the
following year, and kept possession of it for above twenty years
together, except the year 1695. In the mean time, as the Company had
only Albany-factory, and were surrounded on every side by the French,
their trade declined very much; and the chief among them, despairing
of ever seeing their affairs in a flourishing condition again, left
the management to a kind of unchangeable Committee, who introduced a
new policy, and acted upon maxims entirely selfish.

I SHALL now consider Kelsey's journal; but before I abstract it, I
cannot but take notice that the Company in the title of No.. XXVII,
call it _a journal of_ Henry Kelsey _in the years 1691 and 1692, sent
by the_ Hudson's-Bay _Company to make discoveries, and increase their
trade inland from the Bay_; and in No.. XXVIII, _A journal of a voyage
and journey undertaken by_ Henry Kelsey _to discover and endeavour to
bring to a commerce the_ Naywatamee-Poets 1691; and the immediately
subjoin, _A journal of a voyage and journey undertaken by_ Henry
Kelsey, _through God's assistance, to discover and bring to a commerce
the_ Naywatamee-Poets, DUPLICATE.

THE date in No.. XXVIII is July 5, 1691; and in what is called
DUPLICATE, July 15, 1692: yet the journals are exactly alike,
excepting only a few trifling variations in the expression, chiefly in
the first paragraphs, and the address at the end; the first
concluding, _Sir, I remain your most obedient and faithful servant_,
as if directed to the governor; and the second, _I rest, honourable
masters, your most obedient, and faithful servant, at command_, as to
the Company. But the Company, surely, could not hope that the
Committee would read only the titles of the papers that were laid
before them, and so take it for granted that Kelsey had made two
journals; one in 1691 in compliance with the governor, and the other
in 1692 in obedience to the Company. It is also to be observed, that
at the time the Company gave orders that two or three of their
servants should be sent up to make discoveries, the bill for an act to
confirm their charter was before the Commons, which confirmation they
expected would be perpetual.

GEYER says, _he sent_ Kelsey _up with the_ Assinæ-poets, _in_ 1690,
_along with their captain, to encourage and invite the remote Indians
to trade with them_; yet by Kelsey's journal he had not attempted this
till a year after he first set out, beginning only the 5th of July
1691, after the governor had sent him, as he himself says, _fresh
instructions and a new commission, and had supplied him with proper
presents to make to the_ Naywatamee-Poets. The substance of his
journal is, _that he got his supplies the 5th of July 1691; sent the
Stone-Indians ten days before him and set out from_ Deering's-point
(where the Indians always assemble when they go down to trade) _to
seek the_ Stone-Indians, _and after overtaking them, travelled with
them and_ Nayhaythaway-_Indians, to the country of the_
Naywatamee-Poets, _and was fifty-nine days in his journey, including
the resting days. He went first by water seventy-one miles from_
Deering's-point, _and then laid up his canoes, and went by land three
hundred and sixteen miles through a woody country; and then forty-six
through a plain open country, having only seen one river in his
journey, shallow, but a hundred yards over; and after crossing ponds,
woods, and champain lands, for eighty-one miles more, which abounded
with buffaloes and beavers, he returned back fifty-four miles, where
he met the_ Naywatamee-Poets, _and made the proper presents to their
chief, telling him, that he came to make peace betwixt him and the_
Nayhaythaway-Indians _and_ Stone-Indians, _and to invite them to come
to the factory with their furs, which he promised to comply with next
spring, and to meet him at_ Deering's-point; _but he did not come,
because the_ Nayhaythaway_-Indians had killed three of his people in
the winter, and he was afraid they would have intercepted him on his
return home, however he promised to go down the following year;
adding, that the beaver in their country are innumerable, and would
certainly come down every year._

ACCORDING to this journal, Kelsey did not go by land and water above
five hundred English miles in two months; and as it does not appear
that he had any compass with him to know upon what point he travelled,
he probably did not go in all a hundred and twenty leagues in a strait
line from Deering's-point, and perhaps much less; for if Kelsey only
computed these miles he would take care not to make them less than
they were. By this we may judge of the Indians' rate of travelling,
which including their days of rest, can very little exceed eight miles
a day: Kelsey did not travel more than five hundred miles in 59 days,
and yet in all that time he had but three days rain, and no snow,
frost, or sleet, before the 12th of September, when he closed his
journal. But to return: if Kelsey was sent in 1690 by the governor to
make discoveries and observations, it is very strange, that he kept no
journal of this expedition: but he did not even think of beginning a
journal till after he got his supplies and new commission in July
1691; nor from the 12th of September 1691 to June 1692, when he
returned with a fleet of Indians, did he keep any journal, or make any
observations that we know of, but what are in the journal of his two
months expedition in 1691. We must therefore admit the truth of the
account handed down by the servants in the Bay, that he was not sent
by the governor, but ran away with the Indians upon being corrected;
that when he wrote to the governor for pardon and leave to return,
telling him at the same time, what service he could do among the
Indians, upon giving them proper presents, he had neither pen, ink,
nor paper, but wrote with charcoal on a piece of birch-rind; and that
Geyer finding the Company desirous of making discoveries upon the
prospect of obtaining a perpetual confirmation of their charter, he in
1691 sent Kelsey instructions, with goods to give in presents, and
paper, pens and ink to make observations, which lasted him no longer
than the 12th of September in the same year: for if Kelsey continued
his journal and observations down to September 1692, the time of his
return to the fort, we must conclude that the Company have thought
proper to suppress them, lest the making public such authentic
testimonies of a temperate climate, fertile soil, and a trade capable
of vast extension, should bring too severe a reproach upon the present
management.

THERE are only three letters more contained in No.. XXVII relative to
inland discoveries after this period; for the French being in
possession of York-fort till the conclusion of the peace at Utrecht,
the Company could only send instructions to Albany. The first is to
John Fullerton at Albany-fort, dated so late as the 26th of May, 1708.
_We order you so soon as it has pleased God that you are arrived safe
in the country to send word amongst the natives, to give them notice
that you are there with a considerable cargo of goods of all sorts
for their supply, and to encourage them to come with their commodities
as much as you can to trade with you._ The second is to captain
Anthony Beal, at Albany-fort, dated the 29th of May 1711, containing
the very same words, which need not be repeated. I shall only observe
here, that if orders to inform the natives that they had goods at the
factories to trade with them, can be taken for orders to make
discoveries, the Company may pass what they please upon the Public.

THE third and last letter about inland-discoveries, as it is dated but
thirty-three years ago, may be allowed to be written by the present
Committee of the Company, if it can be of any service to them: it is
directed to Mr. Richard Stanton, or chief, at Prince of Wales's-fort,
4th of June, 1719. _You having one_ Richard Norton _our apprentice
under your command, whom we are informed by captain_ Knight _has
endured great hardship in travelling with the Indians, and has been
very active and diligent in endeavouring to make peace amongst them,
we being always desirous to encourage diligent and faithful servants,
upon application of his mother in his behalf, have ordered him a
gratuity of fifteen pounds_. What proof of inland-discoveries this
letter could afford the Committee, I cannot comprehend. If Norton made
any upon his being sent by Knight to the northward, to inform the
natives that there were goods at Churchill-river to trade with them,
or to learn from the northern Indians whereabout the copper mine was,
(as is mentioned in captain Carruthers's evidence, which I shall
hereafter consider, he being the person who carried him to Churchill,
and put him into a canoe with two northern Indians to discover to the
northward;) he either kept no journal of such discoveries, or the
Company they have concealed it from the Committee: it appears however
by Brown's evidence, that Norton owned to him that he was at the
copper mine. After this trifle of a letter they only say, _What
farther relates to the discoveries inland is contained in the papers
already delivered in to the Committee, pursuant to their order,
concerning_ Richard Norton. _Since which time it has been customary
for the chief factors to give presents to the leading Indians, to
invite the far distant natives down to trade at the factories, and to
make peace amongst any of the Indians they shall find at enmity._

HERE is a plain declaration, that since the year 1719 they have never
taken the least step towards making inland discoveries; nor does their
care, or their judgment, at least, about the means of improving their
trade, appear from hence in a more advantageous light: the making
presents to the leading Indians, who come to the factory, is rather
calculated to keep the distant Indians away; for it is evidently the
interest of these people to keep the trade to themselves, and not
divide it with others perhaps their enemies, to whom they are rendered
superior by the arms and ammunition which they procure from the
Company.

THE papers referred to about Norton are the letters in No.. XXVI,
consisting of five from Norton to the Company from 1724 to 1741, and
of six from the Company to him, all relative to the trade at Churchill
and to the northward. The first letter in 1724, and the answer 1725,
are about _A leading_ upland Indian, _who brought a_ strange Indian
_to the factory, telling them he had supplied him with tobacco and
goods to carry him home again; upon which_ Norton _supplied the_
leading Indian _with other goods to carry him home._ Norton adds,
_That he returned the following year, and upon being asked after the_
strange Indian, _he said, he had heard nothing of him, and was afraid
that in returning to his own country he had fallen into the hands of
his enemies and was destroyed._ But it is more probable, that this
leading Indian either killed him himself to get his own goods back
again, or, as he had gained his point by procuring goods from Norton
upon his account, persuaded him to come no more. Norton's next letter
in 1733, and the answer in 1734, are nothing to the purpose, _he_ only
_setting forth his services_, and _they acknowledging them_. In the
Company's letter to him in May 1738, they desire him _to encourage
the_ Northern-Indians _and_ Eskimaux_ in order to get oil and
whalebone, and to send over deer, elk, and moose skins_; which he
answers in August, saying, _That he will send what deer and elk skins
he can, and promote the other trade_; but complains that _few_ Indians
_came that year, as those who came the preceding year were so near
perishing with hunger in the winter, that they were obliged to eat
their deer-skins_.

IN 1739, the Company _repeat their orders about the northern trade,
and order the sloop to_ Whale-cove _to get finn and oil, allowing one
five per cent. upon the profit to the master, and another five per
cent. to be divided among the crew_. This he answers by saying, _that
he will send the sloop to the northward_, and observing, _that they
ought to have two years stock of all sorts_. In 1740 they write, that
_they are pleased to see so good a cargo from him; that they hope his
increased trade won't lessen that at_ York-fort, _and that he has
sent the sloop to the northward as before directed_. He answers in
August 1740, that _he will endeavour no to lessen the trade at_
York-fort, _but proposes not to send out the sloop to the northward
next year, as well to enable them to expedite the building for their
defence, as upon account of the_ Spanish _war, and the danger of a_
French _war_. This they answered the 23d of April 1741,
_acknowledging the receipt of the sloop's journal, and that the trade
was small, but might increase if the sloop went out earlier. They
disapprove of his laying the sloop aside upon account of the war,
contrary to their orders, being desirous of making new discoveries,
and improving the trade with the Indians that frequent those parts;
and direct him to send over elks' and deers' horns_. He answers in
August, _that he will comply with their orders in sending the sloop
annually to the northward_. These are the important papers they refer
to in farther proof of their encouragement of trade and discoveries.
The last letter about discoveries in 1741 was plainly forced from
them, upon captain Middleton's being sent that year in the
Furnace-bomb upon the north-west discovery.

I SHALL next extract from numbers XVI and XX, which relate to the same
subject, considering the papers in each according to the respective
dates. No.. XVI is entitled, _Copies of instructions given by the_
Hudson's-Bay _Company to their officers abroad, so far as they relate
to the discovery of a_ north-west passage_. And No.. XX, _Copies of
orders given by the_ Hudson's-Bay _Company to sundry persons, so far
as they relate to the discovery of a_ north-west passage. This last is
an abstract of their orders and instructions to Knight, Barlow (or
Berley), Vaughan, and others, about the expedition to the northward,
which seems to be very imperfect.

_To captain_ James Knight, 4_th of_ June 1719, _Upon the experience
we have had of your ability and conduct in the management of our
affairs, we have upon your application to us, fitted out the_ Albany
Frigate, _captain George Berley, _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 our said two commanders orders and
instructions to that purpose. You are with the first opportunity of
wind and weather to depart from_ Gravesend, _on your intended voyage,
by God's permission, to find out the_ Straits _of_ Anian, _in order to
discover gold and other valuable commodities to the northward_, &c.

_To captain_ George Berley. _2dly, You are also with the first
opportunity of wind and weather, to sail our ship_ Albany Frigate
_under your command, to what place captain_ James Knight _shall order
you to sail to, that is to the northward and westward of 64 deg. in_
Hudson's-Bay; _and to use your utmost endeavours to keep company with
the_ Discovery, _captain_ David Vaughan, _commander; but in case you
should be separated from the_ Discovery _by stress of weather, or
otherwise, in your outward-bound voyage, before you enter the straits,
then you are to make towards the island_ Resolution, _and ply off
thereabouts for ten days, unless you meet with him sooner, that you
may proceed on your voyage together; and in all things during the
whole term of this your intended voyage, (except the navigation part)
you are to obey and follow the directions and orders of captain_ James
Knight, &c.

