ailed round the bottom of
what is called Pistol Bay, and, in stead of a passage to a western sea,
found it does not run above three or four miles inland.

[Footnote 42: Printed for Jeffreys, in 1768. His words are, "There
remains then to be searched for the discovery of a passage, the opening
called Pistol Bay, in Hudson's Bay," p. 122--D]

Besides these voyages by sea, which satisfy us that we must not look for
a passage to the south of 67 deg. of latitude, we are indebted to the
Hudson's Bay Company for a journey by land, which has thrown much
additional light on this matter, by affording what may be called
demonstration, how much farther north, at least in some part of their
voyage, ships must hold their course, before they can pass from one side
of America to the other. The northern Indians, who come down to the
company's forts for trade, had brought to the knowledge of our people,
the existence of a river, which, from copper abounding near it, had got
the name of the Copper-mine River. We read much about this river in Mr
Dobbs's publications, and he considers the Indian accounts of it as
favourable to his system. The company being desirous of examining the
matter with precision, instructed their governor of Prince of Wales's
Fort, to send a proper person to travel by land, under the escort of
some trusty northern Indians, with orders to proceed to this famous
river, to take an accurate survey of its course, and to trace it to the
sea, into which it empties itself. Mr Hearne, a young gentleman in their
service, who, having been an officer in the navy, was well qualified to
make observations for fixing the longitude and latitude, and make
drawings of the country he should pass through, and of the river which
he was to examine, was appointed for this service.

Accordingly, he set out from Fort Prince of Wales, on Churchill River,
in latitude 58 deg. 50', on the 7th of December, 1770; and the whole of his
proceedings, from time to time, are faithfully preserved in his journal.
The publication of this is an acceptable present to the world, as it
draws a plain artless picture of the savage modes of life, the scanty
means of subsistence, and indeed of the singular wretchedness, in every
respect, of the various tribes, who, without fixed habitations, pass
their miserable lives, roving throughout the dreary deserts, and over
the frozen lakes of the immense tract of continent through which Mr
Hearne passed, and which he ma