the execution of the service. The following particulars are extracted from the official narratives of the officers engaged in this extremely hazardous undertaking:
“It was suggested in my instructions,” says the commander, “that we might probably secure a schooner at this place, to proceed north as far as Wager Bay; but the vessel alluded to was lying at Moose Factory completely out of repair; independently of which, the route directly to the northward was rendered impracticable by the impossibility of procuring hunters and guides on the coast. The opinions of all the gentlemen (resident at York Factory) were so decidedly in favor of the route by Cumberland House, and through the chain of posts to the Great Slave Lake, that I determined on pursuing it, and immediately communicated my intention to the governor, with a request that he would furnish me with the means of conveyance as speedily as possible. He selected one of the Company’s largest boats for our use on the journey; but he was able to furnish us only with a steersman; and we were obliged to make up the rest of the crew with the men brought from Stromness, and our two attendants, John Hepburn and Samuel Wilks.”
This appears to have been occasioned by the arrival of the Prince of Wales and two other ships from England having given full occupation to the Company’s boatmen, the whole of whom were required to convey the necessary stores to the posts in the interior, before the commencement of winter.
On the 9th of September, our enterprising travellers commenced the laborious ascent of the different rapid streams between York Factory and Cumberland House, a distance by water of about 600 miles, which they were not able to accomplish before the 23d of the following month. The published charts of their route convey so correct a view of the numerous rivers, rapids, portages, and lakes, and the difficulties and impediments which occur in the long river-navigations of North America; and these obstructions have been so minutely detailed by Messrs. Hearne and Mackenzie, that it is unnecessary for us to extract more than one passage relative to them: the little space we can afford will be better appropriated to matters of higher interest.