_To captain_ David Vaughan. _2dly, You are also with the first
opportunity_, &c. (same paragraph as to captain Berley) _3dly, But in
case you have staid ten days at the island_ Resolution, _and do not
meet with the_ Albany _in that time, you are then to proceed to the
latitude 64 deg. north latitude, and from thence northward, to
endeavour to find out the_ Straits _of_ Anian; _and, as often as
conveniently you can, to send your boats to the shore-side, in order
to find how high the tide rises, and what point of the compass the
flood comes from; and to make such discoveries, and obtain all such
trade as you can_, &c.

PRIVATE instructions _not to be opened but in case of the death of
captain_ James Knight. _First of all we order you to proceed upon
your intended voyage to the latitude of 64 deg. and endeavour to find
out the_ Straits _of_ Anian, _and to make what discoveries you
possibly can, and to obtain all sorts of trade and commerce for such
commodities as shall be for the Company's advantage_, &c.

BEFORE I animadvert upon these instructions it will be proper to
recite some other paragraphs of letters from No.. XVI, which, as they
were written within two or three years of the time of the above
voyage, may have some connection with it; particularly the
instructions about Scroggs, who was supposed to be sent to know what
was become of the ship and sloop. The first in that number is a
paragraph of a letter to captain Henry Kelsey and council at
York-fort, June 1st, 1720. _We also order you to send us copies of all
those_ Journals _that have been kept by_ yourself _and_ others, _and
what discoveries have been made in the voyages to the northward; also
what number of people, and what sort you have met with; and what
quantity of whales have been seen, or what other sort of fish are in
these parts; likewise from whence the flood comes, and from what point
of the compass, and how much the tides have flowed up and down._ I
must here observe, that if Kelsey went upon the discovery of a
north-west passage, as the title of No.. XVI implies, he doubtless kept
a journal of the expedition, and obeyed the orders of the Company to
send them a copy of his journal: but as the Company have thought
proper not to lay any journal before the Committee, the evident
conclusion is, either that they have secreted it, or that there never
was a journal, nor any attempt made by Kelsey to find a passage. The
next paragraph is directed to Kelsey, dated May 26, 1721, principally
relating to Scroggs, to whom they also address a letter of the same
date in No.. XX, in which he is only ordered _to sail, and keep company
with the other ships till his arrival at_ York-fort, _and to give up
his cargo to governor_ Kelsey, _or to those he deputes, and to follow
all such orders as he shall receive from him, or those deputed by
him._

THE paragraph to Kelsey says, _You acquaint us of your design of
wintering to the northward. We desire to know whether you mean at_
Churchill-river; _for we cannot approve of your wintering farther
northward at the hazard of your life, and those with you; we
apprehending if you go any time in June, you may make as much
discovery, both of_ whales _and_ other commodities, _as if you
wintered to the northward, and return by the latter end of August. We
have sent you this year a vessel called the_ Whalebone, John Scroggs,
_master, which we would have sent upon discovery next year, as soon as
the season of the year will permit, if you can spare her to go to the
northward upon discovery; and let them make the best of their way
towards the latitude of 66 and a half, Sir_ Thomas Roe's Welcome, _and
not to stop as they go along to view the coast; and to make what
discovery they can coming back, but not to stay to the northward
beyond the 15th of August, so that she may be back by the beginning of
September, we mean by the first five days in September; and to deliver
in their journals to you at their return; with an account what_ whales
_and_ other extraordinaries _they see; and_ not to spend their time
amongst the Indians, _but to return to you in order to your perfecting
the discovery the year following_. I presume it was not Kelsey's
intention to winter north of Churchill, but only to go to Churchill to
winter; tho' he would have run no greater risk from the cold in
wintering farther northward, than the French with Maupertuis did at
Tarneo in the Bothnick gulph in 66 deg. The discovery Kelsey was to go
upon is here pointed out, namely _Whales and other commodities_; and
in the instructions they send to him to give Scroggs, they have
nothing more in view. It had been always supposed, that they sent out
Scroggs to enquire about the ship and sloop which were lost under
Knight, &c: but by these instructions it appears, that this was the
least part of their care; tho', had they sent out Knight willingly in
search of a passage, it may be presumed that they would have been as
anxious for his safety as for Kelsey's: but the case was quite the
reverse; Knight and Barlow went out contrary to their inclinations,
and they thought themselves amply recompensed for the loss of their
ships, by getting rid of those troublesome discoverers.

IN their orders about Scroggs, they direct _that he shall go to 66:30,
a degree and half beyond the_ Welcome, at first push _without
stopping_, which is somewhat extraordinary: but _he is to make what
discovery he can in coming back, yet not to spend his time amongst
the_ Indians, who were the only proper persons to inform him of the
coast, inlets, and country: here also they point out what discovery it
was which Kelsey was to perfect next year, viz. _Whales, and other
extraordinaries_.

IF other instructions had not been given besides those which are made
public, the master's journals would have corresponded with the
Company's orders; but it appears from Scroggs's journal, that so far
from sailing to 66 deg. 30 min. he had no notion of going to 65 deg.
to the Welcome; for which he even makes an apology, alleging, that he
was driven so far to the northward in a fog by a hard gale at south:
and probably but for this friendly gale, which helped him to all the
discovery he made of the north-west coast, by forcing him into
Whalebone-bay near 65 deg. he would have gone no farther than
Marble-island, where he saw the wreck of the ships with the Indians.
The whole discovery therefore that the Company wanted to the
northward, was whales and some other articles of trade.

THEIR next fragment of a letter is directed _to_ Richard Norton _and_
Council at Prince of Wales's-fort, 19th _May_, 1725.--_And if you can
by any means find out any discovery or matter to northward, or
elsewhere, for the Company's interest or advantage, fail not to let us
know every year, with your remarks and opinion thereupon; and we shall
make due improvements thereof._--This new governor Norton having been
with the northern Indians, as already mentioned, and on board of
Scroggs upon his discovery, was surely capable of informing the
Company of any discoveries that were made; but if he gave them any
information, in pursuance of this letter, or of prior directions, they
have concealed it from the Committee, before whom it was their duty to
lay, as well the proofs of their servants having executed their
orders, as the orders themselves.

THESE are all the orders and instructions that have been given by the
Company for the discovery of a north-west passage to the western ocean
of America, and for other discoveries to the northward, from the grant
of their charter to the year 1736, when they gave directions to Norton
and council at Churchill-river to send out Napper and Crow upon that
discovery, at the solicitation of Mr. Dobbs, which I shall recite and
remark upon, after I have made some observations upon Knight's
instructions and voyage.

THAT we may have a comprehensive view of this affair, I shall first
give the substance of captain Caruthers's evidence, which principally
relates to the voyage made by Knight.

CAPTAIN Caruthers, who was the only person produced in the Company's
defence with regard to the discoveries they had made by sea and land,
after saying that _he had quitted their service thirty-five years
ago_, and that it was his opinion that _the navigation in the_ Bay
_was dangerous and troublesome_; adds _that he believes no attempts
were made to find a north-west passage, while he was in the country;
that he apprehends there is no such passage; but if there is, it was
impracticable to navigate it on account of the ice; and that the
climate ten leagues within land in_ Hudson's-Bay _was not much warmer
than at the sea-shore_. But upon being cross-examined, he owned, _that
the climate was warmer within land than near the shore; and that the
ice breaks much sooner up in the country than at the sea-shore; for he
had seen the ice drive down the rivers before it broke at the mouth of
those rivers_. He says farther, _that_ Knight _was governor of_
Nelson-factory _when he was there; that he used the_ Indians _well,
and was very inquisitive with them about a_ copper-mine _north of_
Churchill, _which they described sometimes as a gold-mine, sometimes
as a copper-mine_. _That_ Knight _was very earnest also about this
discovery, which was always his topic; and he took all opportunities
of making presents to the natives; and that he_, the witness,
_carried_ Norton, _who was afterward governor, and two_ northern
Indians _to_ Churchill, _where he put them in a canoe; and the purport
of their voyage was to make discoveries, and encourage the_ Indians
_to come down to trade, and to bring copper-ore; that he does not
recollect, that he ever heard how far it was to this mine, nor whether
there was an easy passage to it by land, having never travelled by
land alone, nor heard of any expedition of that kind, except that of_
Norton _and the two_ Indians. It is evident even from this witness on
the Company's behalf, that Knight had no intention to find the
north-west passage; all his thoughts and discourse were taken up with
enquiring after the mine: and that the ships fitted out and lost with
him were not sent upon discovering any passage, except the passage to
this copper-mine, which the Company were pleased to call the _Straits
of_ Anian.

BUT to shew more particularly the nature and design of Knight's
voyage, let us consider the orders and instructions he received about
it, already cited.

CAPTAIN KNIGHT had been many years in the Company's service, and one
of their governors, being sent over to be governor of Nelson-factory
soon after the peace of Utrecht. There was a Knight made governor of
Albany-fort as early as 1693, who probably was the same person, as
this man was near 80 years old when he undertook the voyage in 1719.
It was he however, who fixed the factory at Churchill-river, in or
about the year 1718, and sent Norton with Caruthers to Churchill upon
the northern discovery of the copper-mine, &c. By his friendly
intercourse with the northern Indians, he had obtained a pretty exact
knowlege of the situation of the mine, which he was confident he
should find out, having been told that it lay upon a river near a
navigable inlet or strait, whither vessels could go from the Bay. Full
of these expectations he came to England, to solicit the Company to
fit out two vessels under his command, for the discovery of these rich
mines; but the Company, for private reasons, refused to comply,
probably fearing that if rich mines were found out, or a navigable
passage to the American ocean discovered, they should not be long in
possession of their invaluable monopoly.

KNIGHT, made more sanguine by as opposition which he could not expect,
told them, that _they were obliged by their charter to make
discoveries and extend their trade; and particularly to search for a_
north-west passage _by the_ straits _of_ Anian _to the_ south-sea;
_but that if they would not fit out ships under him and_ Barlow _for
the discovery he came about, he would apply to the_ crown, _and get
others to undertake it_; and accordingly waited upon one of the
secretaries of state. When the Company perceived him so resolute, and
that his troublesome zeal, if left to itself, might actually bring on
an enquiry into the legality of their charter, they thought it
necessary to comply, and fitted out the ship and sloop
beforementioned. Knight was so confident of success, that he had
strong chests made, bound with iron, to hold the gold and copper-ore
which he expected: his mind was full of this single discovery; and it
was only to engage the Company in it the more effectually, that he
urged their obligations to find out a north-west passage. However, as
he did make use of this argument, the Company could do no less in
their instructions, than mention the _Straits of_ Anian, either as a
passage to the western ocean, or to the mines; but how slightly they
have done it, and how lame and imperfect their orders are, the reader
may easily perceive. Knight's instructions are _to find the_ straits
_of_ Anian, _in order to_ discover gold _and other_ valuable
commodities to the northward.--Barlow _is ordered to go where_ Knight
_shall send him_; but is limited expresly _to the northward and
westward of _64 deg. _in_ Hudson's-Bay. Why they obliged him not to
sail to the southward of 64 deg. to discover Anian, which lay in near
50 deg. lat cannot be accounted for, unless it was to defeat the
discovery; nor why westward of 64 deg. lat in the Bay, when no
longitude was mentioned: this seems to be a blunder, for I cannot
suppose it ignorance. Vaughan's instructions are the same, _if they
kept together; but in case of separation, he was ordered to proceed to
64 deg. and from thence northerly, to find out_ Anian: but can any
instructions be more absurd, to confine him to go from 64 deg.
northward, to find a strait which lay south-west? The instructions, in
case of Knight's death, were the same, _to sail to_ 64 deg. It is
evident therefore, that the Company had no intention to find out
Anian, or a passage to the western American ocean, but only to defeat
Knight's scheme; and Anian was thrown into their instructions for a
plausible pretence: and indeed from such trifling paragraphs as were
produced before the Committee, it appears plainly, that they made
known only those things that set their conduct in a favourable light;
for they were sensible that their original books and papers would have
opened a very different scene, and disproved the false representations
they have given of the country, climate, and trade of Hudson's-Bay.

HOW far they were disgusted at this voyage, appears from their not
interesting themselves in the safety of the Ships and their crews,
having never sent to enquire after them. When Kelsey only proposed to
winter to the northward (as they thought) of Churchill, they were
exceedingly anxious for him and his people; but poor Knight, _who_
they acknowlege _had long served them faithfully_, and whom they would
have it believed they had themselves sent out upon a very advantageous
discovery, he was not worth their care: if they had felt the least
regard for him and his people, they would have ordered the governor of
Churchill to enquire of the northern Indians about their ships, or
have ordered out a sloop in search of them: but they did neither; and
such cruel negligence is not very reconcileable with an approbation
of his voyage.--At first indeed it was supposed that Scroggs had been
sent northward to enquire after them; but, upon producing their
instructions to Scroggs, nothing like this appeared.

