OF THE POLAR SEA 



59 



CHAPTER III. 



Dr. Richardson's Residence at Cumberland House — His Account of the Cree Indians 



1S20 I ^ i# 



January 19. -T ROM the departure of Messrs. Franklin and Back, 

 on the 19th of January for Chepewyan, until the opening of the 

 navigation in the spring, the occurrences connected with the 

 Expedition were so much in the ordinary routine of a winter's resi- 

 dence at Fort Cumberland, that they may be, perhaps, appropriately 

 blended with the following general but brief account of that district 



and its inhabitants. 



Cumberland House was originally built by Hearne, a year or two 

 after his return from the Coppermine River, and has ever since been 

 considered by the Hudson's Bay Company as a post of considerable 

 importance. Previous to that time, the natives carried their furs 

 down to the shores of Hudson's Bay, or disposed of them nearer 

 home to the French Canadian traders, who visited this part of the 

 country as early as the year 1697. 



The Cumberland House district, extending about one hundred 

 and fifty miles from east to west along the banks of the Saskatchawan, 

 and about as far from north to south, comprehends, on a rough cal- 

 culation, upwards of twenty thousand square miles, and is frequented 

 at present by about one hundred and twenty Indian hunters. Of 

 these a few have several wives, but the majority have only one, and 

 as some are unmarried, we shall not err greatly in considering the 

 number of married women as only slightly exceeding that of the 



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