48 INTRODUCTION TO THE 



by account^ in longitude 24 2' west of Churchill River. 

 On the 13th of July (having left Conge catha wha 

 Chaga by the 2d, and travelling still to the west of 

 north) he reached the Copper-mine River : and was 

 not a little surprized to find it differ so much from the 

 descriptions given of it by the natives at the fort ; 

 for, instead of being likely to be navigable for a ship, 

 it is, at this part, scarcely navigable for an Indian 

 canoe ; three falls being in sight, at one view, and 

 being choked up with shoals and stony ridges. 



Here Mr. Hearne began his survey of the river. 

 This he continued till he arrived at its mouth, near 

 which his Northern Indians massacred twenty-one 

 Esquimaux, whom they surprized in their tents. We 

 shall give Mr. Hearne's account of his arrival at the 

 sea, in his own words. " After the Indians had 

 " plundered the tents of the Esquimaux of all the 

 " copper, &c. they were then again ready to assist 

 " me in making an end to the survey ; the sea then 

 " in sight from the north-west by west to the north- 

 " east, distant about eight miles. It was then about 

 " five in the morning of the 17th, when I again pro- 

 " ceeded to survey the river to the mouth, still found, 

 " in every respect, no ways likely, or a possibility of 

 " being made navigable, being full of shoals and 

 " falls : and, at the entrance, the river emptying 

 " itself over a dry flat of the shore. For the tide was 

 " then out, and seemed, by the edges of the ice, to 

 " flow about twelve or fourteen feet, which will only 

 " reach a little within the river's mouth. That being 

 " the case, the water in the river had not the least 

 " brackish taste. But I am sure of its being the sea, 

 " or some part thereof, by the quantity of whale-bone 

 " and seal-skins the Esquimaux had at their tents ; as 

 " also the number of seals which I saw upon the ice. 

 " The sea, at the river's mouth, was full of islands 

 " and shoals, as far as I could see, by the assistance 

 " of a pocket telescope ; and the ice was not yet 