THE last and only specious pretence of an attempt to discover the
north-west passage, was their sending Napper and Crow to the
northward, in 1737, at the solicitation of Mr. Dobbs: and the
instructions they gave for this purpose were produced before the
Committee, consisting of a letter to Norton in No.. XVI, wherein they
gave him instructions to send them; and of a paper in No.. XX, which
contains the instructions drawn up for them by Norton, by the
Company's order: but as the instructions are long, I shall only
extract the material part of them.

TO Mr. Norton _at_ Prince of Wales's-fort, 6th of _May_, 1736. _We do
hereby order, upon the arrival of_ captain Spurrel _and_ captain
Coates _at_ Churchill-river, _this year, which may probably be in_
July, 1736, _that you fit out the_ Churchill-sloop, James Napper
_master, and the_ Musquash-sloop, _with all expedition for the sea,
the one to carry twelve sailors, and the other six; also to take three
or four home_ Indians, _and to sail directly as far as Sir_ T. Roe's
Welcome, _to find out a proper Bay or harbour to lie secure in, and
trade with the_ Indians; _also to pitch a tent on the land, and make
observations how far distant from trees, and what the soil is, and to
endeavour to promote a trade, by persuading the_ Indians _to kill
whales, sea-horses, and seals, for whale-finn, ivory, seal-skins and
oil, in the best manner they can, using them very civilly; and to
acquaint them that the sloop will return the next opening of the ice,
to the same bay or harbour, &c. We likewise order, that the two
sloops be fitted out with all proper necessaries, and the same number
of men, early the next spring, which may be the beginning of_ July,
_1737, or sooner; and that they be directed to sail close along the
western shore, trading with the_ Indians _as far as the _Welcome_, and
pitch a tent on said land, and stay there trading with the _Indians_,
and digging in search of mines, and to observe and view the land,
until the ship shall call on you which goes out of_ England _next
year, which we propose to give directions to the commanders so to do,
and may possibly arrive_ 24th July, _1737; and in case she arrive, you
are to sail with them as far to the northward as possible, and
endeavour to make what discoveries you can, and keep a particular
account of every transaction that shall happen; but if the ship don't
come before_ 20th August, _1737, you are_ to return _to_
Churchill-river.--_It is our order that the masters be very particular
and exact in sounding, taking an account of the current of the tide,
the rise and fall at ebb and high water, and the distance of the time
of flood, and enter them in proper journals to be delivered to the
chief of the factory, to be transmitted to us.--We have entertained_
Robert Crow _for two years, and appoint him master of the_
Musquash-sloop _to proceed on the discovery, in company with_ Napper;
_and in case of_ Napper's _death, we appoint_ Mr. Light _to be master
of the_ Churchill sloop, _and to proceed on the voyage._ These
instructions were sent to Norton; out of which he forms instructions
for Napper and Crow. _Orders and instructions to Mr._ James Napper _on
his voyage upon discovery to the northward in_ Hudson's-Bay. _You are
to take the first opportunity to sail to the_ northward _in_
Hudson's-Bay _upon discovery, in company with_ Crow, _whose company
you are to keep as long as you can do it with safety; his sloop being
of less draught of water, is fittest to make free with the shore,
among islands or in bays, &c. in order to discover harbours of safety
for shipping, or any thing else that may tend to the interest of the
Company. You are to sail close along the_ western shore, _making
discovery into the_ Welcome, _for a proper bay or harbour for ships to
lie in, in or as near the_ Welcome _as can be found, and to pitch a
tent on land, making observations_, &c. _These you are to enter in
proper journals, to be delivered to me or the chief of this factory,
to be sent to the Company, signing the original, the copies to be kept
here, which you are to make before you arrive at the factory. You are
to trade with all the natives you meet in your voyage, and persuade
them to kill whales_, &c.--to the purport of the former instruction.
_You are to continue upon discovery in or near the_ Welcome, _till
the_ 24th July, _and then make the best of your way to_ Whale-cove,
_there to wait a ship's arrival from_ England, _making there the
beforementiond search for mines, &c. and trading with the_ natives
_till the_ 12th _of_ August; _and if a ship does_ not then _arrive,
you are to consult with_ Crow _and others, either to stay till_ the
20th of August, _or_ to return to Churchill, _as the weather offers_,
pursuant _to the_ Company's instructions; _but if a ship arrives in
that time, you are to sail with her as far to the northward as
possible, and make what discoveries you can, entering all transactions
in a journal, as before mentioned. I have shipped on board you
thirteen weeks provision for eleven men. So God send you a successful
discovery and to return in safety.--By order of the honourable the_
governor, deputy governor, _and_ committee _of the_ Hudson's-Bay
Company. _Prince of Wales's-fort_, July _4th, 1737. vera copia._
Crow's instructions are the same, only _in case of separation before
they get to_ Whale-cove, _after waiting a few days, to_ return _to_
Churchill-river.

THE reader, I doubt not, has observed a material difference betwixt
the instructions sent by the Company and those given by Norton:
whether it was owing to a blunder of Norton's, or originally intended
by the Company, I shall not pretend to determine; but it could do no
less than defeat the discovery. The Company order _the sloops to go to
the_ Welcome, _and _wait _for ships they will order to_ meet them
there, _from_ England, _which they expect may be by the_ 24th July,
1737; _and if they arrive, to sail_ with them _to the_ northward;_ but
if they_ do not come _by the_ 20th _of_ August, then _to make the best
of their way to_ Churchill: but Norton bids them continue upon
discovery, in or near the Welcome, till the 24th _of_ July; and then
_to make the best of their way to_ Whale-cove, _and there_ to wait _a
ship's_ arrival from England till the 12th of August; and if the ship
should _arrive there by this time,_ then _to sail_ with them _to the_
northward; _but if she should not_ by that time _arrive,_ then _to
consult with_ Crow _and others,_ whether _to_ wait _till the_ 20th, or
_to_ return immediately _to_ Churchill. But if the Company had actually
intended to order any ship to call from England, it must, in
consequence of their own instructions, have called at the _Welcome_,
and not at _Whale-cove_, as Norton has directed, who by changing the
place of rendezvous effectually defeated the discovery. _Till such_
ship _arrived,_ they were only directed _to sail along the_ west-coast
_to the _Welcome, _and there to look out for a harbour; but not to
search for inlets, or make any observations but about the_ bearings of
head-lands, soundings, and currents; nor _to do any thing more but
encourage the_ natives _to catch_ whales, &c., and _after the
arrival of the ship, they were to proceed upon the_ discovery; but
even then _were limited to_ search _to the_ northward _of the_
Welcome, without any order to search southward. Now it is apparent,
that no ships were ordered to meet these people from England; if they
were, the Company could and ought to have produced their instructions
for that purpose; which not doing, they tacitly confess that they
never ordered any ships to meet them, nor perhaps ever intended it. It
is probable therefore, that private instructions were given to Norton,
counter to those they gave publicly for the sloops; for the sloops did
not at all follow these public instructions. It is plain by their
journal, that they had no intention to sail to the Welcome, but only
to Whale-cove, in 62 deg. 30 min; nor to sail northward, till after
they could procure no more trade there. They staid till the 27th July,
pretending they were blocked up by ice; tho' Smith in three of four
voyages after this, met with no obstructions from the ice; and then
Crow says, the 27th (for Napper was dead) _there being no more trade,
and being limited by our instructions to return the 24th, we could not
sail to_ 63 deg. 20 min. _as we were ordered, but returned to_
Churchill: they no where mention their expectation of a ship; nor was
63 deg. 20 min. whither Crow says he was ordered, any part of the
Welcome, which lay from 64 to 65 deg. nor have they in their journals
made any observations upon the soil, tides, mines, &c. as directed in
the instructions which are published. Upon the whole it appears, that
not any of these papers can be depended upon as genuine; being
modelled to secure a selfish concealment of the countries about the
Bay, to the prejudice of the interest and rights of Britain.

HAVING now gone through the Company's orders and instructions for
promoting trade and discoveries, I shall make some observations upon
the other papers produced before the Committee; and first upon those
in No.. XXI and XXII, containing the Company's reasons for trebling
their stock, first in 1690, and afterwards in 1720. _In_ September,
1690, _it was moved by several in a committee to double or treble
their stock, as hath been designed some years since, and practised by
another Company with extraordinary success and advantage, who upon
debate unanimously voted it to be trebled._ They then consulted _the
many motives to do it: and being desirous to make the stock_ as
diffusive amongst his majesty's subjects as possible, _and more and
more_ a national interest; _to justify their proceedings, they set
down some of the grounds and motives which induced them to treble it_,
viz. First, _that they had in their warehouses above the value of
their original stock_. Secondly, _that they had sent out in their
ships and cargo that year above the value of their first stock, upon
which they expected as much profit_. Thirdly, _that their factories
at_ Port-Nelson, _and_ New-Severn, _are under an increasing trade, and
that their returns that year they expected would be worth_ £20,000.
Fourthly, _their forts, factories, guns, &c. and the prospect of new
settlements and further trade, may be estimated at a considerable
value_. And Fifthly, _the expectation of satisfaction from France at
the end of the war, and restoring their places and trade at the bottom
of the Bay; which, upon proof, was made out above_ £100,000. _Upon
which motives and other prudential reasons which might be alleged, the
committee did, and do, unanimously resolve and declare, that the
original stock shall be and is trebled, viz._ £10,500, _original stock
shall be deemed and computed at_ £31,500 _stock or credit; and each
interessent shall have his stock trebled in the Company's books; and
no person shall have a vote who has less than_ £300 _credit; nor be
capable of being of the committee, who has not_ £600 _stock or credit;
and so proportionally in all other things, according to the
charter_.--It must be owned, that some of their reasons for trebling
their stock are unexceptionably good, particularly those of _making
it_ more diffusive _amongst all his majesty's subjects, and more and
more a_ national interest; and _the having as much more in their
warehouses as their original stock_, provided it was to be added to
their stock in trade to increase their annual exports. But how they
could urge the prospect of their gains upon the year's trade, or the
money sunk in building their factories, or their future demand upon
the French, as additions to their stock, is not quite so
comprehensible: nor is it easy to account, how their losses by the
French should, upon so small a capital as £10,500, amount to £100,000,
(or £150,000, as was set forth in their petition to parliament, as an
inducement to pass an act for a perpetual confirmation of their
charter;) for their whole loss was confined to the small factories at
Rupert, Moose, and Albany, which could not amount to the tenth part of
that sum; unless they included in the estimate, the gain they _might_
have made upon their trade in the time they were out of possession.
Neither can I see, when no new subscriptions were taken in, how the
trebling their stock could make it _more diffusive amongst the rest of
his majesty's subjects_, which was the only good national reason for
taking this step. As the whole was nominal, it could be of no real
benefit to the proprietors, nor to the nation, unless they had
determined to treble their annual exports: it can therefore only be
supposed, that having just obtained an act to confirm their charter
for seven years, they thought it prudent to make a show of doing
something to increase their trade, that they might be entituled to a
renewal when that act expired; an expectation, by the way, not very
substantially founded, as the act was altered by the Lords, from ten
years, for which term it had passed the Commons, to seven years; and
as the Commons, having been almost surprized into a confirmation of
their charter for ever, upon their granting it only for a few years,
entered a standing order, that no petition should be received for
confirming any charter, unless the charter itself was annexed to the
petition. But it is evident, that the chief motive for trebling their
stock was, that their dividends would appear smaller upon a large
nominal capital, than upon a real small capital; the only good reason
for trebling their stock, the making it _more diffusive amongst his
majesty's subjects_, and _more and more a_ national interest, having
never taken place; for the stock is not set up to public sale, but
confined to about ninety members, as appears by their list of
proprietors produced before the Committee.

No.. XXII, contains reasons and resolutions for the Hudson's-Bay
Company again trebling their stock in 1720.

