[115] On the 8th of March 1771 they "lay a little to the E.N.E. of Black Bear Hill" (see p. 125), while now they are three quarters of a mile south of it. As this hill is but a short distance (two days' journey) west of Wholdiah Lake, the two routes laid down on the map are evidently incorrect, for the map shows his route home at this place at least thirty-five miles north of the route out, instead of south of it as indicated by the text.
[BL] As a proof of this assertion I take the liberty, though a little foreign to the narrative of my journey, to insert one instance, out of many hundreds of the kind that happen at the different Factories in Hudson's Bay, but perhaps no where so frequently as at Churchill. In October 1776, my old guide, Matonabbee, came at the head of a large gang of Northern Indians, to trade at Prince of Wales's Fort; at which time I had the honour to command it. When the usual ceremonies had passed, I dressed him out as a Captain of the first rank, and also clothed his six wives from top to toe: after which, that is to say, during his stay at the Factory, which was ten days, he begged seven lieutenants' coats, fifteen common coats, eighteen hats, eighteen shirts, eight guns, one hundred and forty pounds weight of gunpowder, with shot, ball, and flints in proportion; together with many hatchets, ice chissels, files, bayonets, knives, and a great quantity of tobacco, cloth, blankets, combs, looking-glasses, stockings, handkerchiefs, &c. besides numberless small articles, such as awls, needles, paint, steels, &c. in all to the amount of upwards of seven hundred beaver in the way of trade, to give away among his followers. This was exclusive of his own present, which consisted of a variety of goods to the value of four hundred beaver more. But the most extraordinary of his demands was twelve pounds of powder, twenty-eight pounds of shot and ball, four pounds of tobacco, some articles of clothing, and several pieces of iron-work, &c. to give to two men who had hauled his tent and other lumber the preceding Winter. This demand was so very unreasonable, that I made some scruple, or at least hesitated to comply with it, hinting that he was the person who ought to satisfy those men for their services; but I was soon answered, that he did not expect to have been denied such a trifle as that was; and for the future he would carry his goods where he could get his own price for them. On my asking him where that was? he replied, in a very insolent tone, "To the Canadian Traders." I was glad to comply with his demands; and I here insert the anecdote, as a specimen of an Indian's conscience.
[116] The river down which the party was travelling at this time would appear to have been a tributary of the Dubawnt River from the west. Unfortunately when I descended the Dubawnt River there were no Chipewyan Indians in the party, so that I was not able to learn the local names of the various lakes and natural features encountered, nor anything of the geography of the country beyond the range of vision, so that doubtless many streams joined the main river without being noticed by me. This is probably one of them.
[117] The north end of Wholdiah Lake of the present maps is in latitude 60° 49' north, whereas the part crossed by Hearne, which he calls A Naw-nee-tha'd Whoie, is placed by him in latitude 61° 50' north. It remains for some future explorer to account for this discrepancy, and give the exact situation of this place. That Hearne's position is much too far north is clear, for they were then in the woods, and the northern limit of the woods crosses the Dubawnt River about latitude 61° 30' N., twenty-three miles south of Hearne's course as indicated on his map.
[BM] All the furrs thus left were properly secured in caves and crevices of the rocks, so as to withstand any attempt that might be made on them by beasts of prey, and were well shielded from the weather; so that, in all probability, few of them were lost.
[118] As they were then on the barren lands, they probably crossed the Kazan River, somewhere about the north end of Ennadai Lake. There is a lake marked on the Mackenzie map as Nipach Lake which may possibly be intended to represent this latter lake. Although there are a few groves of spruce along the banks of this stream, north of the limit of the forest, no attempts seem to have been made by Hearne or his party to camp at them. The date here given is interesting as naming a time when one, at least, of the streams through the barren lands breaks up in spring.
[119] In the text no indication is given of the course which he followed after crossing Kazan River, but his map shows that he followed the route of his journey outwards, crossing Fat, Island, Whiskey Jack, and Baralzoa Lakes. The Cook map, however, shows that he went round to the north of Island Lake, and doubtless he also went round the largest of the other lakes, for he would hardly dare to cross them in the little canoes which he and the Indians were using for crossing the streams.
[BN] Mr. Jérémie is very incorrect in his account of the situation of this River, and its course. It is not easy to guess, whether the Copper or Dog-ribbed Indians be the nation he calls Platscotez de Chiens: if it be the former, he is much mistaken; for they have abundance of beaver, and other animals of the furr kind, in their country: and if the latter, he is equally wrong to assert that they have copper-mines in their country; for neither copper nor any other kind of metal is in use among them.
Mr. Jérémie was not too modest when he said, (see Dobb's Account of Hudson's Bay, p. 19,) "he could not say any thing positively in going farther North;" for in my opinion he never was so far North or West as he pretends, otherwise he would have been more correct in his description of those parts.
The Strait he mentions is undoubtedly no other than what is now called Chesterfield's Inlet, which, in some late and cold seasons, is not clear of ice the whole Summer: for I will affirm, that no Indian, either Northern or Southern, ever saw either Wager Water or Repulse Bay, except the two men who accompanied Captain Middleton; and though those men were selected from some hundreds for their universal knowledge of those parts, yet they knew nothing of the coast so far North as Marble Island.