Book
A journey from Prince of Wales's fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772
Macmillan Co. of Canada • Toronto • Published In 1958 • Pages:
By: Hearne, Samuel.
Abstract
In the late eighteenth century Samuel Hearne was commissioned by the Hudson's Bay Company to seek the source of copper ore believed to have originated in the Copper River area of northern Canada, now within the territory of Nunavut (1999). He was also requested to establish peaceful relations with the Northern Indian (Chipeweyan) groups that he met along the way and to inquire of them if they knew of any northwest sea route across northern Canada (presumably to remove ore deposits by ship if they were discovered). This document describes in detail Hearne's two expeditions to carry out this task. His first expedition ended in failure primarily because of the incompetance of his Indian guide Chawchihahaw. This expedition started from Prince of Wales's Fort near Churchill, Manitoba, then to the Dubawnt, Yathkyed Lake region of the Nunavut territory, and back to Churchill. The second expedition, under the more competent guide Matonabbee, proceeded from Prince of Wales's Fort, across a chain of lakes in the southern part of the Northwest Territories, to a point east of Great Slave Lake, and then north to the Copper River area. His return trip retraced his original route to the Copper River area, but this time, heading south, Hearne crossed a chain of islands across Great Slave Lake before travelilng east to Churchill. (Hearne's map of his journey is missing from the text copy used here, but the reader may find copies of this map in other editions of this work). Although much of the text deals with routine details of the journey itself (e.g., camping, routes taken, etc.), the author often provides aside discussions on various aspects of native ethnography. This is further supplemented in chapter ix by additional ethnographic data on the Northern or Chipewyan Indians. Chapter x presents an extensive listing of the native fauna and flora found in the Hudson's Bay region.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2000
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Arctic and Subarctic
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Types
- Traveler
- Explorer
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1999
- Field Date
- 1769-1772
- Coverage Date
- 1769-1772
- Coverage Place
- Manitoba, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories, Canada
- Notes
- by Samuel Hearne ; edited with an introd. by Richard Glover
- Includes bibliographical references
- maps for this edition were not available
- LCCN
- 59003217
- LCSH
- Chipewyan Indians