rne

The first noteworthy explorer of the far north was SAMUEL HEARNE,[1]
who had been mate of a vessel in the employ of the whale fishery of
Hudson Bay. He entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company about
1765, and was selected four years afterwards by the Governor of Prince
of Wales's Fort (a certain Moses Norton, a half-breed) to lead an
expedition of discovery in search of a mighty river flowing
northwards, which was rumoured to exist by the Eskimo. This
"Coppermine" River was said to flow through a region rich in deposits
of copper. From this district the northern tribes of Indians derived
their copper ornaments and axeheads.

[Footnote 1: Hearne was born in London in 1745. He entered the Royal
Navy as a midshipman at the tender age of eleven, and remained in the
Navy till about 1765, when he went out to Hudson Bay with the rank of
quartermaster. He must have acquired a considerable education, even in
botany and zoology. He not only wrote well, and was a good surveyor
for rough map making, but he had a considerable talent as a
draughtsman.]

Samuel Hearne started on the 6th of November, 1769, from Prince of
Wales's Fort at the mouth of the Churchill River, on the north-west
coast of Hudson Bay. Presumably he and the two "common white men" who
were with him travelled on snowshoes and hauled small sledges after
them. Travelling westward they passed over bleak hills with very
little vegetation--"the barren grounds, where, in general, we thought
ourselves well off if we could scrape together as many shrubs as would
make a fire; but it was scarcely ever in our power to make any other
defence against the weather than by digging a hole in the snow down to
the moss, wrapping ourselves up in our clothing, and lying down in it,
with our sledges set up edgeways to windward". But the principal
Indian guide that he engaged was so obviously determined to make the
expedition a failure that Hearne returned to his base, Prince of
Wales's Fort, and made a second start on the 23rd of February, 1770,
this time taking care not to be accompanied by any other white men,
and insisting that the Indians who accompanied him should be more
carefully chosen.

It must be remembered that in all these early expeditions, French and
English, the explorers relied for their food almost entirely on what
could be obtained as they went along, in the way of venison, grouse,
geese, fish, and wild fruits. In the springtime they would probably