144 



CHAP. V. 



Digression concerning Hearne's Route. 



1 he route of the celebrated Hearne intersected 

 the country which has been just described; and 

 there is no person interested in geographical re- 

 search who will not thank me for interrupting 

 for a moment the course of my narrative, in 

 order to introduce the following observations on 

 that traveller's geographical discoveries, for which 

 1 am indebted to Dr. Richardson. 



" The adventurous journey of Hearne excited 

 very great public interest at the time it was 

 made, and will always form an epoch in the an- 

 nals of northern discovery ; for it gave the first 

 authentic information of a sea bounding Ame- 

 rica to the northward, and also overthrew the 

 numerous vague reports that existed of straits 

 connecting the Atlantic and Pacific in parallels 

 south of that to which he attained. Indeed, the 

 high latitude assigned to the mouth of the 

 Copper Mine River was so adverse to the opi- 

 nions previously entertained by the advocates 

 for the prosecution of a north-west passage, that 

 Dalrymple was induced closely to examine 

 the courses and distances recorded in Hearne's 