AT a committee, 29th August, 1720. _The committee, pursuant to the
order of the general court, having taken into consideration the most
proper method for raising money for enlarging and extending the
Company's trade to_ Hudson's-Bay _and_ Buss-island; _and for the more
effectual putting in execution the powers and privileges granted them
by their charter, do make the following resolutions_, viz. _That
according to the best account and calculation that can be made of the
quick and dead stock and lands, the same may be computed to amount to
£94,500, a moderate computation._

THAT _the joint or capital stock of this Company be enlarged to
£378,000, and divided into 3780 shares of £100 each; and that the
present stock being £31,500, or 315 shares, be made and reckoned 945
shares, and valued at £100 each share, which amounts to £94,500, and
to be clear and discharged of all the payments to be made for
enlarging the stock to £378,000. That the sum of £283,500 be raised by
the present members, and to be engrafted on the present stock, valuing
each share at £100, to compleat the said £378,000. That each member
for every £100 by him subscribed, shall be entituled to one share in
the Company's stock. That the times of payment be as follows,_ viz.
£10 per cent. _paid the_ 7th _of September next_; £10 per cent. _on
the_ 6th _of December next; and so on,_ £10 per cent. _every three
months, till the whole is paid in. That a proper instrument be
prepared for these purposes, and the Company's seal affixed thereto;
and that such of the present members as are willing may subscribe,
obliging themselves to advance and raise such sums as they shall set
down against their respective names. That no member shall be capable
of being governor, or of the committee, who has not in his own name
and right £1800, or 18 shares in the stock; and of _giving a vote_ in
any election, or any general court, who has not £900, or 9 _shares_ in
the stock; which resolutions were unanimously agreed to, and ordered
to be laid before the general court the next day,--which the court
next day confirmed._

AT a general court 23d _December_, 1720.--_The governor acquainted the
court, that by reason of the present scarcity of money and deadness of
credit, the committee did not think it a proper time to proceed upon
the subscription agreed to in_ August _last; and then ordered the
secretary to read the opinion of the committee of this day,
_viz._--Resolved that it is the opinion of the committee, that the
said subscription be vacated; and that the Company's seal be taken off
from the said instrument._--And, _That each subscriber shall have £30
stock for each £10 by him paid in,--which resolutions were agreed to
by this court._

IN these resolutions, of trebling their stock, the only reasons
alleged for it were, the enlarging and extending their trade to
Hudson's-Bay and Buss-island: so that the unanimous opinion at this
time was, that their trade might be enlarged and extended by
increasing their capital and stock in trade; and that at least £94,500
might be annually employed in trade; for that sum was designed
actually to have been raised, over and above the present stock in
trade. But all the late allegations of the Company before the
Committee, tended to shew, that the trade could not be extended or
increased; and that they had done their utmost for this, by exporting
annually goods to the value of three or four thousand pounds. If this
had been the case also in 1720, and the Company neither intended nor
had it in their power to extend the trade, the new subscription taken
from their own members must have been designed as a bubble, to draw in
others who were not proprietors; by which each member would gain in
cash £200 per cent, and the Company actually have £94,500 paid in
cash, which, according to their own declaration, could not have been
employed in trade. To explain this; the Company, before they took in
the new subscription, trebled their nominal stock by a gross
computation of their dead and living stock, lands, &c. which had in
like manner been done before in 1690, by a computation produced, from
£10,500 to 31,500; but now, without any computation produced, to
£94,500: this nominal stock they were to increase to £378,000, by
adding a subscription from their own members of £283,500 to be made in
payments of £10 per cent every three months, till the whole was
raised. Now if this £10 per cent was to be paid upon their newly
trebled capital of £94,500, £9450 would have been paid in every three
months, and the whole subscription of £283,500 completed in seven
years and a half: but if only £3150 was to be paid in every three
months upon their former capital of £31,500, then twenty-two years and
a half would have been necessary to complete the whole sum; which
could not answer the end proposed, of extending and improving their
trade in any reasonable time: and yet it appears from their increased
capital in No.. XVIII, that the £10 per cent paid in amounted to no
more than £3150; for tho' at the general court the members were
allowed £30 stock for each £10 they had paid in, their capital was
increased only from £94,500 to £103,500, produced before the Committee
as the present capital. How then was the sum of £283,500, to be raised
in seven years and a half? Why probably thus,--every member was
allowed a share of £30 stock for every £10 he paid in, and
consequently £300 for £100. Now by bringing this £100 share to market,
he would have got £300, and the purchaser have stood possessed of
three shares in the Company's stock of £100 each. So that by the time
the whole was completed, the original members would have received
£189,000 for their own use, and the Company £94,500 to be employed in
trade or in any way they pleased: and this design seems only to have
been frustrated by the sudden fall of south sea and other stocks,
which deprived them of purchasers: however, they succeeded so far as
to raise their nominal stock from £31,500 to £103,500. It is scarce
worth mentioning, that one of the resolutions passed in this Committee
of August 25th 1720, by which every man who has not nine shares of
£100 each, is deprived of his right to vote at any election or in any
general court, is a manifest violation of their charter; which
expresly says, that each member shall have one vote for every £100 he
has in stock, and so proportionably for more or less; ten persons
having only £10 each in a joint stock, to have one vote amongst them.

By the standard of their trade in No.. XIX, we may see how vast a price
is charged to the natives upon the goods given them in exchange for
their furs, which are all valued by the beaver skin as the standard.
Thus for a quart of English spirits which the Company export at
six-pence, and before they sell it to the natives mix it with one
third water, which reduces it to four-pence; they take a beaver skin,
which has been sold at the Company's sale, at a medium of ten
years[8], for six shillings three farthings the pound weight, and a
beaver skin generally weighs a pound and half; so that they get nine
shillings and one penny for four pence, which is £2700 per cent
profit. Upon other articles not so material they do not gain above
£500 or £600 per cent: but in exchange for martins the profit is
double of that upon beaver; for they value three martins only as one
beaver, and those, at a medium of ten years, have sold for six
shillings a skin. It appears also from the standard, that one third
more is charged upon many articles at Nelson and Churchill-factories,
than at Moose and Albany; those factories being farther from the
French, who till within these few years had not intercepted the trade
there; and not content even with this extravagant profit, the factors
are allowed to sell their goods considerably above the standard, which
is called the profit upon the over-plus trade: yet with all this
advance upon their goods, the profit of the Company is reduced, by the
expence of management, shipping, factories, officers and servants, to
a little more than £200 per cent. For by a medium of ten years trade,
(No.. XXIV.) their sales amount annually to £27,354: 5: 5-3/43/4; and
their expences, No.. XXIII, to £19,417: 8: 6: their nett profit
therefore, at the same medium, amounts to £7936: 16: 11-3/4; which
upon £3674: 3: 1-3/4, their annual export at the same medium, is about
£216 per cent profit upon the annual stock in trade, and near £7-2/3
upon the nominal capital of £103,950. But this expence would be
considerably lessened, except in the article of freight, if the trade
was laid open, the countries settled, and possessions secured without
charge; whilst both the exports and imports would be vastly increased,
perhaps to one hundred times the present value, as we find it is in
other colonies; and here is a scope of country sufficient, by proper
cultivation and due encouragement to the natives, to support the
computation.

[Footnote 8: See No.. XXIV.]

IN the list of subscribers in No.. VIII, which are rated at about
ninety, the King's name is placed at the head; but the King was not
originally a proprietor, merely as King, and consequently can be none
now without having been a purchaser: all that is reserved by the
charter for him, is two elks and two black beavers, as often as he
shall land in those countries. However, within these twenty years, the
Company have made three or four payments, by way of douceur, to her
late Majesty, and since her death to his present Majesty: tho' the
first payment was not made till Mr. Dobbs had first sollicited them,
and afterwards the admiralty, to send out ships for the discovery of a
north-west passage; when being apprehensive that the legality of
their charter might be brought into question they thought it prudent
to endeavour to secure an interest in the government: they therefore
attended Sir Robert Walpole, and informed him that there was an arrear
due from them to the late queen Mary, amounting to several thousand
pounds, which they apprehended the present queen was entitled to, as
no part of it had been paid to queen Anne; alleging that queen Mary
was a proprietor; in virtue, I suppose, of her relationship to Prince
Rupert, who was an original proprietor. Accordingly, a sum, at the
rate of two or three hundred pounds per annum profit upon the trade,
was paid to Sir Robert upon his Majesty's account; and while he
continued in the treasury, another small sum was paid upon the same
account; and since that time two other small sums, which the treasury
was obliged to receive implicitly; for the Company excused themselves
from producing their books upon this occasion, tho' urged to do it as
the only authentic proof, that his Majesty was entitled to any share,
and that the sum paid was the exact amount of it. The circumstances of
which behaviour evidently shew, with what view they made this
sacrifice; and with what view they now place the King's name at the
head of the list of proprietors; little reflecting, that if at any
time their monopoly and charter should be proved illegal, and
injurious to the trade of Britain, his Majesty would be induced to
skreen them by any surrender that is in their power to make.

IT was suspected, and upon good foundation, that the Committee of the
Company, which is elective by the charter, had made themselves
absolute and unchangeable, by engrossing the greater part of the
stock; so that no general court could oblige them to produce their
books, nor call them to an account even for the grossest
mismanagement. At the request, therefore, of the petitioners, it was
moved, that the Company should be ordered to give in a list of their
proprietors, distinguishing how many shares each person possessed of
the stock, that it might appear in how few hands the bulk of it lay:
but this being strongly opposed, from a persuasion that a compliance
with it would expose the secrets of the Company, and that it was a
matter of mere curiosity and of no importance to the public, who held
the stock; and the petitioners apprehending, that debating these
points would too much retard the principal business, this motion was
withdrawn; and also another motion made to oblige the Company to lodge
their original books: by which last step, all the evidence that could
be brought against them, was limited to those who either were or had
been their servants; no others having been at the Bay except the
people of the discovery ships, who had no means of judging how affairs
were administered there.

IN No.. II the Company give a list of nine vessels, which they pretend
they had fitted out upon the discovery of a north-west passage; but by
their instructions already cited, it appears that there were only five
sent upon that expedition, two with Knight, two with Napper, and one
with Scroggs. Of the four others here mentioned, two were the
Prosperous-sloop under Henry Kelsey, and the Success John Hancock; the
first sailed from York-fort, June 19th, and the other from Churchill,
July 2d, 1719, and both returned the 10th of August. These had no
instructions about the passage; their business was only to try to
bring down the northern Indians to trade at Churchill, where the
Company the year before had fixed a factory; and Norton was sent by
land for the same purpose, and to enquire about the mine: for it is
not probable that they would send out Kelsey and Hancock the same year
with Knight, unless they had given them instructions to discover in
concert with him, which they did not. The last two were the same sloop
under Kelsey, who sailed 26th June, 1721, upon the same account as
before, and returned the 2d of September; and with her, her old
consort the Success then under Napper, who was lost four days after in
the ice near Churchill. So that these additional sloops seem to be
inserted only to make an ostentatious and false shew of their great
zeal for the discovery of a north-west passage.

No.. XXV contains _orders given by the_ Hudson's-Bay _Company to their
present_ chief factors _in the_ Bay, _so far as they relate to the
government of the_ factories.

I HAVE little to observe upon these orders, and believe that they may
be proper enough for the security of their forts in time of war,
considering how very weak they are, and what a small number of men
there is to defend them. There is one piece of an instruction indeed
that does them honour, which they first mention in their letter to
Isbester at Albany in 1745, and repeat it to him in 1746, and also to
Pelgrim at Prince of Wales's-fort in 1747, and to Newton at York-fort
in 1748, _recommending sobriety to them and their servants, that they
may be capable of making a vigorous defence if attacked_. But there is
a paragraph addressed to captain John Newton personally, annexed to
the instructions sent jointly to him and council, 5th May, 1748, which
contains a very extraordinary evidence of the reformation of the
Company's Committee; and is the first instance, since the peace of
Utrecht, of their shewing any concern for the religious welfare of
their servants.

London, 5th May, 1748.

Captain John Newton,

_Sir_,

_LASTLY, having reposed such a confidence as to place you at the head
of our best factory, we expect that all our servants under your
command, will, by your example, be encouraged to a religious
observance of the Lord's day, to virtue and sobriety; and that by your
moderation, they may meet with such treatment, as may make them love
as well as fear you, which will conduce much to your ease, and our
interest; in full hopes of which we commit you to the divine
protection._

HERE seem to be the dawnings of a christian spirit; and had it ever
appeared before, and its excellent dictates been sincerely followed,
the causes of complaint against the Company would have been
considerably lessened: but never to have sent over a clergyman to any
of their factories, nor shewn the least concern for the religion and
morality of their servants, was surely capital. I would not willingly
lessen the merit of the exhortation last quoted; but for the sake of
truth it must be observed, that it was not sent over till after
several hearings against the Company, before his Majesty's attorney
and sollicitor-general, upon a reference made to them by the Lords of
his Majesty's most honourable privy council, of the merits of a
petition from the Committee of the subscribers for discovering a
north-west passage; in which their barbarity to the natives and their
servants, was proved by sundry affidavits, having never attempted to
civilize the one, or sent over a clergyman for the instruction of the
other, nor kept up the least appearance of religion in any factory in
the Bay: yet I do not pretend to assign these circumstances of danger
as the motive of this new concern for the spiritual welfare of their
people; nor of the following directions sent at the same time to Mr.
Isbester and council at Prince of Wales's-fort, viz.--23d; _As we have
nothing more at heart than the preservation of our factories, the
security of our people, and the increase of our trade, therefore we
direct that nothing may be omitted, that may strengthen the former and
extend the latter; to which end we strictly order, that all possible
encouragement be given to the natives, by treating them civilly, and
dealing justly with them on all occasions; and we recommend it to you
to use our servants under your command in such manner, that they may
esteem as well as fear you._--If instructions like these proceed from
real compunction and a just abhorrence of their former misconduct,
part of the end aimed at by the proceedings against them is obtained:
and should they be so fortunate as to survive the charge still to be
brought against them, by the merchants and manufacturers of Great
Britain, and find interest enough to keep possession of their charter
and invaluable monopoly; I hope they will give no room for the
application of a censure, that is due only to the character of the
prince of hypocrites:

    _The devil was sick--the devil a monk would be:
    The devil was well--the devil a monk was he._

THESE are all the papers of consequence laid by the Company before the
Committee. There only remains to be considered the evidence of the
witnesses which they thought proper to produce in their defence: these
were only two, captain Caruthers, whose evidence I have already cited
in my observations upon Knight's voyage, and Mr. Henry Sparling
merchant and furrier, and a proprietor of the Company. This gentleman,
as some persons have insinuated, was called upon to give his opinion
of the furs which the Company imported, and also to discredit the
account of the French getting Hudson's-Bay furs; but principally to
support his own affidavit, made on the hearing before the attorney and
sollicitor-general, _that_ Hudson's-Bay _ermines and squirrels were of
small value_; and also the affidavit made by Anthony Lutkins and
Nicholas Lewis, _that they were not worth one penny per dozen_; which
brought on another affidavit, _that upon going to a furrier to enquire
the price of_ Hudson's-Bay _ermines, under a pretence of purchasing
some, the furrier said_, they generally were sold for about two
shillings a piece.

