Columbus and Other Heroes of American Discovery

by N. D'Anvers

This programme was carried out, and in spite of the intense cold, the party escaped many of the horrors usually attendant upon it to Europeans, by following the advice of some friendly Esquimaux, who gave them many hints as to the best way to avoid them. The summer of the following year found the expedition moving up the bay, and a thorough examination of the Wager Sound, proving it to be a close one, was made; but, alas! this was the only result of what had appeared likely to be one of the most successful expeditions yet fitted out. Having discovered that no passage to the Pacific was to be found by way of the Nelson or the Wager, Moore and Smith came to the conclusion that no passage existed at all, and returned to England to announce that their work was done. That they were received with what we may really call a yell of execration is a matter of little surprise, but that expression of public scorn was followed by no renewed attempt in the same direction.

Knight, as we know, had disappeared, and the secret of his fate, anticipated by us, was still unknown. Middleton, Moore, and Smith had accomplished nothing. Surely it was time to make a change of tactics, and with some such feeling the heads of the Company resolved to give up the question of a water passage to the West for a time, and see what could be accomplished by land. Not until 1769, however, two years after the discovery of the relics of Knight’s expedition, was any thing definite attempted, and by that date the Hudson’s Bay Company had been to some degree supplanted by that known as the North-west, which consisted of a number of British merchants who, without charter, privileges, or public support, had been quietly, though energetically, making good their footing in the great North-west.

Our readers will remember all that we have told them of the French coureurs des bois, and of their rapid advance westward, accompanied by the Jesuit missionaries, who did so much to check their abuses. This advance at one time seemed likely to prevent that of any other Europeans; but the cession of Canada to England in 1763, a cession fraught with political consequences of such vital importance to the whole civilized world, shook the power of the French to its foundation.

A royal proclamation was issued, organizing Canada under English laws; and no longer could the lawless proceedings of the coureurs des bois be tolerated. Henceforth the lakes and rivers would miss the skin-laden canoes of the half-savage traders; no more should the remote forests echo with their shouts of joy as they brought down their prey, or the solemn wastes of snow-clad plains be desecrated by their wild revels.

The change—as all great changes generally are—was gradual. The pioneers of the new order of things often surprised some little group of dusky half-caste children, with eager eyes and vivacious ways of their French fathers contrasting strangely with the shrinking timidity inherited from their savage mothers. Now and then, too, bloody struggles took place between the hunters of the rival nations; and the natives, delighted to see the white men devouring each other, began those treacherous assaults, in which they have ever proved themselves adepts, which culminated in the massacres of Detroit and Michilimackinac.

This terrible transition stage, where such numerous rivals were contending for the monopoly of the fur-trade of the great North-west, produced, as transition stages so often do, many a bold spirit eager to win honor by facing the exceptional difficulties of the time. First one and then another hero came forward to offer his services to the Hudson’s Bay Company for new expeditions; first one and then another member of its infant rival accomplished some traveling-feat hitherto looked upon as impossible. Some few among these, such as Hearne of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Mackenzie of the North-west Company, worked below as well as above the 60th parallel of north latitude, and must therefore be noticed here.

AN ESQUIMAUX DWELLING.

Hearne, the first of this brilliant pair of adventurers to start, left the western shores of Hudson’s Bay in November, 1769, and accompanied by two Europeans and a number of Indian guides, struck across country in a northerly direction, with the head-waters of the Coppermine River, so named after the mine supposed to exist in its vicinity, as his goal. Again and again compelled to retrace his steps to the advanced forts of his employers, on account of the scarcity of provisions and the extreme cold, our hero did not enter the great northern plain until December, 1770. Across it he was now, however, conducted in safety by an Indian guide, named Matonnabbe, who was accompanied by his eight squaws, on whom the chief burden of providing for the comfort of the party was thrown.

So well did these poor women fulfill their mission, turning to account every scrap of food which came in their way, that Hearne reached in safety the most southerly of the great hyperborean series of frozen lakes. Naming the smaller ones Cossed, Snow-bird, Pike, Peshew, and Cagead, he came in due course to the more important Athabasca, just below the boundary line of the 60th parallel of north latitude, and beyond that again to the Great Slave Lake, situated between N. lat. 60° and 63° and surrounded on every side by rugged wooded heights, presenting a pleasing contrast to the white stretches of snow and ice extending on every side beyond.