This note also throws an interesting light on the date on which the journal was written, for the first outbreak of small-pox, which swept off the Indians of Western Canada, occurred in 1781, and therefore the journal itself was written before that date, while Hearne was living as Governor at Fort Prince of Wales. The note would appear to have been written about 1787, after the destruction of Fort Prince of Wales, and while Hearne was living at Fort Churchill, five miles south of the old fort, and before he finally returned to England.
[AU] Mr. Moses Norton.
[83] The party had thus reached Congecathawhachaga on the morning of the seventh day after leaving Bloody Falls or the mouth of the Coppermine River, the distance in a direct line being about one hundred and sixty miles. If they travelled in a direct line they averaged twenty-five miles a day, but the windings of the journey would add something to this distance.
[84] Contwoito Lake, described on page 152.
[85] The exact position of this place, to which the women and children had moved from the north shore of Cat or Clinton-Colden Lake, is not certain, but it was evidently on some of the lakes or streams marked on his map as lying between Cogead (Contwoito) and Point Lakes.
{189} CHAP. VII.
Remarks from the Time the Women joined us till our Arrival at the Athapuscow Lake.
Several of the Indians sick—Method used by the conjurers to relieve one man, who recovers—Matonabbee and his crew proceed to the South West—Most of the other Indians separate, and go their respective ways—Pass by White Stone Lake—Many deer killed merely for their skins—Remarks thereon, and on the deer, respecting seasons and places—Arrive at Point Lake—One of the Indian's wives being sick, is left behind to perish above-ground—Weather very bad, but deer plenty—Stay some time at Point Lake to dry meat, &c.—Winter set in—Superstitious customs observed by my companions, after they had killed the Esquimaux at Copper River—A violent gale of wind oversets my tent and breaks my quadrant—Some Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians join us—Indians propose to go to the Athapuscow Country to kill moose—Leave Point Lake, and arrive at the wood's edge—Arrive at Anawd Lake—Transactions there—Remarkable instance of a man being cured of the palsey by the conjurers—Leave Anawd Lake—Arrive at the great Athapuscow Lake.