UPON Mr. Sparling's being examined about skins and pelts, _he produced
a deer's skin from_ Hudson's-Bay _full of holes, and said that there
was not one in ten that was not so; but when killed at one season of
the year the defect was not apparent, till they were dressed in oil_;
adding, that _the_ Virginia _deer-skins are much more valuable_.--He
said, _that ermine and squirrel-skins from_ Hudson's-Bay _were not
worth paying custom for; the last squirrel-skins being sold for a
farthing a piece, after paying a halfpenny duty: that he had bought no
ermines from the_ Bay _of a long time, the best coming from_ Siberia.
_To prove this he produced two ermines from the_ Bay, _one the best,
the other the worst he could pick out of a parcel, and one from_
Siberia; _and said that the_ Siberia _ermines sold from one shilling
to one shilling and six-pence each: he then produced two_ Siberia
_squirrel-skins, and two from the_ Bay.--He said farther, that _he
had annual accounts from_ Rochelle _of what furs the_ French
_imported, which all came there; and that they imported three or four
hundred martins annually, and with them a small quantity of_
Hudson's-Bay _furs_.--This is the substance of his evidence.

IT had been strongly urged against the Company, that they did not
endeavour to encrease and extend their fur-trade as they ought; that
the French carried away many of their rich furs from the inland at the
heads of their settlements; that by not sending up persons to trade
upon the rivers and lakes, great numbers of deer and buffalo skins
were lost, the natives having no conveyance for them down the rivers
but small birch-canoes; and that a great many other kinds of furs
might be had, if the natives were not discouraged from taking them, on
account of the high price of the Company's goods, such as white hares,
ermines, and squirrels. Mr. Sparling's testimony was intended to
invalidate this charge; and with that view he produced the deer,
ermine, and squirrel-skins.

THE deer-skin he produced was probably the vilest he could pick out,
full of holes, and killed at an improper season; for deer-skins, like
other pelts and furs, have their season. At one time of the year they
are troubled with an insect that eats holes in their skins, a disorder
called the warbles, of which, however, they are perfectly cured before
winter; but if the deer are killed at this season, the skins must
unavoidably have holes in them; and is that a reason why the natives
should not be encouraged to kill them at a proper season, by allowing
a just price for good skins? Had the natives any reason to expect that
their care would be rewarded, they would never kill deer out of
season, unless hunger obliged them; and if they were civilized, they
would raise tame cattle for their subsistence, and hunt only for
profit. It is notorious, that as good deer-skins have been brought
from Hudson's-Bay, as from other parts of America; and the Company in
their instructions to Norton, have expresly ordered him to send over
deer as well as moose and elk-skins, which they would not have done
but from a knowlege of their value.

IT appears from the Company's own account of their sales in No.. X,
that deer-skins, according as they were taken in season or not, have
sold from two shillings to four shillings and nine-pence per skin;
and, at a medium of ten years, at two shillings and eleven-pence
halfpenny: but at a medium of ten years, the number brought over
annually was but three hundred forty-six; when, if trade had been
extended up the rivers and lakes, they might probably have imported
two or three hundred thousand annually, which if killed in season, and
properly dressed by the Indians, would have sold for ten shillings per
skin.

MR. SPARLING next produced two ermines from the Bay extremely bad, and
one from Siberia extremely good; so good, that a Russia merchant who
examined it, said, that he had a present of choice ermines lately sent
him from Russia, and in the whole parcel, which might be presumed were
not bad, there was not a skin better than that. The two American
ermines were pretended to be the best and worst of a parcel; but then
it was a parcel that contained none but bad skins killed out of
season, for they were ill coloured, small, and almost without fur. The
ermines, like the hares and partridges in cold countries, turn white
in winter, except the tips of their ears and tails; and if taken out
of season before they recover their colour, or the young ones are
full grown, they must necessarily be small, ill coloured, and bare of
fur. The same may be said of squirrels, with regard to size, and
goodness of fur: and those bad ermines and squirrels are constantly
killed by the Company's servants and home Indians at improper seasons,
who have no encouragement to kill them in the right season; and they
are sent over at random, in small parcels, for the sake of what they
may accidentally produce. But to shew how far his great zeal has
carried him beyond the point which it was necessary for him to keep in
view, in order to preserve a consistency between his own and the
Company's account of this matter; we need only look into No.. X, which
specifies the price of furs at their sales, and into No.. XXIV, which
specifies the number as well as price; and it will appear that in ten
years sale there was only one article of seventeen ermines, which sold
at one shilling and five-pence per skin, as high as the best Siberia
ermines, which Sparling himself acknowleges fell generally _from one
shilling to one shilling and six-pence_; and yet _these are not worth
paying custom for_.

THE next article he produced of the contents of his budget, was
squirrels, which _at the last sale_ he says _sold for a farthing a
piece, and paid a halfpenny duty_. But from the same papers it
appears, that in a course of ten years sale squirrel-skins were sold
for five years, viz. 276 in 1742 at 4_d_1/4 each, 127 in 1744 at
4_d_1/4 each, 2070 in 1745 at 1_d_1/4, 540 in 1746 at 20_s_ the
whole: and 500 in 1747 at 21_s_ 6_d_ the whole: so that there were two
sales at which squirrel skins, when probably in full season, sold at
4_d_1/4 each; one sale, when more out of season, at 1_d_1/4, and two
sales, when quite out of season, or ill saved, at about a halfpenny
each, _i.e._ for _double the price_ that Sparling upon his evidence
rated them at; which however is something more modest than the price
fixed by Lutkins and Lewis, who in their respective affidavits had
asserted, that they were not worth a penny a dozen. But if furs are
thus blown upon at market, only because they are killed out of season,
or ill saved, must therefore no encouragement be given to kill them in
season, and to save them well; when by such prudent care, as the
Company themselves have demonstrated, they would produce eight times
the value?

THE last part of his evidence I shall take notice of, is that which
relates to the Canada _furs_, and _the few_ Hudson's-bay _furs
imported with them. He has, it seems, regular accounts from_ Rochelle,
_of the annual imports; and the amount of martins imported are but
three or four hundred annually, amongst which are a few, but very
few_, Hudson's-bay _furs_. I cannot exactly recollect this part of his
evidence as he delivered it; but am afraid it has suffered, either
thro' an error of the press, or of the person who took it down; since
it is notorious that the French carry on a great fur-trade from
Canada, and deal so largely in martins, that if he had said thirty or
forty thousand, he had fallen far short of the truth; nay three or
four hundred packs of one hundred or two hundred in a pack would not
perhaps have exceeded it. The Company themselves in some years have
imported near twenty thousand martins; and as the French, who value
only one at a beaver, give three times the price that the Company
give, who value three at a beaver, we may reasonably conclude, that
the French procure three times the number that the Company procure;
for the Indians know how to sell their goods to the best advantage.

I SHALL only add two remarks; first, that the Company were right to
rest their evidence here, and not expose themselves by any more vain
attempts to invalidate that which was brought against them; as no
evidence after this would have borne even the hearing. And secondly,
that if the evidence brought against them had not had the sacred
support of truth itself, it was in the Company's power, from the
number of captains and servants still in their pay, over whose souls
as well as bodies they have the absolute command, to have detected not
only falshood but error; whereas the petitioners could only procure a
few of their servants, whose integrity stood opposed to the distress
of poverty, and the power of wealth, and whose integrity
notwithstanding carried them through with incontestable authority.

I SHALL now proceed to sum up the material part of the evidence
produced against the Company, relative to their misconduct, and to the
country, climate, trade, fisheries, and navigation of the Bay.

FIRST, it appears, that the countries about the Bay are capable of
great improvement; that the lands southward and westward of the Bay,
are in good climates, equal in their several latitudes to those in
Asia and Europe, and that the climate improves farther within land,
the spring being earlier and the winter shorter; that by Kelsey's
journal produced by the Company, and by Joseph de la France's which
they have not controverted, the country abounds with woods, champains,
plains, ponds, rivers and lakes, several hundred leagues west from the
Bay; that the land is covered with beaver, buffaloes, deer, martins,
and other valuable furs; and the rivers and lakes are full of
sturgeon and other excellent fish. It appears also, that these fine
rivers are navigable every where with canoes, and in most places with
larger vessels, having but inconsiderable falls, up which canoes can
be towed against the stream, and that the lakes are navigable by
larger vessels.--That upon these rivers and about the lakes, are many
nations or tribes of docible and humane Indians, willing to be
instructed, and eager to engage in trade.--That the lands are capable
of tillage, affording good pasture for horses and cattle in the
summer, and good hay for their subsistence in winter.--That at
Churchill, the most northerly factory, horses and cows have been kept
in winter, tho' greatly exposed to the frost and cold.--That all sorts
of garden stuff flourish at the factories, and where barley and oats
have been sown, they come to perfection: at Moose-factory at the
bottom of the Bay, sown wheat has stood the winter frosts, and grown
very well the summer following; tho' the cold and frost is greater,
and continues longer here than within land: black-cherries also
planted here have grown and borne fruit, as would other trees if
propagated.--That the rivers upon the Bay, abound with white whales
and other valuable fish; and the sea to northward, with black whales,
sea-horses, seals, and white bears, which afford whale-finn, oil,
ivory, and skins; the western coast being no way mountainous, as in
Davys's and Hudson's-strait.--And that the seas and navigation are not
dangerous; there being few instances of the loss of ships in the Bay,
or in the passage thither.

SECONDLY, it appears, that notwithstanding the unspeakable advantages
to be obtained by planting and settling these countries, the climates
of which are not worse than Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, and
north Germany; yet the Company have not made, nor encouraged to be
made, any one settlement or colony; having only four small factories,
in which they keep about one hundred and thirty servants, and two
small houses with only eight men in each, which is all the force they
have provided to keep the possession, and protect the trade of a
country, equal to one third of Europe.--That they have not in fifty
years sent above one person to make discoveries within land, which was
Norton, who by Brown's evidence had been at the copper-mine, tho' his
journal was not produced to the Committee; but none to make
friendships and alliances with the natives, discouraging even their
servants from going up into the inland to trade, tho' for their own
benefit; nor even to prevent the natives from trading with the French,
tho' they are sensible of their perpetual incroachments, and that they
daily carry away the richest furs.--That notwithstanding there are
incontestable evidences of rich copper and lead mines, and even of
cinnabar, out of which mercury has been extracted; yet no
encouragement has been given, or attempts made, to search after them
with a view to their improvement.--That the annual exports of the
Company have not exceeded four thousand pounds; and in time of peace
their navigation has been confined to three ships of 150 or 200 tons,
with two or three small sloops stationed in the Bay, that some years
are not sent out of harbour.--That no means have been used to civilize
or convert the natives; nor even a clergyman sent over to instruct and
take care of the souls of their own servants; on the contrary, the
learning of the Indian language, or keeping up any correspondence with
the people, is severely prohibited under penalty of loss of wages and
bodily correction.--And that none but plausible and insincere attempts
have been made to find out a passage to the western-ocean of America;
tho' the probability of there being such a passage is more and more
strengthened from the late discovery of bays, inlets, and broken
lands, the western ends of which are not yet discovered; and from
there having been no rivers yet observed on the north-west coast.

