Here Mr Hearne began his survey of the river. This he continued till he arrived at its mouth, near which his northern Indians massacred twenty-one Esquimaux, whom they surprised in their tents. We shall give Mr Hearne's account of his arrival at the sea, in his own words: "After the Indians had plundered the tents of the Esquimaux of all the copper, etc. they were then again ready to assist me in making an end to the survey; the sea then in sight from the N.W. by W. to the N.E., distant about eight miles. It was then about five in the morning of the 17th, when I again proceeded to survey the river to the mouth, still found, in every respect, no ways likely, or a possibility of being made navigable, being full of shoals and falls; and, at the entrance, the river emptying itself over a dry flat of the shore. For the tide was then out, and seemed, by the edges of the ice, to flow about twelve or fourteen feet, which will only reach a little within the river's mouth. That being the case, the water in the river had not the least brackish taste. But I am sure of its being the sea, or some part thereof, by the quantity of whale-bone and seal-skins the Esquimaux had at their tents; as also the number of seals which I saw upon the ice. The sea, at the river's mouth, was full of islands and shoals, as far as I could see, by the assistance of a pocket-telescope; and the ice was not yet broken up, only thawed away about three quarters of a mile from the snore, and a little way round the islands and shoals.
"By the time I had completed this survey, it was about one in the morning of the 18th; but in these high latitudes, and this time of the year, the sun is always a good height above the horizon. It then came on a thick drizzling rain, with a thick fog; and, as finding the river and sea, in every respect, not likely to be of any utility, I did not think it worth while to wait for fair weather, to determine the latitude exactly by an observation. But, by the extraordinary care I took in observing the courses and distances, walked from Conge catha wha Chaga, where I had two good observations, the latitude may be depended on, within twenty miles at farthest."
From the map which Mr Hearne constructed of the country through which he passed, in this singular journey, it appears that the mouth of the Copper-mine River lies in the latitude 72°, and above 25° west longitude from the fort, from whence he took his departure.[43]
[Footnote 43: Mr Hearne's journey, back from the Copper-mine River, to Fort Prince of Wales, lasted till June 30, 1772. From his first setting out till his return, he had employed near a year and seven months. The unparalleled hardships he suffered, and the essential service he performed, met with a suitable reward from his masters, and he was made governor of Fort Prince of Wales, where he was taken prisoner by the French in 1782; but soon afterwards returned to his station."--D.
This opportunity is taken to mention, that Mr Arrowsmith lays down Copper-mine River in longitude 113°, and not in 120°, according to Mr Hearne. In the opinion of Mr H. this river flows into an inland sea. Be this as it may, the result of his discoveries is unfavourable to the supposition of there being a north-west passage, Mr Hearne's journal was not published till 1795, considerably after the date of Dr Douglas's writing. Some alterations have consequently been made on the text and notes of that gentleman.--E.]
The consequences resulting from this extensive discovery, are obvious. We now see that the continent of North America stretches from Hudson's Bay so far to the north-west, that Mr Hearne had travelled near thirteen hundred miles before he arrived at the sea. His most western distance from the coast of Hudson's Bay was near six hundred miles; and that his Indian guides were well apprised of a vast tract of continent stretching farther on in that direction, is certain from many circumstances mentioned in his journal.
What is now mentioned with regard to the discoveries made by the Hudson's Bay Company, was well known to the noble lord who presided at the Board of Admiralty when this voyage was undertaken; and the intimate connection of those discoveries with the plan of the voyage, of course, regulated the instructions given to Captain Cook.
And now, may we not take it upon us to appeal to every candid and capable enquirer, whether that part of the instructions which directed the captain not to lose time, in exploring rivers or inlets, or upon any other account, till he got into the latitude of 65°, was not framed judiciously; as there were such indubitable proofs that no passage existed so far to the south as any part of Hudson's Bay, and that, if a passage could be effected at all, part of it, at least, must be traversed by the ships as far to the northward as the latitude 72°, where Mr Hearne arrived at the sea?
We may add, as a farther consideration in support of this article of the instructions, that Beering's Asiatic discoveries, in 1728, having traced that continent to the latitude of 67°, Captain Cook's approach toward that latitude was to be wished for, that he might be enabled to bring back more authentic information than the world had hitherto obtained, about the relative situation and vicinity of the two continents, which was absolutely necessary to be known, before the practicability of sailing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, in any northern direction, could be ascertained.
After all, that search, in a lower latitude, which they who give credit (if any such there now be) to the pretended discoveries of De Fonte, affect to wish had been recommended to Captain Cook, has (if that will cure them of their credulity) been satisfactorily made. The Spaniards, roused from their lethargy by our voyages, and having caught a spark of enterprise from our repeated visits to the Pacific Ocean, have followed us more than once into the line of our discoveries within the southern tropic; and have also fitted out expeditions to explore the American continent to the north of California. It is to be lamented, that there should be any reasons why the transactions of those Spanish voyages have not been fully disclosed, with the same liberal spirit of information which other nations have adopted. But, fortunately, this excessive caution of the court of Spain has been defeated, at least in one instance, by the publication of an authentic journal of their voyage of discovery upon the coast of America, in 1775, for which the world is indebted to the honourable Mr Daines Barrington. This publication, which conveys some information of real consequence to geography, and has therefore been referred to more than once in the following work, is particularly valuable in this respect, that some parts of the coast which Captain Cook, in his progress northward, was prevented, by unfavourable winds, from approaching, were seen and examined by the Spanish ships who preceded him; and the perusal of the following extract from their journal may be recommended to those (if any such there be) who would represent it as an imperfection in Captain Cook's voyage, that he had not an opportunity of examining the coast of America, in the latitude assigned to the discoveries of Admiral Fonte. "We now attempted to find out the straits of Admiral Fonte, though, as yet, we had not discovered the Archipelago of St Lazarus, through which he is said to have sailed. With this intent, we searched every bay and recess of the coast, and sailed round every headland, lying-to in the night, that we might not lose sight of this entrance. After these pains taken, and being favoured by a north-west wind, it may be pronounced that no such straits are to be found."[44]
[Footnote 44: Journal of a voyage in 1775 by Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle, in Mr Barrington's Miscellanies, p. 508.--D.]