AND what have the Company and its friends been able to advance, in
opposition to these accumulated proofs of negligence and folly? Why no
more than this;--"That if the country and trade could have been
improved to the degree that is alleged, merely by making fresh
discoveries and carrying on an industrious cultivation, it is not to
be supposed that the taking such practicable steps would have been
omitted by the Company, which without doubt is composed of men of
experience who are wise enough to pursue their own interest." This was
the fundamental point with regard to which they ventured to
cross-examine the petitioners witnesses, most of whom were men of
inferior stations, unqualified to assign _the true reason, why the_
Company _have acted so _manifestly_ against the interest of the
_public_, and so _apparently_ against _their own. But the true reason
is obvious: "They have had no legal right to their exclusive trade
since the year 1698, at which time the act expired that confirmed
their charter only for seven years; if, therefore, after this period,
the least evidence had been suffered to transpire, that the climate of
Hudson's-bay is very habitable; that the soil is rich and fruitful,
fit for growing corn and raising stocks of cattle, and abounds also
with valuable mines; that the fisheries are capable of great
improvement, and the navigation not more dangerous than in other
countries; that the trade may even be extended, by means of a
navigable passage, or at least by a short land-passage, to the western
ocean; and that the Company from these discoveries and improvements
are grown immensely rich and powerful:" I say, had such proofs of a
fine country and beneficial trade stolen abroad in the world, as they
must unavoidably have done if proper experiments had been made, "the
Company knew, that the Legislature would have taken the right into its
own hands; and settled the country, and laid the trade open, for the
benefit of Britain:" _they have_, therefore, _contented themselves
with dividing among_ one hundred _persons, a_ large profit _upon a_
small capital; _have not only endeavoured to keep the_ true state _of
the_ trade _and_ country _an_ impenetrable secret, _but industriously
propagated the_ worst impressions _of them; and rather then enjoy the
inconceivable advantages of a general cultivation in_ common with
their fellow-subjects, _have, even to the hazard of their own separate
interest, exposed both country and trade to the incroachments of the_
French.

THE French, who are grasping at universal dominion, watch every
opportunity for extending their trade, and secure all those countries
which we abandon. But tamely to suffer them to dispossess us of this
important source of wealth and power is, besides the loss, a disgrace
not to be borne by Britain; tho' borne it must be, if the Company are
permitted any longer to sacrifice the good of the nation to their own
private interest. The Legislature only can prevent the one, by putting
an immediate stop to the other; and the Legislature has but two
methods to make choice of; either,

FIRST, to purchase the Company's right to any lands they have a legal
title to; to lay the trade open with the customary privileges and
immunities; to settle the rivers and the coasts adjoining with
European protestants, who are now in great numbers seeking for a place
of shelter, in which they may enjoy their civil and religious
liberties with safety; and lastly, to civilize the natives, treat them
with gentleness and humanity, instruct them in the knowlege of useful
arts, and encourage their industry by allowing them an equitable
trade, and thus lay a foundation for their conversion to Christianity.
Or,

SECONDLY, to confirm the sole property of these extensive countries,
with all the royalties powers and privileges originally granted by the
charter, to the Company for ever.

FOR as by this they would become lords paramount like the Dutch
Company in the Indies, and but barely subordinate to the Crown of
Great Britain; so by this, and by this only, they will be induced to
pursue those measures that can procure any advantages to the public.

Utrum horum mavis, accipe.




APPENDIX.

NUMBER II.

_An estimate of the expence of building the stone-fort at the entrance
of _Churchill-river_, called _Prince of Wales's-fort.


PRINCE of Wales's-fort is a square fort with four bastions. But before
I begin the estimate, it may be proper to observe, that as no
labourers were set apart for the building, which always was stopped as
often as any other kind of business interfered; and as no regular
account was kept of these frequent interruptions; it will be difficult
to form an estimate in any other way, than by taking the quantity of
work that was done during the three years that I was concerned, and
the number of masons, labourers, and horses, that were necessary to
perform that work; and then computing the expence of the whole, in
proportion to the expence of this part.

                                           £.  _s.  d._

Four masons at £25[9] per annum         }
each for three years                    } 300:  0:  0

Maintenance of ditto at 5_s_ per        }
week each                               } 156:  0:  0

Ditto in their passage out and home,    }
five months                             }  20:  0:  0

Eleven labourers at[10] £6 per annum    }
each for three years                    } 198:  0:  0

Maintenance of ditto at 5_s_ per        }
week each                               } 429:  0:  0

Ditto in their passage out and home        55:  0:  0

Four horses at £15 each                    60:  0:  0

Charges of ditto in the ship                8:  8:  0

Ditto----in the country at 6_d_ per}
day each for three years                } 109: 10:  0

Three hundred pounds wt. of gunpowder   }
for blowing up stones                   }  15:  0:  0

Utensils for three years, as carriages, }
ropes, blocks, &c.                      }  60:  0:  0

Iron-crows, great hammers, &c.             15:  0:  0
                                        -------------
                           Total,        1425: 18:  0
                                        -------------

ALL the stone, lime-stone, sand, and the wood for burning the lime,
was upon the spot. Most of the stone and lime-stone lay within a
quarter of a mile's distance from the fort, and none at more than half
a mile's distance.

[Footnote 9: I was informed, that, after I came away, masons were sent
over at £18 per annum each.]

[Footnote 10: These men are hired in the Orkneys.]

THE little smith's and carpenter's work also that was done in these
three years, for neither lead nor iron was used in cramping the
stones, was performed by the Company's common servants, whose charges
are not to be brought into the account, till the expences of building
the house within the fort are rated. So that the expence of the fort
in the first three years, at a large allowance, does not exceed £1425:
18: 0. I carefully examined how much of the wall was built in this
time, and found that, at the same expence, and with the same number of
hands, the rampart might have been finished in six years more, and in
a far better manner; for great part of what was afterwards done has
tumbled, but what was then done stands well.

IN these three years we built two bastions and the curtain between
them about seven feet and a half high; and also laid the foundation of
another bastion, and built a curtain and half a curtain, and one face
of the bastion about two feet and a half or three feet high; which
made considerably more than one third of the measurement of the whole
rampart: trebling, therefore, the first three years expence, and only
deducting the price of four horses valued at £60, the charge of the
whole rampart could not exceed £4217: 14: 0.

THE next part to be estimated is the parapet. This was at first built
of wood; but as the wood was supplied from the old demolished fort
five miles up the river, and as the carpenter put it up in thirteen
weeks, with very little assistance, the expence of it to the Company
could not be very large. In the year 1746, I assisted in building the
stone-parapet; and tho' I had only two masons with me, and much of my
own time was taken up in selecting proper stones and in surveying, yet
the parapet was carried along the flank of a bastion and curtain in
one summer; and if the governor had not obstructed the work, but had
allowed us a stated number of labourers, having always either too few
or too many, we should have been able to have finished another flank.

THE two masons could not do much to the parapet after I came away, as
they were employed in erecting a battery at Cape-merry on the other
side of the harbour: at the time, therefore, that it was represented,
that the building had cost the Company between thirty and forty
thousand pounds, very little more than a fifth part of the parapet was
completed, the expence of which may be easily ascertained; for, if a
flank and curtain were made by three masons, in one summer and autumn;
surely, four masons and eleven labourers might do as much in one year;
and the expence of four masons, eleven labourers, and four horses,
with utensils for one year, cannot exceed 460 l.

A HOUSE was built within the fort, the length of which, from out to
out, was 101 feet 6 inches; the breadth 33 feet; and the height of the
wall 17 feet, making two stories, with a flat roof covered with lead:
but all the materials, except iron, lead, glass, and some large beams,
were procured upon the spot; and I would undertake to build such a
house there, with the advantage of carrying materials from England in
the annual ship, for 600 l.

THREE of the bastions had arches for storehouses 40 feet 3 inches by
10 feet; and in the fourth bastion was built a stone-magazine 24 feet
long, and 10 feet wide in the clear, with a passage to it thro' the
gorge of the bastion, 24 feet long, and 4 feet wide. Now comparing the
expence of building these, with that of the other parts of the fort; I
think, that two thirds of the expence of the first three years would
be sufficient; that is, four masons, eleven labourers, and four
horses, &c. for two years, amounting to about 920 l. with 42 l. more
for the lead made use of to cover the magazine.

I HAVE rated the expences of the masons and labourers, as if they had
been constantly employed upon the building both winter and summer;
whereas, the building could be carried on only from May to September,
and during the remaining seven months, the people were engaged in
other business for the service of the Company, by which they defrayed,
at least, the charge of their maintenance for this interval, which yet
I have placed to the account of the fort. Indeed, in the whole
estimate I have rated every article so high, that an experienced
workman, if he was acquainted with the nature of the country, would
not compute the total expence at so much by some hundred pounds.

IT appears, therefore,

FIRST, That in the year 1749, the Company could not have expended more
than £6239: 14: 0. And,

SECONDLY, That, as a fifth part of the parapet was then finished for
£460, and the rest, consequently, might have been done for £1840 more,
the whole expence of compleating the fort, and all the buildings
within it, cannot possibly exceed £8000.




APPENDIX.

NUMBER III.

The _Soundings_ of _Nelson-River_


MONDAY the 15th of July 1745, fifteen min. past seven in the morning,
set sail in the Factory's long-boat, in company with Capt. Fowler,
from on board the Sea-horse pink, then lying in Five-fathom-hole, to
found and discover Port Nelson-river. At thirty-eight min. past seven,
a breast of the beacon that stands at Five-fathom-hole, the water
fallen one foot; a neap tide, wind N. E. a fresh gale; course from the
beacon S. E. by E. one mile and a quarter; sounded from four fathom
and a half to eleven feet; the beacon bore W. N. W. distance one mile
and a half. Nine min. past eight, altered our course, steered N. N. W.
one mile and a quarter, sounded from eleven feet to two fathom, being
across the channel that leads into Five-fathom-hole in Hayes's-river;
this channel is of a considerable breadth. At this time of tide we
found two fathom and a half in the best or deepest of the channel, and
close to the north sand sounded three fathom and a half; ship and
beacon in one, bearing S. W. half W. distance one mile. Twenty-one
min. past eight, altered our course, steered S. E. by E. three miles,
crossing the Fair-way into Hayes's-river; sounded from two fathom to
six feet; sounded two fathom and a half in the best of the channel;
the beacon bore W. by N. distance three miles and a half. Four min.
past nine, altered our course, steered N. N. W. two miles and a
quarter, sounded from six fathom to nine feet, being from side to side
of the Fair-way into Hayes's-river; found a considerable breadth of
channel, where was two and a half and two and a quarter fathom at that
time of tide; the beacon bore W. S. W. distance three miles.
Twenty-nine min. past nine, altered our course, steered S. E. by E.
one mile and a quarter; sounded from nine to ten feet across the
entrance of Hayes's-river; sounded two and a half and two and a
quarter fathom in the best of the channel; beacon bore W. distance
four miles. Forty-seven min. past nine, altered our course, steered N.
N. W. five miles; sounded from ten feet to five fathom and three
quarters in this course. At sixteen min. past ten, we had three fathom
water; being on the north side of the sand that parts the Fair-way
into the two rivers Nelson and Hayes, from whence we had three fathom
water; the ship in Five-fathom-hole, bore S. W. half W. distance five
miles: but at the end of this course where we had five fathom and
three quarters, the ship bore S. S. W. distance six miles. Sixteen
min. past eleven, altered our course, steerd N. W. one mile, sounded
from five three quarters to six fathom; the ship bore S. by W.
distance seven miles. Thirty-three min. past eleven, altered our
course, steered W. four miles, tried the tide of ebb by bringing the
Jolly-boat to a grapnel, the tide run E. one knot and a half. At
twelve hove the logg; the boat's way was two knots and a half; four
knots run off the reel; sounded from six fathom to two and a half;
the ship bore S. by E. distance eight miles and a half. At one,
altered our course; steered S. W. half a mile, to try to deepen our
water: it now began to be a thick fog, the wind blowing fresh at N.
E.; sounded from two fathom and a half to eleven feet. Thirty min.
past one, altered our course, steered N. W. two miles and a half;
sounded from eleven feet to four fathom and three quarters. Forty-five
min. past one, altered our course, steered W. two miles, sounded from
four fathom and three quarters to two and a half. Eleven min. past
two, altered our course, steered S. W. one mile, sounded from two
fathom and a quarter to eleven feet. Twenty-six min. past two, altered
our course, steered N. W. one furlong, sounded from eleven feet to
eight feet. Twenty-nine min. past two, altered our course, steered S.
half a mile, sounded from eight feet to four feet; we had now a very
thick fog, a fresh gale, and a great sea. Thirty-nine min. past two,
altered our course, steered S. W. four miles, sounded from four feet
(the next cast seven feet, the second cast seven fathom, the third
cast eight fathom and a half) to four fathom: the fog being gone, we
found we were four or five miles within the river. Fifteen min. past
three, altered our course, steered S. two miles, to try the channel,
sounded from four fathom to six feet. Forty-five min. past three,
steered right across the river one mile and a half, from six feet on
south-side, to six feet on north-side; found the channel half a mile
broad, from three to three fathom; in the middle of the channel there
is four fathom and a half, a soft clay bottom; we run up this channel
one mile and a half, sounded from four fathom and a half to two fathom
and a half, then three fathom; presently we were in five fathom; then
six fathom; we were now abreast of the first remarkable gully, near
one mile and a half above the foot of the high land: from five
fathom, we sounded very uneven soundings; one cast two fathom, the
next four or five feet, then three feet in the middle of the river;
here we were upon the middle ground, the channel being near the north
and south sides of the river: then we run near the north shore;
sounded from four feet to two fathom several times. When we got to
Flamborough-head, the soundings were more regular. Three min. past
six, we passed Flamborough-head, sounded from ten feet to three fathom
and a quarter, and from three fathom and a quarter to two fathom; we
had these soundings near a mile; now it was first quarter flood. From
these good soundings to Seal-island, we sounded twice, from two fathom
to six feet. Within three or four hundred yards of Seal-island, the
channel is very shallow; close to the north end of Seal-island there
is from two to three fathom water; neap tides flow here about four
feet, spring tides about eight feet. Seal-island is about three miles
and a half above Flamborough-head by computation. Thirty min. past
seven, a breast of Seal-island, sounded from two to three fathom. We
past Seal and Gillam's-islands, thinking to sail up a stream we met
there: but it being neap tide, and we not knowing where the deepest
water was, and seeing the tops of stones above water, at fifteen min.
past eight we returned to Seal-island, where the water was fallen half
a foot; and landed at forty-five min. past eight; pitching our tent on
the N. E. point of Gillam's-island.

Tuesday the 16th, in the morning, Capt. Fowler and I went round
Gillam's-island; we climbed up the west end, which is very steep to
look up the river: we imagined, that if we had got up that stream, and
we were very near the head of it when we turned back, we might have
sailed in the long-boat a great way farther up the river: at thirty
min. past eight, we returned to our tent. After breakfast we left two
men to take care of the boats, and went down the north shore of the
river to observe the flats at low water. When we were five miles below
Flamborough-head, we climbed up to the top of the bank, where we saw
the lower end of the middle ground, the top of some large stones being
above water; flood at thirty min. past five this afternoon. From the
place where we stood to these stones on the lower end of the middle
ground, and to the outer point of woods on the south shore, it bore E.
half N. As we went down the shore we saw plainly there was a channel
on the north side, and another on the south side of the middle ground;
we thought the channel on the north side the best, and it lay close to
the shore, within half a cable's length of it; all the way from two or
three miles above the lower end of the high land up to Flamborough-head,
and from two or three miles above the foot of the high-land, the
channel is in the middle of the river, leading out of the river's
mouth.

This north shore lies 42 deg. N. E. and S. W. and is a sand from the
height of three quarters flood to low water mark; towards high water
mark, close under the bank, it is full of large pebble stones; there
are several small creeks along this shore, where we found tenting
poles left by the Indians who had lain there to fish: it thundered and
rained much while we were upon this journey. Between Seal-island and
Flamborough-head, there are large parcels of fine trees growing close
to the river side. Fifteen min. past eight, we got to our tent, having
suffered much from the muskettos.

The Captain and I judging these islands very proper to make
settlements upon, the lesser island being as we apprehended an
extraordinary fine place for a fort to secure that river, I made a
particular survey of these islands, as follows;

WEDNESDAY morning the 17th, surveyed Seal-island, and found its length
21 chains or 1386 feet. Its breadth 4 chains or 297 feet. Its
circumference at high water mark 62 chains or 4092 feet. Its
perpendicular height 86 feet. Its form resembles a long oval. Its
height from low water mark makes an angle of 33 deg. Length of the
slope, 2 chains 40 links. We sounded the water round the island, from
2 to 3 fathom on the N. W. and N. E. sides: the S. W. and S. E. sides
lie to the main river, being shoal water near the island; but at half
a mile from the island the water is deep: between this and the large
island above it, there is two fathom and a half and three fathom
water, where a vessel may lie safe both in winter and summer, and a
vessel of eight or nine feet water may get up safe to this place. At
the N. E. end of Seal-island, on the main shore, is a very fine low
bottom, where grow a parcel of as fine trees as I have seen in the
country, close to the river; we cut our names on the trees in the N.
E. end of Seal-island. The breadth of the water that parts Seal-island
from the larger island above it is 8 chains or 176 yards; this larger
island is about three miles in circumference, the west end being as
high as any land thereabouts; neap tides flow here, about four feet,
and spring tides about eight feet; but the chart of this river will
best shew the situation of these islands. Along the river side are the
stones already mentioned, round as cannon balls, which when broke look
like iron. At forty-five min. past eight, almost high-water, we made
sail to go down the river; wind S. W. sounded from the N. E. corner of
Seal-island, from three fathom and a half to five feet; from five feet
to four fathom and three quarters just above Flamborough-head, then
eleven feet, then three fathom, then two fathom just below the head;
water fallen half a foot. From the head downwards, the shore lies N.
E. by N. and S. W. by S. nearly; the channel lies within half a
cable's length of the shore; the least soundings down this channel
were ten feet. The water fallen a foot about one mile and a half above
the foot of the high-land on the north side of the river: we stood off
from the shore near a mile, sounded two fathom, then stood in and
shoaled gradually to nine feet: we stood off and on several times, and
found the bottom near level; sounded off shore a mile, found twelve
feet water, then stood in shore; the water shoaled gradually to nine
feet. At Forty-five min. past ten, we were a little below the foot of
the high-land, and stood across the river; found the channel in the
middle from three fathom to three fathom and a half, half a mile
broad; in the middle of the channel four fathom and a half, soft clay:
By working down this channel, towards the river's mouth, we found it
steep on each side, when we stood into two fathom and a half before
put the helm a lee; ere the boat was stayed, she shot into ten feet
water. When we came pretty far down, seemingly without the river's
mouth, we stood into two fathom and a half on the south side, then
stood to the northward till we sounded four fathom and a half, then to
the southward till we sounded three fathom, then to the northward till
we sounded eight fathom and a half, in the best of the channel. The
channel is deeper here than farther out; for as we came up we crossed
the channel three miles without this place, and had only six fathom.
From eight fathom and a half, we stood to the S. eastward about three
miles, saw a point or ridge of stones on the south-side, distance
three quarters of a mile, sounded three fathom: this point of stones
dries four or five feet perpendicular, and seems to lie two or three
miles from shore; but there are flats that dry at low-water all the
way to the shore, so that a man may walk from these stones to the
land: then we stood northward; the water deepened little in half a
mile. When we had stood a mile northward, we saw stones dry on the
north-side, distance three quarters of a mile; sounded three fathom
and a half to four fathom, (now we were almost as far out as when we
steered N. W. across the channel in going up the river, and had six
fathom) Then we steered E. S. E. two or three miles. Keeping three
fathom, near the south flats, towards low-water (it was low-water when
we were hereabouts in our progress up the river) made a little trip to
the northward to deepen our water; wind at S. W. a fresh gale: hawled
up for the ship, which we saw very plain in Five-fathom-hole, all the
way after we had passed the point of stones mentioned above, and got
aboard fifteen min. past seven in the evening.




APPENDIX.

NUMBER IV.

_A survey of the course of_ Nelson-river, _taken along the south shore
at high-water mark. Each course set by compass, variation 16 deg, 45',
and measured by a wheel; with observations._


_First course W. by N. half N. 74 chains._

THIS first course begins at Beacon A, on the point of marsh that parts
Nelson and Hayes's-rivers; and goes to Beacon B that stands on the
marsh towards Nelson-river. (See the chart)

_Second course W. by N. 190 chains._

WHAYWEE-creek is 20 chains on this course. There are two other small
creeks before the course ends. At the end is the geese tent, where the
English and Indians in the season lie to kill geese, bearing S. W.
Distance half a mile.

_Third course W. 160 chains._

THIS course reaches to a ledge, called at York-fort the ledge of
woods, which are generally small trees.

_Fourth course W. by S. 430 chains._

THE end of the Indian path from York-fort to Nelson-river, is at 240
chains up this course. Here the Indians quit the woods, and go up by
the river side. In this course are patches of timber-trees.

_Fifth course W. S. W. 160 chains._

FORTY chains up this course opened Flamborough-head. Some large trees
a little distant from the river side.

_Sixth course S. W. by W. 240 chains._

BURN'D wood upon this course. Now the place begins to look green
again.

_Seventh course S. W. 270 chains._

A considerable quantity of timber-trees along this course close to the
river; at the end of it a creek between two high banks, where are many
rabbets; this creek deep; I imagine ships may winter in it, but being
frozen I could not sound it. The first stream or fall is at
Flamborough-Head.

_Eighth course S. W. by W. 110 chains._

TIMBER-TREES along this course, and several creeks.

_Ninth course W. S. W. 50 chains._

TIMBER-TREES and a marsh all this course.

_Tenth course W. by S. 40 chains._

NOTHING remarkable.

_Eleventh course W. 30 chains._

A barren steep bank and stone shore all this course.

_Twelfth course W. by N. 250 chains._

THE river runs near the bank which is barren, the shore stony. At 210
chains is a creek with some timber in it. The end of this course
abreast of Seal-island.

_Thirteenth course W. half S. 160 chains._

SIXTY chains up this course is a creek, where there is a large,
quantity of timber-trees. Here is a long fall or stream of water,
where captain Fowler and I sailed up in a long-boat, and turned back
when we were almost up it.

_Fourteenth course W. S. W. 180 chains._

RUNS into a Bay, but the river lyeth W. half S. five miles up from
Gillam's-island. At the end of this course is a creek, where is a good
quantity of timber.

_Fifteenth course N. W. 210 chains._

THE third fall or stream of water.

_Sixteenth course W. by N. 560 chains._

AT the beginning of this course on the north side just above a point,
is an island as large as Gillam's. Sixty chains higher are four
islands, three of which are abreast of each other, the largest lies
higher up in a Bay on the south side. Sugar-loaf island is the largest
of the three abreast of each other. Small trees upon all these
islands.

THERE are two creeks on this course, one on the north side below the
three islands, the other on the south side in the Bay over-against the
great island.

_Seventeenth course W. N. W. 480 chains._

THE land is very high; on this course is a creek that the Indians tell
us goes quite through to Hayes's-river, where it is called
Penny-Cutaway. The Indians are said to have gone thro' this creek in
their canoes from river to river.

_Eighteenth course N. W. by W. 390 chains._

HIGH land and barren; but in low places by the river side there is
fine timber, and also in the creeks. These two last courses I did not
measure with the wheel, apprehending if I did, I should not get back
to my tent that night; so only walked these two courses, setting them
by compass.

THE next day I inspected the north side of the river; opposite to
Seal-island is a low plain, where are some very fine timber-trees, and
near it great store of fire-wood.

ABREAST of Gillam's-island on the north side is a creek, in which we
found two or three stumps of trees that had been cut by Europeans.
Three eighths of a mile above Gillam's-island is a fine small creek,
where is a great number of timber-trees; here we also found old stumps
cut by Europeans many years ago: there being so few of these, I
conjectured the people had only tented here a few days.

THERE are many trees growing on the north bank from Flamborough-head,
and the same on the south bank as far as I went up, which if cut down
would fall into the water. In all my survey I did not see any thing
from which I could infer, that there had been any settlement on this
river.




APPENDIX.

NUMBER V.

_A survey of_ Seal _and_ Gillam's islands, _which lie 79 deg. 30 min.
S. W. of_ Flamborough-head; _distance three miles._


FIRST station at a point on the south side of the river close to
high-water mark. The S. E. corner of Seal-island bore 26 deg. N. W.
Flamborough-head and that corner of Seal-island made an angle of 86
deg. 30 min. distance from first station six furlongs.

SECOND station at S. E. corner of Seal-island. Flamborough-head bore
74 deg. 30. min. N. E. making an angle with first station of 79 deg.

FROM the first station to a creek's mouth westward, on the south side
the angle to second station is 80 deg.

FROM second station betwixt the same creek's mouth and the first
station the angle was 72 deg. 30 min.

THIRD station at N. E. corner of Seal-island, to a point at the lower
end of a bottom of woods, 58 deg. 30 min. N. E. distance 3 furlongs 7
chains.

FOURTH station at S. W. corner of Seal-island, to Beacon A, or south
point of Gillam's-island, 69 deg. 30 min. S. W. distance 4 furlongs 1
chain. These stations were made in so cold a day, that every time I
touched the instrument it stuck to my fingers.

THE breadth of the water from the north shore to Seal-island, 2
furlongs 8 chains.

BREADTH of water from Seal to Gillam's-island 8 chains; the water
between Seal and Gillam's-island is from 2 to 3 fathom deep at low
water, and the same from Seal-island to north shore: the other sides
lie to the main river: the length, breadth, circumference, height and
slope I have mentioned in No.. III. The best way up to the top of
Seal-island is the middle of the S. S. E. side; the other sides being
very steep. The west end of Gillam's is four or five feet higher than
Seal-island; it has a descent from thence to the eastward, over
against Seal-island, where it is so low that spring-tides flow over
it.

THE acclivity at the top makes the distance there eighty yards more
than at the water.




APPENDIX.

NUMBER VI.

_A journal of the winds and tides at_ Churchill-river _in_
Hudson's-bay, _for parts of the years 1746 and 1747._


                   _WINDS._                    _Tides height
                                                    in feet._

_1746, Octob._        1 N. A strong gale              14-1/2
                      2 No remark
_New moon._           3 N. W.                      no remark
                      4 E. by N. a strong gale        14
                      5 N. N. W. a strong gale        15-1/2
                      6 W. N. W. moderate             15-1/2
                      7 W. by S. ditto                14-1/2
                        No remark till the
                     16 S. S. W. veerable             10
                     17 S. W. by W. ditto             10-1/2
                     18 N. W.                         11-1/2
                     19 N. W. by W. moderate          12-1/2
                     20 E. a fresh gale               12-1/2
                     21 N. E. a strong gale           12
                     22 N. E. by N. a fresh gale      12
                     23 N. E. moderate                11-1/2
                     24 N. by W. very moderate        10-1/2
                     25 S. W. by S. very moderate     10-1/2
                     26 E. by N.                  a low tide
                     27 E. by N. a strong gale         9-1/2
                     28 E.             did not mind the tide
                     29 S. by W. moderate             10
                     30 N. by W. ditto                11-1/2
                     31 S. W. by W. ditto             11-1/2
_November_            1 N. N. W. moderate             12
_New moon_            2 N. by W. a fresh gale         14
                      3 W. by N.                      14-1/2
                      4 N. by W. a gentle breeze      14-1/2
                      5 W. by N. ditto                13-1/2
                      6 N. by W. a fresh gale         14
                      7 N. W. moderate                11
                      8 N. W. ditto                   11
                      9 N. W. ditto                    9-1/2
                     10 N. W. by N. a fresh gale       9
                     11 W. N. W. a gentle breeze.

The ice obstructs my knowing exactly the tide's height, but it
is a low tide.

                     12 W. N. W.                   a low tide
                     13 W. by N.                        ditto
                     14 E. by N.        the river frozen over
                        within a mile of the sea, a low tide
                     15 E. moderate; so it hath been three
                        days past
                     16 S. E. moderate,            a low tide
                     17 W. S. W. moderate,              ditto
                     18 S. W. moderate, as near as I could
                        guess                     tide 9 feet
                     19 W. by N. moderate,        tide flowed
                                                  near 9 feet
                     20 W. S. W. moderate,        a low tide.

THESE ten days past, the tide has not ebbed so low as it ebbs in
summer by 2 feet perpendicular; and from its not flowing above 9 feet
these last springs, I am induced to believe that the straits thro'
which it comes into the Bay, must at this time be full of ice; and
that therefore these straits are shallow and more subject to the frost
than Churchill-river; Churchill-river being not yet frozen over near
the sea.

_Nov._ 1746,         21 S. W. a gentle breeze, the tide
                        is lower than any tide in summer
                     22 W. by S. the frost is so violent,
                        that no observations can be made
                        upon the tides till the river is open
                        again, which will not be till June.
                     23 N. N. W.
                     24 N. W.
                     25 W. by N.
                     26 W. N. W.
                     27 W. by N.
                     28 W. by S.
                     29 N. W.
                     30 N. W.
_Decem._              1 W. by N.
                      2 W.
                      3 W.
                      4 W. N. W.
                      5 W. by N.
                      6 N. N. W.
                      7 N. W. by W.
                      8 N. W.
                      9 N. W.
                     10 N. W. by W.
                     11 S. W.
                     12 E.
                     13 N. W.
                     14 N. W. by N.
                     15 N. by W.
                     16 W. N. W.
                     17 W. S. W.
                     18 N. W. by N.
                     19 N. W.
                     20 N. N. W.
                     21 N. W. by N.
                     22 W. by N.
                     23 W. N. W.
                     24 W. N. W.
                     25 N. W. by N.
                     26 S. W.
                     27 N. W. by W.
                     28 N. N. W.
                     29 N. W.
                     30 N. W. by W.
                     31 N. W. by W.

_Jan._ 1747           1 W. by N.
                      2 W.
                      3 N. W. by W.
                      4 N. W.
                      5 N. W. by N.
                      6 N. W.
                      7 N. W. by N.
                      8 N. W.
                      9 N. W.
                     10 N. W.
                     11 N. W.
                     12 N. W.
                     13 S. W.
                     14 S. by W.
                     15 N. W. by W.
                     16 W. N. W.
                     17 N. by W.
                     18 N. W.
                     19 W. N. W.
                     20 N. N. W.
                     21 W. N. W.
                     22 S. by W.
                     23 N. W.
                     24 N. W.
                     25 N. W.
                     26 N. by E.
                     27 N.
                     28 E. by N.
                     29 N. N. E.
                     30 N. N. E.
                     31 N. E.
_Feb._                1 W. N. W.
                      2 N. W.
                      3 N. N. W.
                      4 N. W.
                      5 S. W.
                      6 S. by E.
                      7 S. by W.
                      8 S. by E.
                      9 N.
                     10 Easterly.
                     11 N. N. E.
                     12 W.
                     13 S. S. E.
                     14 S.
                     15 S. by W.
                     16 W. by N.
                     17 N. W.
                     18 W. by N.
                     19 N. N. W.
                     20 N. W.
                     21 N. W.
                     22 N. W.
                     23 N. W. by W.
                     24 S. by W.
                     25 N. W.
                     26 N. W.
                     27 S. W.
                     28 N. W. by N.
_Mar._                1 S.
                      2 N. N. W.
                      3 N. W.
                      4 [no report]
                      5 W. N. W.
                      6 W. by N.
                      7 W. N. W.
                      8 W. N. W.
                      9 S. by W.
                     10 N. W.
                     11 N. W.
                     12 S. S. W.
                     13 W. N. W.
                     14 N. W.
                     15 S.
                     16 N. W.
                     17 N.
                     18 N. N. W.
                     19 N. W.
                     20 N. W. by W.
                     21 E.
                     22 S. E.
                     23 S.
                     24 Southerly.
                     25 N.
                     26 W. N. W.
                     27 Southerly.
                     28 Southerly.
                     29 Northerly.
                     30 Easterly.
                     31 Easterly.
_April_               1 N. N. E.
                      2 Northerly.
                      3 Northerly.
                      4 Northerly.
                      5 Northerly.
                      6 Southerly.
                      7 Very veerable.
                      8 N. veerable.
                      9 S. veerable.
                     10 N. W.
                     11 S. veerable.
                     12 Easterly.
                     13 N. N. E.
                     14 N. N. W.
                     15 N. W.
                     16 Southerly.
                     17 Northerly.
                     18 Southerly.
                     19 Northerly.
                     20 Northerly.
                     21 Northerly.
                     22 Northerly.
                     23 Northerly.
                     24 N. W.
                     25 Veerable.
                     26 E.
                     27 Easterly.
                     28 E. by N.
                     29 N.
                     30 Northerly.
_May_                 1 Veer'd all round the compass.
                      2 Veer'd in N. E. quarter.
                      3 N. W. by W.
                      4 Northerly.
                      5 Northerly.
                      6 Northerly.
                      7 N. N. E.
                      8 Northerly.
                      9 E. by S.
                     10 N. N. W.
                     11 Southerly.
                     12 Northerly.
                     13 Northerly.
                     14 Northerly.
                     15 S.
                     16 Easterly.
                     17 Easterly.
                     18 Easterly.
                     19 Easterly.
                     20 N. E. by E.
                     21 E. N. E.
                     22 N. E. by N.
                     23 N.
                     24 N.
                     25 Northerly.
                     26 E. by N.
                     27 Westerly.
                     28 N. W. by W.
                     29 N. W. by N.
                     30 N. N. W.
                     31 S.
_June_                1 N. W.
                      2 N. W.
                      3 N. W.
                      4 S. E.
                      5 S. W. by S.
                      6 N. W. by N.
                      7 N. W.
                      8 W. N. W.
                      9 Easterly.
_F moon_             10 W. N. W.
                     11 W. S. W.

Moderate; the river is broke open, tide 10 feet.

                     12 E. a fresh gale               10-1/2
                     13 N. N. E. ditto.
                     14 N. by E. moderate             12
                     15 W. veered much                12
                     16 W. moderate                   11
                                         Evening tide 10-1/2
                     17 S. moderate                   10-1/2
                     18 N. by W. a fresh gale         11

The tide ebbs out lower since the river broke open than any
other time a-year.

                     19 S. moderate                    9-1/2
                     20 W. moderate, did not mind the tide's height
                     21 W. N. W.                  a low tide
                     22 N. moderate, tide height not observed
                     23 W. S. W. moderate              9-1/2

The tide ebbs out now as it generally does all the year.

                     24 N. N. W. a brisk gale         11
_New moon._          25 N. W. by N. ditto
                     26 W. moderate                   11
                                         Evening tide 11-1/2
                     27 N. W. by N. blows fresh       11
                     28 N. W. by W. moderate          11-1/2
                                         Evening tide 12
                     29 Southerly, moderate           12
                     30 N. N. W. a brisk gale         13
_July_                1 Northerly, a brisk gale       13-1/2
                      2 S. W. by S. moderate
                      3 Northerly, moderate           11-1/2
                      4 N. E. by E. moderate          11-1/2
                      5 Easterly, blows fresh         12
                      6 Easterly, blows hard          11-1/2
                      7 N. by E. a fresh gale         11-1/2
                      8 Westerly, moderate            11-1/2
                      9 W. N. W. moderate             12
                     10 Westerly, ditto               11-1/2
                     11 Westerly, moderate            11-1/2
                                         Evening tide 13-1/2
                     12 Northerly, blows fresh        14
                     13 N. E. blows hard              15
                     14 N. E. moderate                12
                     15 N. E. by N. a fresh gale
                     16 Southerly, moderate
                     17 Southerly, ditto
                     18 N. E. by N.
                     19 Westerly.
                     20 W. by S.
                     21 S. by E.

I am employed so much in other business that I cannot take the
particular height of the tides, but they are moderate.

                     22 Northerly.
                     23 N. E.
                     24 N. E.

At this time I was engaged in sounding Nelson-river.

                     25 N. E. by E. little wind and veered much. With
                        such veerable winds the tides are always low here.
                     26 Southerly, a fine gale
                     27 Southerly, ditto
                     28 Westerly, veerable
                     29 Easterly, blows fresh
                     30 Southerly, moderate
                     31 S. W. a fine breeze
_August_              1 Westerly, moderate and veerable
                      2 Northerly, blows fresh
                      3 S. W. a fine breeze and veerable
                      4 N. N. W. moderate and veerable
                      5 Westerly, moderate and veerable
                      6 S. W. a fine gale and veerable

The Hudson's-bay, captain Fowler came into the river.

                      7 S. W. veerable

I was discharged out of the fort and went on board the ship for
England.

_The_ nights of the 5th and 6th September 1745, the tide flowed higher
than the proper springs; the moon seven days old. 20th September 1745,
tide flowed 13 feet 7 inches. At this season the highest tides are
often five or six days after the full or change of the moon,
occasioned by hard gales in the N. W. quarter.

_FINIS._


_London, April 15th, 1752._

_Just Published_,

I. FOUR VOLUMES

OF

The RAMBLER,

In DUODECIMO.

_Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri;
Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes._
                                                        HOR.

_Sworn to no master's arbitrary sway,
I range where-e'er occasion points the way._

The FIFTH and SIXTH VOLUMES,

which compleat the Work, are in the Press;

With which will be printed

A TABLE of CONTENTS to each VOLUME, and a Translation of all the Greek
and Latin Passages.


II. MANNERS: A correct and elegant Translation of LES MOEURS. With the
original Frontispiece.

_Respicere exemplar vitæ morumque._          HOR.

The SECOND EDITION, 12mo. Price bound 3_s._


III. A TREATISE on VIRTUE and
HAPPINESS. By THOMAS NETTLETON, M.D.
and F.R.S.

----_Rectius hoc est:
Hoc faciens vivam melius; sic dulcis amicis
Occurram._                                 HOR.

The THIRD EDITION, printed from a Copy in the Possession of the
AUTHOR'S Widow, considerably _altered_ and _improved_ by himself. 8vo.
Price bound 4_s._

_Lately published_,

(_Price one Shilling and Sixpence_)

AN

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

OF THE

DISCOVERY

OF THE

ISLAND

OF

MADEIRA;

Being an Abridgment of the _Portuguese_ Original, which was compiled
by Don FRANCISCO MANOEL, from the Journals and Papers of FRANCISCO DE
ALCAFORADO.

To which is added,

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

PRESENT STATE

OF THE

ISLAND OF MADEIRA.

[End of _An Account of Six Years Residence in Hudsons Bay_ by Joseph Robson]